This practice-based paper provides a case study of the Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board's (WWETB) Rainbow Connection Initiative. The initiative employs badges as a visible symbol of inclusivity and staff commitment, actively seeking to address issues and challenges faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning,…

Objective: The community college sector plays a vital role in broadening access to education and helping states meet their workforce needs. An emerging trend and potential lever to better achieve these goals is the community college baccalaureate or CCB. Yet, opponents wonder whether CCBs may lead community colleges to abandon their traditional…

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…

Background/Context: The Holistic Oasis for Parents' Education (HOPE) Program is an on-campus summer program designed to serve the whole student with a three-dimensional support model. Low-income, Black, and Hispanic parents experienced some of the most egregious effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which reflects the demographics of one in three…

Across the country, colleges using Complete College America (CCA) strategies are improving graduation rates. But despite these overall gains, data continues to show persistent institutional performance gaps for BILPOC (Black, Indigenous, Latinx, People of Color) students and students ages 25 and older. Students in both of these groups…

On average, the college graduation rates for minority and/or high-need students are generally low. To address this situation, a Mid-Atlantic Consortium recently secured a grant to improve 4-year graduation rates of high=need students (i.e., new first-time students and transfer students who qualify as low-income students, first-generation college…

Young children first develop the social-behavioral skills needed to succeed in school from parents. However, most school-based interventions designed to bolster children's social-behavioral skills have focused on strengthening teachers' skills. This study examined the extent to which a 12-session group-based program for strengthening parenting…

In the United States, students from marginalized backgrounds historically have had gaps in their access to education, thus affecting success and overall achievement. In an attempt to address these educational gaps, researchers, school districts, and government officials have been working to provide resources for those in communities with low…

Spanish-English-speaking dual language learners (SE-DLLs) from low-income backgrounds are at risk for experiencing academic difficulty compared to peers of ethnic-majority, middle- and high-income backgrounds. Caregiver language input is a consistent predictor of later developmental and academic outcomes. The current study targeted caregivers (n…

With funding from the National Science Foundation in 2014, the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) launched a five-year project to demonstrate the efficacy of regional ecosystems of community colleges, four-year higher education institutions, and STEM-driven business in facilitating the retention and persistence of students in STEM fields. This…

This report demonstrates the power of business-higher education partnerships to create new kinds of STEM pathways that provide educational opportunity and economic mobility for underrepresented students. With funding from the National Science Foundation in 2014, the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) launched a five-year project to demonstrate…

There is a growing movement across the country to get more adults to enroll in college and complete higher education programs. Fewer than half of the nearly 170 million U.S. residents between the ages of 25 and 64 have obtained a postsecondary degree or certificate. The statistics for adult students of color who have attained higher education are…

Workforce pipelines are essential to sustain a productive workforce in an increasingly competitive, high-tech environment. Advanced automation, sensors, materials and data analytics will increase the need for highly skilled workers in the manufacturing (and manufactured construction) sector. Attracting and developing the next-generation workforce…

HIPPY targeted parents of children zoned to 100 Houston Independent School District (HISD) elementary campuses during the 2018-2019 academic year, which reflected an increase from 80 campuses the previous year. Academic performance of students whose parents participated in HIPPY was assessed using the kindergarten 2018 Logramos and Iowa…

The 2016-17 school year marked the third full school year of operation of the Parent Leadership Institute (PLI) of Children's Aid (CA). The PLI is funded via a 2013 Investing in Innovation (i3) development grant. Key goals of the PLI include: (1) improving the capacity of parents to effectively engage in the school community in support of their…