Students with disabilities in U.S. community colleges continue to disproportionately experience lower degree attainment compared to students without disabilities. Furthermore, students with disabilities are twice as likely to choose community colleges for postsecondary education compared to four-year colleges. Students with disabilities in…

Young mothers who pursue college degrees face systemic barriers that can hinder their educational success. The New Moms College Success Program was designed to help young mothers in Chicago persist in postsecondary education by providing individual coaching, financial assistance, and peer support. Chapin Hall conducted a 2-year evaluation of the…

This mixed-methods study examines the impact of a 2-year/30-credit certificate program in elementary mathematics pedagogy on teacher capacity for teaching mathematics in grades K-8. An online survey with open-ended questions and follow-up teacher interviews generated data for analysis and program review. The goals of the review were to determine…

State wildlife agency professionals are realizing they need new mindsets and practices for collaboration with diverse stakeholders and community partners to achieve policy, management, science, and education goals. This realization led to a partnership between a state agency, a land-grant university's outreach and engagement office, and University…

Understanding the experiences of autistic high school students, including participation in social and vocational activities, has important implications for high school programming and links to postsecondary outcomes. The primary aims of this study are to describe these experiences and examine relationships with two aspects of educational…

Local teacher recruitment through "grow-your-own" programs is a prominent strategy to address workforce shortages and ensure that incoming teachers resemble, understand, and have strong connections to their communities. We exploit the staggered rollout of the Teacher Academy of Maryland career and technical education certificate program…

Micro-credentials (MCs) are a rapidly expanding element of modern teacher professional learning. In this brief, we provide a concise review of what is currently known about MCs: how they work, their strengths, their shortcomings, and what we still need to learn. For districts and states that are considering introducing MCs, this brief is designed…

During the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, edX launched an initiative, called the Remote Access Program, to give access to free certificates for its Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) to the communities of its partners. This paper describes the experience of a Higher Education (HE) institution in Europe participating in this initiative as a strategic…

Few studies explore post-collegiate leadership applications of alumni who complete curricular leadership programs, like minors or certificates. How can we, as a field, say our leadership programs and courses integrate beyond the boundaries of campus or undergraduate life without an understanding of post-collegiate leadership applications? This…

In the wake of policy, technology, and ideological disruptions in Western higher education, it is in universities' interests to improve the quality of their learning and teaching to meet changed expectations. In some countries, particularly anglophone countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, the medium for this…

Adult learners' retention, persistence, and completion remain a significant challenge for many higher education institutions. The purpose of this action research study was to investigate the factors and improve persistence for part-time older adult learners of color enrolled in a credit-bearing certificate program within a small college in a large…

This qualitative case study examined one community college's attempt to better meet the needs of the single mother student population and create a better understanding of the barriers encountered by single mothers in their access to and completion of a short-term certificate program at a community college. Through a qualitative case study of…

Introduction: Over the past decade, informaticists expressed dissatisfaction with their training, feeling unprepared for the demands of their role. To address this, we developed the Tiered Skills Acquisition Model (TSAM) program in 2023 to improve the onboarding process of new hires. The goal in evaluating TSAM was to assess its effectiveness and…

This research paper is based on a broader exploratory case study of a sustainability tour that the authors undertook. The larger study explored "the concept of learning application through the case of a sustainability tour" (Gillard, 2016, p. 226 ). The tour was part of a certificate program for sustainable community development offered…

We draw on administrative data from the country of Colombia to assess differences in student learning in online and traditional on-campus college programs. The Colombian context is uniquely suited to study this topic, as students take a compulsory exit examination at the end of their studies. We can therefore directly compare performance on the…