The American dream--the belief that anyone is capable of upward mobility and a better life than the one in which they were born--is in jeopardy. According to Harvard economist Raj Chetty, American families are experiencing reduced upward mobility across generations. Education is the key to reversing the trajectory of upward mobility, imparting…

This qualitative case study was undertaken to understand the perspectives of first-generation, conditionally-admitted students, regarding how their participation in a college access program may or may not have contributed to their persistence at a Historically Black College and University. This study was grounded in Tinto's (2012) Model of…

Student attendance is one of the most important factors leading to a student's achievement academically. Chronic absenteeism can lead to a variety of issues for a secondary high school student, including not graduating. Students who miss school on a regular and consistent basis are identified as being chronically absent. Graduation rates and…

"Excelencia" in Education is a trusted information source on the status of Latino educational achievement, a major resource for influencing policy at the institutional, state, and national levels, and a widely recognized advocate for expanding evidence-based practices to accelerate Latino student success in higher education. The goal of…

Over recent years a lot of attention has been given to education for First Nations students living in remote communities. The quest for improved outcomes, better attendance, retention and year 12 completions disguises other perhaps more important issues. During the 1970s and 1980s the homeland movement 'return to Country' created opportunities for…

Even before the pandemic, the college/university business model was under scrutiny. With rising tuition costs outpacing living wages, and student debt burdens crippling students, institutions of higher learning were grappling with how to evolve. The COVID-19 pandemic introduced an abundance of obstacles that colleges had to face head on, but they…

W.S. 21-18-202 (h)(iii) mandates that the Wyoming Community College Commission (WCCC) develop performance benchmarks, outcome measures and other performance indicators which serve as the basis for annual reporting to the Wyoming Legislature and the Governor. The annual reporting must include, but is not limited to, the following measures: (1)…

Charter schools are funded and governed by public agencies but operated by private organizations under government contracts. As private organizations, charter schools have more autonomy over their operations than traditional public schools. Charter school teachers typically do not work under collective bargaining units or have tenure protections,…

This qualitative phenomenological study was designed to understand the factors that contribute to college persistence and completion for Black and Latinx students in the northeastern United States. Additionally, the researcher aimed to understand how high school and college preparation structures and policies contribute to college completion rates…

This dissertation focuses on microeconomic topics in the fields of public, labor and education. Particularly, this dissertation evaluates state policies in higher education and develops a global measure for job quality. Chapter 1 studies how state merit aid programs affect undergraduate degrees earned in Science, Technology, Engineering and…

Drawing on ethnographic research from a small urban high school serving predominantly low-income students in a large northeastern city, this case explores how a school leader seeks to improve the school's graduation rates by analyzing student data. It asks readers to consider the overall organization of the meeting, the role of the principal, the…

Institutional research (IR) experts can offer a wealth of knowledge to many campus departments, such as assessment. Utilization of dashboard techniques is a good way to improve the quality of university information that is available to support assessment research and do so in an efficient way. Institutional research at Wayne State University…

This article calls for a common research model that can be replicated across institutions to systematically collect data on the impact of education abroad participation on college graduation rates. The ultimate goal of the proposed GRAD LEAP (Leveraging Education Abroad Participation for Graduation) model is to facilitate a meta-analysis yielding…

There is an increasing requirement in higher education (HE) worldwide to deliver excellence. Benchmarking is widely used for this purpose, but methodological approaches to the creation of benchmark metrics vary greatly. Approaches require selection of factors for inclusion and subsequent calculation of benchmarks for comparison. We describe an…

Public flagship universities were established with a mission to provide an excellent education to their states' residents and are therefore well-positioned to enhance social and economic mobility within their states. Yet in many cases, too few low-income students and students of color have access to these elite colleges and the opportunities they…