Historically minoritized and marginalized students have had harmful discriminatory experiences within and outside of their classrooms, which has been shown to negatively impact their educational outcomes. Research has illustrated how the transformation of pedagogical decisions and classroom interactions that cultivate inclusive excellence have…

Many policies in higher education are intended to improve college access and degree completion, yet often those policies fall short of their aims by making it difficult for prospective or current college students to access benefits for which they are eligible. Barriers that inhibit access to policy benefits, such as cumbersome paperwork, can weigh…

This brief is part of the Affirming Equity, Ensuring Inclusion, and Empowering Action initiative. The brief describes the emerging practice of direct admissions, including how the practice has been designed, what outcomes it has produced, and considerations for policymakers debating the implementation of a direct admissions program in their state…

Early intervention is a method institutions use to identify and support students who are having academic difficulty and might be designated as "at-risk", or more likely to leave an institution (Villano et al., 2018). Institutions often adopt early alert systems to support early intervention efforts and student retention (Barefoot et al.,…

This study provides a typological analysis of public, four-year institutions implementing programs for men of color (MoC). The purpose of the study is to expand our understanding of the institutional context and conditions in which these interventions operate. As more of these programs emerge, it is important to understand if and how institutional…

This design case presents a detailed account of how we navigated various ethical issues observed in a robotics program that aimed to engage underrepresented students in robotics and STEM experience. The ethical challenges we encountered revolved around uneven participant engagement and interpersonal tensions. We tackled these challenges by…

This article examines the impact of proactive, data-informed success coaching on students' retention and completion outcomes, drawing on theories of student engagement and a five-year (2016-2020), mixed-methods study of coaching conducted across 10 North Carolina community colleges. Results from a randomized controlled trial show that coaching…

In Chicago, despite an increase in high school graduates and college enrollment, only one in four community college students graduate within three years. COVID-19 exacerbated longstanding barriers to college success faced by students from low-income backgrounds, as well as for Black, Latino, and Indigenous students. Without proactive interventions…

Although the education system is beginning to recognize the impact of personal and social contextual factors by incorporating Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), it often neglects the sociocultural contextual factors which are vital to the development of students from marginalized groups. The current training practices of preservice teachers…

Dual enrollment allows high school students to participate in college courses, earning both high school and college credits. Although many high schools offer dual enrollment to all students, past research has demonstrated a significant gap in the participation of low-income students and students of color compared to their White and Asian…

Effective recruitment initiatives for underrepresented student populations interested in pursuing degrees in agricultural-related sciences have the potential to diversify colleges of agriculture while also increasing enrollment. In the current study, we used a qualitative case study approach to examine the effectiveness of the recruitment…

The United States faces an unprecedented mental health crisis, with youth and young adults at the center. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly 50 percent of college students reported at least one mental health concern. The COVID-19 pandemic notably exacerbated these issues and underscored the urgent need to identify and implement ways to…

At the beginning of the 21st century, higher education began to concentrate on leveling the playing field around admission. While this work is still unfolding, in the second decade of the last century, attention also began to be paid to identifying strategies that would improve student success and completion for all students, but especially for…

This qualitative study focuses on Director and Dean experiences during equity-focused program and initiative (PI) implementations at California Community Colleges (CCCs), as these leaders face the challenge of managing faculty, staff, and budgets, while also working toward the objectives of senior leadership. Despite a reliance on middle-level…

The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological qualitative research study was to solicit the perceptions of currently attending as well as recent graduate minority male students of one Texas private, postsecondary institution regarding the identification of academic, social, financial, and moral support programs considered to be most…