Since fall 2019, Odessa College's dual credit program has grown by 67%. Texas' initiatives, around college, career, and military readiness (CCMR), certainly provided an impetus for growth in dual credit, but this tremendous level of growth points to a number of structural changes Odessa College made to its dual credit program. The article focuses…

A continuous topic of discussion in postsecondary success contexts is how institutions can assist students who need developmental education support. As part of an ongoing move away from lengthy developmental course sequences that delay students' time-to-degree completion, corequisite education models allow students to enroll in developmental…

This study characterises the ombuds office in higher education as an innovative practice of handling employee, staff, and student grievances. Though ombuds offices have had a place on many higher education campuses for some time, their function has evolved in response to a changing environment. Drawing on Open-Systems theory, this study views the…

Highlighting the work of the Texas Success Center, Dr. Luis Ponjuán discusses how he has collaboratively engaged with boards of trustees to develop equity-minded agendas to create spaces for brave conversations and help them use an equity-minded leadership approach toward student data for organization planning and change.

Community colleges have experienced many challenges since their establishment in 1902; however, the 21st century has brought new obstacles and opportunities. In turn, community college leaders have been called upon to address challenges such as the COVID-19 global pandemic, the demand from students for virtual course offerings, and financial…

In December of 2012 administrators for the University of Texas (UT) System announced a proposed merger of University of Texas-Brownsville and the University of Texas-Pan American "with an eye toward securing increased state funds and potentially building a medical school." The status of University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB) and…

Billions of dollars have been injected to reform turnaround schools over the past decades with minimal tangible positive outcomes related to improving student achievement, if any. In this qualitative study, we investigated how using longitudinal external root cause analyses (RCAs) contributed to enhancing leadership instructional practices in thee…

This study analyzes the acquisition of the Texas Wesleyan University School of Law by Texas A&M University. In particular, institution-level effects are examined by measuring selectivity, tuition prices, job outcomes, and bar passage rate before and after the law school changed names from a hyperregional institution to one of statewide…

In this qualitative collective case study, we investigated how participating in external longitudinal root cause analyses (RCAs) contributed to the enhancement of instructional leadership practices of the leadership teams in three turnaround elementary schools in Texas. We participated with an external team of expert professors in conducting the…

Efforts to prevent or persuade increased emphasis on academic research at state colleges and regional universities demonstrate how emerging fields of higher education can be influenced through various policies and incentives. Utilizing the concept of strategic action fields (Fligstein & McAdam, 2012), this paper explains changes in…

This article will describe how merging service points in an academic library is an opportunity to improve customer service and utilize staffing resources more efficiently. Combining service points provides libraries with the ability to create a more positive library experience for patrons by minimizing the ping-pong effect for assistance. The…

Education is the value proposition that provides individuals the opportunity to become meaningful contributors to society, their community, and their immediate families. It is the calling card of personal achievement and individual intrinsic benefits. Education is about access and opportunity. Institutions continue to navigate strategies of access…

Despite the expansive literature on higher education performance-based funding (PBF) policies, there is an oversaturation of quantitative studies focused on measuring metric performance at the statewide level. These studies have largely found that PBF fails to meet its goal of improving graduation rates and has unintended consequences for…

In 2017 the Texas Education Agency (TEA) launched the Systems of Great Schools (SGS) initiative. With a combination of incentives and capacity building, SGS attempts to transform how school districts approach school improvement. It calls on districts to manage school performance in new ways, expand access to school choice options, and take a…

The United Nations has set forth an ambitious vision for education systems around the globe: cultivating life-long learning from early childhood through an individual's civic and work life. Schools must support children and youth in basic learning--including crucial socio-emotional, literacy, and numeracy competencies--to contribute to sustainable…