While numerous studies have highlighted the consequences of exclusion in STEM, fewer studies have empirically tested the benefits of inclusion in peer relationships. We focus on the impact of having cross-racial or cross-gender study partners among one's close friends in a national sample of 408 STEM majors. Using structural equation modeling, we…

Academic preparedness is critical when it comes to student success in college, but research on factors such as academic performance indicators and behaviors has shown that many students are not prepared for college. While may studies highlight that college-bound students need help becoming academically prepared for college, fewer studies have…

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship and predictability of demographic factors on the persistence, study habits and motivation level among African American and Latino male community college students. Specifically, this study was concerned with the predictive power of demographic (socio-economic status, age, ethnicity, and…

My study seeks to explore the extent that select secondary and postsecondary indicators predict STEM student enrollment and persistence particularly for Hispanic students. Identifying postsecondary STEM success and college readiness indicators with special focus on malleable indicators that can assist educators, administrators, and policymakers in…

In an effort to better understand how students' length of exposure to American secondary schools relates to academic performance in core, first-year college courses, this study surveyed and analyzed the demography, study habits, and grades of 267 freshman composition (ENG 101) students at a large, urban community college. Results indicated that…

Although the attainment gap between black and minority ethnic (BME) students and white students has persisted for decades, the potential causes of these disparities are highly debated. The emergence of learning analytics allows researchers to understand how students engage in learning activities based on their digital traces in a naturalistic…

The Supreme Court has agreed to weigh in on the legality of racial preferences, in part thanks to a lawsuit against Harvard College alleging that the school discriminates against Asian-Americans. Proving discrimination at a specific school is an arduous task, requiring access to private, detailed admissions records--as the legal documents in that…

Previous research has shown that adolescent peer groups play a role in maintaining and exacerbating demographic differences in achievement. However, there is still limited knowledge about the malleable factors that contribute to these achievement disparities. This short-term longitudinal study examined one such malleable factor--namely, perceived…

The interactions of race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status (SES) in predicting social and emotional (SE) skills was examined for 81,950 6th-8th graders. At low levels of SES, White students tended to have the lower SE scores. However, as SES increased, they tended to have higher scores relative to minority groups. Across SES levels, Asian…

Given the poorer academic outcomes of non-Western ethnic minority students compared to ethnic majority students, we investigated whether differences exist in work-study interface between ethnic groups. We tested a work-study interface model, in which the work-related factors work-study congruence, job control, job demands, work hours, job…

Historical student data can help elucidate the factors that promote student success in mathematics courses. Herein we use both multiple regression and principal component analyses to explore ten years of historical data from over 20,000 students in an introductory college-level Algebra course in an urban American research university with a diverse…

Participation rates in postsecondary education vary greatly by race, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status (SES). In addition to issues of access, there are also problems with retention and persistence across higher education; improving retention and degree attainment for students continues to be an issue for higher education professionals.…

Since 1994, there has been a doubling in the enrolment of students in South Africa's public universities. Students, especially first-generation students, face numerous challenges that may impact their subjective perceptions of their well-being. In a milieu of high levels of suicide and depression amongst South Africa's student population, the…

Studies in social stratification have used siblings as a tool to learn about the intergenerational transmission of advantage but less often have asked how siblings impact one another's life chances. The author draws on social capital theory and hypothesizes that when youths attend college, they increase the probability that their siblings attend…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether supplemental instruction and online homework can improve student performance and understanding in a first-semester calculus course at a large urban four-year college. The study examined the metacognitive and study skills and posttest scores of students. The study also focused on students' and…