The number of nontraditional students in colleges in the United States has been and is continuing to rise, but these students face difficulties that affect their motivation to persist towards graduation. Some of these difficulties include balancing multiple roles, including work, school and family demands, lack of support, financial constraints,…

Guided pathways reforms are emerging as a promising strategy for improving student outcomes and closing equity gaps at community colleges, but little is known about how the guided pathways approach can help address challenges facing adult students. This report discusses strategies that three Tennessee community colleges that have implemented…

In this paper we argue that simply identifying gateway courses in which a large number of students fail or withdraw and focusing attention on them may not always be the best use of limited resources. No matter what we do, there will always be courses with high D/F/W rates simply because of the nature of their content and the preparation of the…

In recent years, the option of enrolling in honors programs and colleges at major public universities has increasingly become an alternative to elite private and public institutions for some of the brightest and most academically-talented high school graduates. To attract these high-achieving students, universities may offer applicants incentives…

Students who enter higher education requiring reading remediation have poor institutional persistence. This study examined the course success and first-year institutional persistence of six women enrolled in a developmental reading course at a regional campus of a state university. Data sets were comprised of classroom observation, review of…

Consistently and unmistakably, data show a persistent gap separating Latinos and Black males from other student groups on measures of academic progress and college completion. These gaps exist across higher education. They are undeniable and unacceptable. Men of color have high aspirations when they begin higher education. Why are these…

A growing majority of today's college-goers are adult students, and the economic and cultural trends driving this growth are here for the long term. In some respects this is good news: Adult undergraduate students tend to earn higher GPAs and have better aptitude and psychosocial scores than do traditional-aged students. Unfortunately, adult…

Student retention in postsecondary institutions continues to be a vexing problem, as graduation rates have continued to decline over the last decade. To be a competitive force in the global economy, it is crucial to keep students in school. This research uses a conceptual data model to introduce academic leaders' (N = 104) perspectives to increase…

This mixed-methods case study determined the factors and examined the issues associated with student retention at a faith-based independent day school in southwestern United States of America. The data included online surveys, personal interviews, collection of archival information, and the researcher's extensive field notes. Surveys (530) were…

Purpose: The purpose of this directory was to identify, describe, and evaluate evidence that the education practices improve academic performance, close the achievement gap, and improve persistence towards graduation for low-income, first-generation, and historically-underrepresented 6th grade through college students. Method: The sample for the…

The expansion of the American community college has not been matched by the rapid, or even consistent, progress of all entering students toward postsecondary credentials. Instead, a significant proportion of students enrolled in community colleges appear "stuck" on the road to completion. This lack of progress is due to the complex ways in which…

The 1989 Student Needs and Priorities Survey (SNAPS) was administered on 18 of the 19 California State University (CSU) campuses to obtain a representative sample of student opinions and perceptions regarding important educational factors. This report supplements the systemwide report with a focus on the Fresno campus student population.…

In adult education, the term "accelerated learning" (AL) is usually associated with programs designed to meet the needs of adult learners whose many commitments prevent them from participating in traditional programs. Within the field of training and development, however, AL identifies an approach to learning that is multidimensional in…

The IADIS CELDA 2012 Conference intention was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There had been advances in both cognitive psychology and computing that have affected the educational arena. The convergence of these two disciplines is increasing at a…