High teacher turnover rates and shortages of quality teachers plague many large, urban U.S. school districts disadvantaging their students who often already come from traditionally underserved populations and communities. Restorative Practices is a quickly growing whole school approach to community building and discipline, but little is known…

Student retention in higher education is a primary indicator of institutional reputation, impacting factors such as national rankings, admissions selectivity, and alumni support (Lee, Sanford, and Lee 2014). Programs designed to support student success in the first year and beyond generally intersect with the institutional mission. Utilizing…

This dissertation was a multiple case study research project designed to identify whether the "Men of Merit Program" (MOMP) met its goal of increasing persistence, retention, and graduation rates of African American male students at a Western New York Community College. Earlier statistics reported that other American colleges had shown a…

This 4-year longitudinal study identified the impact of a multifaceted mentoring and tutoring program on the retention and graduation rates of a diverse body of undergraduate college students enrolled in high-risk science courses. Findings revealed that the program was successful in increasing the retention and graduation rates of students who…

Academic Development Programmes (ADPs) are a distinct category of South African Higher Education that aims to provide alternative access to students who meet the minimum entry requirements for university but not necessarily for the particular academic programme of their choice. Although these programmes have existed for over 30 years, limited…

Detroit students who obtain a college degree overcome many obstacles to do so. This paper reports the results of a randomized evaluation of a program meant to provide support to low-income community college students. The Detroit Promise Path (DPP) program was designed to complement an existing College Promise scholarship, providing students with…

Promise programs have grown in popularity as a way to provide college tuition/fees and other student supports in the hopes of increasing college access and success. This chapter presents results from a comprehensive mixed-methods evaluation of the Lake Tahoe Community College Promise Program. Using rich administrative data and interviews with…

While scholars recognize that engagement in Black and other affirming campus places strengthen Black college student retention efforts (Miller, 2017; Patton, 2006b; Solorzano et al., 2000; Volpe & Jones, 2021), less is known about how these areas become important to Black students. In this instrumental case study, I use the case of recent…

Many interventions are being studied to help combat barriers into STEM fields that contribute to high attrition and low persistence rates (Chen, 2013; Ejiwale, 2013; Ellis et al., 2016). One such intervention is near-peer mentor (NPM) programs, which utilize undergraduate students as academic supports to fellow undergraduate students. Studies have…

Much research has been conducted to indicate that the freshman year of high school has an impact on a student's potential graduation from high school. Existing literature reveals that through the evolution of education in the United States, schools have been forced to place a strong emphasis on graduation. Many factors, including academic success,…

Monitoring Advising Analytics to Promote Success (MAAPS)is a multi-institutional project of the University Innovation Alliance (UIA) initially funded and supported by a US Department of Education First in the World Grant to Georgia State, the lead UIA member on this project. MAAPS is a large-scale randomized-controlled trial designed to validate…

This transcendental phenomenological study examined the factors that led to the successes of Latino males' persistence in obtaining their bachelor's degree. Through the lens of participants' lived experiences, first-generation Latino males unpack their experiences and describe how those experiences impacted their academic achievement to graduate…

With the need to increase Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) graduates, higher education institutions need to identify and improve ways to increase underrepresented STEM student retention rates. Cypress College in Southern California implemented a program called STEM[superscript 2] (Strengthen Transfer Education and…

Curricular analytics (CA) is a quantitative method that analyzes the sequence of courses (curriculum) that students in an undergraduate academic program must complete to fulfill the requirements of the program. The main hypothesis of CA is that the less complex a curriculum is, the more likely it is that students complete the program. This study…

Background/Context: To stimulate national and regional economic growth, policymakers and businesses have expressed great interest in growing the supply of workers with skills in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). A key link in this pipeline is high school, where learning experience plays a critical role in shaping student's…