California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB) received a six-year grant, "Providing Aid for STEM Success" (PASS), from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in March 2024 to offer scholarships and tailored support to academically talented, low-income students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). In its inaugural…

Two decades ago, when the author evaluated the impacts of Summer Research Opportunity Programs focused on minority undergraduates in STEM at 15 universities, blacks, Latinx/Hispanics, and Native Americans were dramatically underrepresented among PhD recipients in STEM fields. In the 20 years that followed, there have been significant increases in…

With the economic competitiveness of the United States dependent on an adequate supply of high-quality workers in the STEM fields, President Obama outlined a broad agenda to reinvigorate our country's interest in STEM. Responding to this call, organizations such as the National Lab Network and the STEM Education Coalition began efforts to raise…

CNA Education served as the third-party evaluator for the Connecticut Health and Life Sciences Career Initiative (HL-SCI), a statewide initiative funded from September 2012 to March 2016 through a Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. The purpose of HL-SCI is to prepare…

Credit-based transition programs provide high school students with opportunities to jump start their college education. The Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) offers college credit through dual-credit programs. While KCTCS dual-credit offerings have been successful in helping high school students start their college education…

Introductory sociology casts a wide net with regard to its audience and plays an important role in capturing the public eye as well as helping students to make more informed choices in their lives and communities. I ask six questions that help us as sociologists to think about how introductory sociology can better serve our discipline, our…

Over the past two decades, inner-city communities have witnessed double-digit joblessness among an increasing number of residents who are relegated to the status of the "permanent" unemployed or the permanent underclass. These residents cannot hope to be competitive in a changing and evolving labor market. Relying on public assistance, low-wage…

The free and open publication of course materials (OpenCourseWare or OCW) was initially undertaken by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and other universities primarily to share educational resources among educators (Abelson, 2007). OCW, however, and more in general open educational resources (OER), have also provided well-documented…

In the current climate of shortages of high-quality engineering graduates, exacerbated by reduced high school enrollments in physics and mathematics, engineering faculties are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of K-12 outreach programs. Such programs can result in students being better prepared for and better informed about engineering…

For-profit higher education institutions have grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, largely free of federal regulation. That freedom would be significantly curtailed if the gainful employment standard takes effect. Vocational training programs would be judged by the ratio of the debt that graduates assume relative to their current earnings…

The imperative for prospective teachers, school districts, Illinois policy makers and the public as a whole to know more about teacher preparation is the motivation behind this report. At the request of Advance Illinois, the authors evaluated 111 undergraduate and graduate programs in 53 education schools as well as three "independent…

Alternative programs in special education are often developed in response to chronic personnel shortages. At issue, however, is the quality of alternative programs and their graduates. This paper describes the design, implementation and evaluation of a large special education alternative certification program that adheres to both professional…

The HMIE publication, "External quality arrangements for Scotland's colleges," specifies that HMIE will produce a number of subject aspect reports over the four years 2008-12. These aspect reports complement in a subject-specific context the generic evaluations of learning and teaching in HMIE's reports of external review of colleges.…

Evaluation and results of a statewide promotional campaign using billboards featuring Johnny Cash to promote public awareness of, and recruitment for, Adult Basic Education (ABE) programs in Ohio are presented with the highlights of the purchasing and distribution activities. Response to a questionnaire sent to all ABE directors in Ohio requesting…

Purpose: To evaluate a remote learning initiative involving filming live lectures and disseminating these via digital interactive television (DiTV), satellite to PC terminals and VHS cassette. This was accompanied by online learning materials. Design/methodology/approach: In-depth interviews were used for the aspects of the study reported in this…