The purpose of this study was to examine factors of student persistence and attrition in addition to strategies that may help students persist in associate degree nursing programs at community colleges. Data were collected from nursing students enrolled in first-year associate degree nursing programs at participating Mississippi community colleges…

Communicative competence is set out to be of the eight key competences which individuals need for personal fulfilment and development, active citizenship, social inclusion and employment (European Commission 2004, p. 3). The success of the sustainable development of communicative competence requires existing concepts of communicative competence…

Little is known about the language acquisition of refugees in Western countries. This study examines how pre- and post-migration characteristics of refugees are related to their second language proficiency. Data are from a survey of 3,500 refugees, who were born in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, former Yugoslavia and Somalia, and who resided in the…

In this age of wide migration waves all over the world, when schools' populations become more diverse, educators often make policies regarding groups of immigrant students (from the same origin) with unique needs. Perceptions of homogeneity of the group, as well as perceptions of similarity between the decision maker and the group members are…

Utilizing survey research on the entire 2004-2005 freshmen class of a private, interdenominational Christian college (n = 261), this study examined the social experiences and persistence rates of college freshmen who were homeschooled prior to attending higher education, and compared this group to college freshmen who were educated in a classroom…

This paper explores the concept of "community engagement," a central theme within a British research project examining the issues of cultural sustainability among faith-based schools. Discussion is informed by the views of Muslim and Jewish school community stakeholders at the time when the policy of social cohesion was being legally…

The Annual Disability Status Reports provide policy makers, disability advocates, reporters, and the public with a summary of the most recent demographic and economic statistics on the non-institutionalized population with disabilities. They contain information on the population size and disability prevalence for various demographic…

In many Western countries the pressure exerted on immigrants to integrate has become intense in recent years. Efforts to preserve their ethnic identity through multicultural recognition has now been replaced by the requirements of active civic participation and assimilation. Of course integration is considered important not only for the immigrant…

Immigration is increasing racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistics, and religious diversity in nations around the world, which is challenging existing concepts of citizenship and citizenship education. In this article, I challenge assimilationist conceptions of citizenship education and argue that citizenship education should be transformed so that…

The education policy and philanthropy communities to date have placed a premium on funding charter schools that have high concentrations of poverty and large numbers of minority students. This report asks: Might it make more sense for foundations and policymakers to embrace a variety of approaches, including efforts to demonstrate the feasibility…

First-generation, female college students often face an uphill battle in their quest for degree attainment. Literature suggests several areas in which first-generation college students struggle, but there are programs designed to help this demographic of student; specifically the TRiO program, a federally-funded operation that specializes in…

This study asserts that African American males with higher grade point averages (GPAs) in college are also academically and socially integrated into campus and hold racial identity attitudes and self-efficacy beliefs that facilitate their level of institutional integration. The statistical study of 190 African American males attending five…

This article builds on existing data about the blended learning approach in higher education. It presents the theoretical framework and data of an empirical study conducted at the University of Porto in Portugal involving teachers who won the E-Learning Prize of Excellence in the period between 2006 and 2010. The main objective of this article is…

As of 2004, more than 114,000 individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities in the United States were identified as receiving supports for community-based nonwork (CBNW), that is, activities that do not involve paid employment but do take place in the community rather than that in a facility (Institute for Community Inclusion, 2007).…

In this article the author examines public schools in the United States as sites where immigrants and refugees express their religious identities as part of their integration processes. In particular, the author examines the schools as "sites of refuge" for refugee students. Although public schools provide refugees with opportunity for…