The purpose of this study is to identify common traits shared by first-generation college graduates from disadvantaged backgrounds who grew up in the inner-city. This research was inspired by Duckworth's grit research at Westpoint Academy which sought to predict which cadets would graduate (Duckworth, 2007). Sixty-three first-generation college…

This study uses longitudinal data to follow a cohort (N = 4,465) of all early childhood education teachers working in publicly funded, center-based settings in Louisiana over a 3-year period. We present the proportion of teachers still at their sites across six time points between 2016 and 2019, providing the first statewide, longitudinal…

Pre-college access programs operating in high schools commonly focus on assisting underserved and historically excluded populations of students in preparing for, applying to, and enrolling in postsecondary education. Through two analyses, this study examines the efficacy of two types of access programs in facilitating postsecondary enrollment and…

Due to its emphasis on academics and exclusion of athletic scholarships, the NCAA's Division III (DIII) is often praised by coaches, media, and higher education leaders for offering the purest form of collegiate athletics. However, the academics-first philosophy and higher graduation rates the NCAA celebrates for most of its sports are not…

This study aimed to explore the factors that motivate and empower military spouses to persist in pursuing degrees in higher education. The following research question guided this study. What do military spouses perceive as the factors that motivate and empower them to persist in earning college degrees? Fifteen military spouses participated in…

The federal government and many individual organizations have invested in programs to support diversity in the STEM pipeline, including STEM summer programs for high school students, but there is little rigorous evidence of their efficacy. We fielded a randomized controlled trial to study a suite of such programs targeted to underrepresented high…

Racial diversity within the school workforce is valuable in 'fostering social cohesion and most importantly, in supporting pupils to grow and develop in an environment of visible, diverse role models' (DfE, 2018c, p.2). A diverse workforce is likely to promote greater cultural understanding and inclusion when educating pupils from diverse ethnic…

Structural equation modeling (SEM) considering how students' non-cognitive attributes influence first-year college student persistence remain extraordinarily rare--as are studies that test and expand upon published structural models or studies that include college student food security. This study addresses each. We surveyed "Beginner"…

Objective The study explored first-time college counseling center clients' preintake expectations of the counseling process and the extent that these expectations were related to confidence that counseling will be effective and attendance after intake. Participants: Participants were 418 first-time counseling clients with complete intake and…

This article asks what makes PhD completers resilient and which resilience protection factors help them complete their doctoral programme? A narrative inquiry methodology is applied to capture the experiences of eleven doctoral students who completed their PhDs in the United Kingdom. Data collected from interview conversations were analysed using…

The theoretical framework of the paper combines the notions of school disengagement and educational trajectories. Our current research has demonstrated that several trajectories of school disengagement can be distinguished: "unanticipated crisis, parabola, downward spiral, boomerang, resilient route, shading out." The text focuses on two…

Explicit vocabulary learning is a burden for most of the students. But vocabulary is the basis of each language, and not all words can be acquired incidentally through context or reading. Especially for content and language integrated learning in L2 it is important to offer lots of support for learning a large number of terms in order to avoid…

Annual teacher attrition hovers around 8% and causes of teacher attrition have been studied widely. However, more needs to be known about specific aspects of teacher preparation that can foster retention. The goal of this study was to understand the perspectives of veteran teachers regarding retention. This investigation employed semi-structured…

We combined tenets of learning communities and place-based learning to develop an innovative first-year program for STEM students. Using a quasi-experimental design, we found that participants in the place-based learning community had a stronger sense of belonging, improved academic performance, and increased first-year persistence relative to a…

Recent scholarship has highlighted the phenomenon of urban public school closures and their effects on student academic outcomes. However, we know little about the broader impact of closures, particularly on teachers who are also displaced by closure. We assess labor market outcomes for over 15,000 teachers in nearly 700 Texas schools displaced by…