The pipeline of college students seeking teaching positions is shrinking. The teacher shortage makes finding and retaining new teachers even more challenging. The cost of replacing existing teachers who leave is tremendous, and new teachers leave the profession at an alarming rate. This dissertation explored the lived experiences of new teachers…

This article traces the efforts made by Boise State's General Education program--University Foundations--and an undergraduate researcher to improve understanding of general education on campus. Undergraduate students often struggle to understand general education's goals. In order to improve this understanding, University Foundations committed…

With growing opportunity for students with intellectual and developmental disability to access a variety of inclusive higher education programs comes an increased need for program implementers to evaluate practices and outcomes alongside participants. This mixed-method, exploratory study examines self-determined goal setting, goal attainment, and…

The estimated prevalence of neurodivergent (ND) conditions is approximately 15-20% of the population in the United States (Doyle, 2020; Maenner et al., 2023). ND students are increasingly enrolling in mainstream colleges and universities (Bakker et al., 2019) but report that they are not receiving adequate support on campus (Dexter et al., 2024;…

Purpose: Peer mentoring programs in higher education settings support incoming students in their transition and adaptation to college life. Mentoring program evaluation research primarily focuses on student outcomes and documents mentoring relationship quality (MRQ) as an important component of programs that facilitate change. The current study…

Published self-determination programs do not adequately address the needs of autistic adults. We designed a multi-component self-determination program, grounded in the neurodiversity paradigm, to help autistic adults achieve goals to improve their quality of life. The first phase involved 5 days of psychoeducation, practice, and social events; the…

Background: Health coaching sessions that incorporate goal setting may help improve college students' health behaviors. Purpose: This study examined whether specific goal-setting practices moderated changes in health behaviors during an online wellness intervention in college students. Methods: Participants were 90 college students recruited from…

Inequalities in student enrolment, retention and success for specific demographic groups exist throughout the higher education sector. Although there are numerous and diverse initiatives implemented in universities to support student retention and/or success, experience and/or satisfaction, the feasibility or effectiveness of programs targeting…

Socially regulated learning (SoRL) is a critical mechanism for enhancing the effectiveness of collaborative learning outcomes. Measurement of university students' engagement in SoRL is essential for refining the strategies aimed at improving its efficacy. Nonetheless, the measurement of university students' levels of engagement in SoRL remains…

Study abroad, for any length of time and in any location, is widely recognized in higher education as a positive educational activity. While individual benefits of study abroad have been explored for decades, recent research has pushed the field to consider benefits for the local and global community. This program evaluation contributes to this…

This survey research study analyzed responses from 143 mentors from around the world participating in a global higher education initiative. Results confirmed the effectiveness of four mentoring domains identified in the literature, reporting the most success from providing emotional and psychological support for students. This article provides…

We developed and launched an online, course-integrated module called Growth & Goals aimed to help students better develop evidence-based learning skills. The module focuses on five main concepts: self-regulated learning, goal-setting, metacognition, mindfulness, and mindsets (growth and fixed continuum). Growth & Goals is an open education…

This report outlines the results of an evaluation of the Freedom School Partners' Children Defense Fund Freedom Schools© program in Charlotte, North Carolina, that took place during the summer of 2019. The evaluation was a collaboration between the Center for Adolescent Literacies (CAL) and the Center for Educational Measurement and Evaluation…

International sojourners who are learning a new language in an immersion environment are the focus of many second language acquisition research studies. Several studies have examined the language socialization of populations such as study abroad participants (Duff, 2007; Kinginger, 2008, 2015) and international students (Ortactepe, 2013; Umino…

University Studies, Portland State University's general education program, is now more than twenty years old; its leaders frequently answer questions from other higher education institutions regarding how the program takes high-impact practices to scale. In this article, three program leaders detail how University Studies' Peer Mentor and Senior…