The Latino population is the fastest-growing community in the United States yet falls behind in the percentage of students who successfully graduate from college compared to other cultural groups. While trends of Latino students applying to college are on the rise, many cannot successfully obtain a degree due to detrimental barriers. These…

Gender bias, reduced sense of belonging, and lower physics self-efficacy are among the challenges faced by women who choose to study physics. Prior studies focusing on this underrepresented group have examined the experiences and impacts of formal educational settings, leaving the impact of informal physics programs, frequently called outreach…

The federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) created the Behavioral Interventions for Child Support Services (BICS) demonstration in 2014. The goals of the demonstration were to use insights from behavioral science to develop interventions that could improve child support services and increase parent engagement, and to encourage the…

Physics outreach programs provide a critical context for informal experiences that promote the transition from new student to contributing physicist. Prior studies have suggested a positive link between participation in informal physics outreach programs and the development of a student's physics identity. In this study, we adopt a student-focused…

In addition to regular job duties, such as tree care, mulching, irrigation, and pesticide management, urban park workers have faced environmental changes due to drought, wildfires, and West Nile virus. They simultaneously have endured expectations to manage growing, diversifying park usage and limitations on career development. An integrated…

This paper presents an innovative two-course, laboratory-based, and design-oriented robotics educational model. The robotics curriculum exposed senior-level undergraduate students to major robotics concepts, and enhanced the student learning experience in hybrid learning environments by incorporating the IEEE Region-5 annual robotics competition…

This report shows how insights gained from system dynamics modeling and the U.S. STEM Undergraduate Model® can help inform the Navy's strategy to grow a robust civilian workforce that is strongly invested with Navy-relevant STEM skills and ready to contribute to the next generation of Naval innovation. This work positions the Navy to serve a…

Despite increases in postsecondary enrollment at American universities and colleges, there are still significant gaps in who matriculates to college and persists through graduation. Low-income students and students of color continue to be underrepresented in institutions of higher education; for many of these students, a lack of awareness of…

The CollegeKeys Compact[TM] is a national call to action to school districts, colleges and universities, state education agencies, and nonprofit organizations to identify, share and expand programs and practices that address the needs and challenges of low-income students and help them get ready for, get into and get through college. The College…

This article describes the outcomes of field-based efforts to increase diversity in agricultural education programs and the FFA. This study focused on three schools in San Antonio, Texas. Guided by Rogers' (2003) theories of diffusion of innovations, a series of six intervention strategies was implemented: (a) provide specific FFA or agricultural…

The United States Department of Education (2008) noted that the percentage of ethnic minority students in public education increased from 22 percent in 1972 to 43 percent in 2006. This increase largely reflected the growth of the Hispanic population, especially in the state of Texas. Richard (2003) reported that Hispanic students drop out of…

Through the "Strengthening Statewide College/Career Readiness Initiative" (SSCRI), Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) has collaborated with states on state policy goals and actions needed to improve high school students' academic readiness for postsecondary study and reduce the need for remedial work. SREB created and implemented…

The purpose of this study is to test the effects on children's social, behavioral, and academic outcomes of an intervention, Families and Schools Together (FAST), when implemented in two novel ways: (a) in schools with predominantly Latino children and (b) on an entire grade-level cohort instead of with individual families targeted for the…

At an institute at the University of Oklahoma, some 85 people from Arkansas, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma discussed ways to improve cross-cultural and user developed library services to all types of disadvantaged persons. The participants were librarians and representatives of the minorities, the culturally different, and the poor.…

Examines results of a field study investigating the ability of the Texas Special Olympics'"Athletes for Outreach" program to enhance the communication skills and the perceived social competence of participant with mental retardation. Validates the relevancy of the "Athletes for Outreach" program for Special Olympics Texas and…