Many doctoral students do not finish their studies. Social support has been shown to lower the likelihood of student withdrawal. I propose peer-mentoring as one of the practices that makes a significant difference in doctoral student attrition. In this longitudinal study, I investigated the influence of peer-mentoring on students' motivation and…

The disproportionate demographics among retained students must be addressed. School-based mentoring has been recognized as an effective tool for motivating and supporting students at-risk of not graduating on time. This research aimed to explore the impact of a school-based mentoring program on positive student outcomes, specifically academic…

Informal mentoring relationships that develop out of frequent and meaningful interaction with faculty and staff are powerful tools that can help community college students persist and succeed in achieving not only their educational goals but their future economic mobility as well (Komosa-Hawkins, 2012; Phillippo, 2010; Zimmerman et al., 2002).…

Near-Peer Mentoring (NPM) is an innovative form of Peer-assisted Learning that has been gaining traction in educational settings. Traditionally, NPM is characterized by a more experienced student (typically a year or more advanced) offering guidance and support to newer, less experienced students, with the aim of helping them navigate the…

This project study addressed the problem of low persistence of Black men in community college. A southeast Texas community college study site implemented a mentoring program specific to Black men in 2013 following a data report from The Achieving the Dream program. Although the mentoring program had been implemented with progress, there were no…

Online learning in higher education has become commonplace as more working adults and nontraditional aged students return to pursue advanced degrees. Graduate education, specifically, has grown in recent years (Allen & Seaman, 2014), including doctoral degrees. Pursuing a doctoral degree requires writing a culminating paper (e.g.,…

Few college students wanting to major in an engineering discipline who begin in precalculus actually complete an undergraduate engineering degree program. One reason for this is students struggle through calculus I and II, known barrier courses for engineering majors. This research utilizes frameworks of future time perspective (FTP) and…

A compelling body of research suggests that students from racially marginalized and minoritized (RMM) backgrounds are systematically deterred from Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields when teachers and scientists create ideologically colorblind STEM learning environments where cultural differences are deemed irrelevant and…

Urban charter schools targeting Black communities struggle to recruit Black teachers and even more to retain them. At the same time that scholarship has begun to recenter Black and Brown teachers' lives, the narrated perspectives of Black women teachers are often drowned out in urban educational reform's Hollywoodization. In this article, we story…

This research study investigated the educational experiences of seven Latina undergraduate students. Although Latinx/a/o students are the fastest growing group in U.S. public schools and comprise more than one in four in K-12 public schools today (Krogstad & Lopez, 2015), their dropout rates among Latino students remain unacceptably high and…

Academic coaching is growing as a form of retention support, but questions surrounding what coaching should be continue to limit its potential. We argue that a resolution lies in increasing alignment between coaching practice, retention theory, and motivation, and that peer-led coaching guided by motivational interviewing offers a potentially…

Little is known about why people decide to mentor in the context of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify the motivations of undergraduate student mentors working in an afterschool STEM program for underrepresented elementary schoolboys. We used self-determination theory…

This study explores factors enhancing the likelihood that three demographically disadvantaged groups of selective science high school graduates would complete a university STEM degree 4-6 years later. The target groups are labeled as disadvantaged in terms of STEM pipeline persistence compared to school peers, and include: (1) women, (2) those…

This year's conference theme, "Creating New Trajectories for Adult Education," provided opportunities for presenters to peruse many avenues available for investigating and engaging the field and practice of adult learning. The following proceedings contain valuable information and tools to equip education professionals further as they…

The fact that American Indian (AI) college students pursuing postsecondary educational opportunities have lower retention and completion rates than their peers is well documented. Additionally, the use of mentoring as a means of social support for AI students has been increasingly recognized as an important factor in a successful educational…