Background: Research suggests growth mindset interventions can support student achievement, particularly among students at risk of academic struggle, but it remains underspecified which at-risk populations will benefit from such interventions. Objectives: This study aimed to experimentally evaluate whether highly (vs. moderately or minimally)…

Prior research illustrates the predominance of autistic college students experiencing challenges in advocating for themselves. Drawing on Test and colleagues' (2005) four factors of self-advocacy, this qualitative case study examines how an autism-specific college support program (ASP) in a community college contributes to autistic college…

Increasing the representation of skilled workers in STEM fields has been a priority in the United States, with a particular emphasis on supporting underrepresented groups. While urban areas with established higher education institutions have made efforts to engage underrepresented students in STEM, this study sheds light on the challenges faced by…

Internships are widely promoted high-impact practices that can have positive impacts on students' academic and post-graduate success, yet how specific features facilitate these outcomes is understudied. Instead, internships are often studied in terms of mere participation, without recognizing that these experiences are complex pedagogic spaces…

Background/Context: Sociologists of education have studied how community colleges' institutional authorities and organizational barriers stratify students' postsecondary aspirations. Notions of how students might diverge in their pursuits are less understood. This study builds on imagined futures and postsecondary aspiration literature to…

Using cross-institutional survey data from 407 first-year college students, differences in information literacy preparation and academic library experiences between community college students and students at four-year institutions are examined. Results show that first-year community college students are more likely to be novice library users,…

This article presents findings from a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) study on the experiences of six undocumented college students at a community college in the Midwest United States. We focused on two main research questions: What are some of the key developmental experiences of undocumented youth? What is the impact of these…

Students with autism are enrolling in college more frequently, yet graduation rates for these students remain low. One reason posited is a lack of self-determination (SD) skills, which help students communicate with faculty and staff and act on goals. This study investigated how faculty at a community college support students in developing these…

Objective: Although most community college students intend to transfer to a 4-year college, few ultimately do. We sought to assess how student experiences of the Exploring Transfer (ET) program influenced transfer rates. The ET program was offered by a private, 4-year liberal arts college. Methods: We used data from a cross-sectional survey of…

By many accounts, developmental writing courses in community colleges fail to teach students skills needed to be successful in college-level coursework. In the current study, an identity-based pedagogical approach aimed at Promoting self-Relevance, triggering identity Exploration, facilitating a sense of Safety, and Scaffolding identity…

The purpose of this study is to understand the relationship between pre-transfer advising and the development of transfer student capital (TSC) for students who have transferred from community college to a four-year university. Using TSC as a framework, this qualitative case study seeks to identify the roles that pre-transfer advisors at community…

Latino males across the country enroll in community colleges with the purpose of obtaining an educational degree, which could lead to accomplishing professional and personal aspirations. Even if Latino male students enroll in post-secondary education, they continue to be disenfranchised, vanished, and often rejected through the higher education…

Understanding community college English language learner (ELL) goals may help educators better support ELLs to set and pursue those goals. One lens that has illuminated important differences in ELL goals is constructive-developmental theory (CDT). Using a CDT lens, this qualitative case study investigated the goals of six community college ELLs…

There tends to be a belief that community colleges are focused on the needs of their immediate communities. However, employers everywhere are looking for a more globally competent workforce. Even if that means to be an informed citizen who can help solve complex problems is changing, with challenges such as climate change or the coronavirus…

By using a reconstructionist and critical theory approach, a review of student development theories demonstrates the problematic nature of such ideas as they continue to be used to shape student affairs practice in community colleges.