This study investigates community college skills builders--students who enroll for a short time, take courses concentrated in career and technical education (CTE), are highly successful in their coursework, but typically leave college without a postsecondary credential. Drawing on administrative data from Colorado, Ohio, Michigan, and California,…

Recent studies have posited that K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education should go beyond traditional subject silos and take an interdisciplinary approach that integrates these core subjects into a cohesive curriculum to foster authentic problem-solving skills. The purpose of this study was to field test one of five…

California's K-12 funding and instructional policies for English learners (ELs) have changed significantly over the past 2 decades, including new requirements for instructional materials specific to ELs statewide and a new school funding system that funds ELs at a higher rate. These major policy shifts held the potential to change student learning…

With the aim of providing holistic approaches to education, social and emotional learning (SEL) has gained significant attention within school systems across the world. SEL has been defined as the process through which individuals understand and regulate emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy towards others, establish and…

This brief summarizes the key qualitative and quantitative research findings highlighting the ways in which the Academy for College Excellence (ACE) helped build the capacity of individuals facing numerous obstacles to success to thrive as students, participants in the workforce, and members of the community. The main goal of ACE is to prepare…

We present a longitudinal study of what graduates take away from a cross-disciplinary graduate-level New Product Development (NPD) course at UC Berkeley over a 15-year period from 1996-2010. We designed and deployed a longitudinal survey and interviewed a segment of our NPD alumni population to better understand how well our course prepared these…

Asynchronous discussions in the online teaching and learning environment significantly contributes to the achievement of student learning outcomes, which is dependent upon qualified and engaged faculty members. The discourse within this article addresses how an online university conducted faculty development through its unique Robust Learning…

The Graduate Student Internships for Career Exploration (GSICE) program at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), offers structured training and hands-on experience through internships for a broad range of PhD-level careers. The GSICE program model was successfully replicated at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis). Here, we…

Although an increasing number of first-generation students are beginning tertiary education, many are not completing their degrees. In an attempt to improve retention and graduation rates, learning communities responsive to the unique needs of first-generation students are becoming more common. This paper explores the implementation of ePortfolios…

In this study, tasks measuring digital media literacy developed by Stanford University were administered at a school in Finland to consider the efficacy and transfer of critical thinking (CT) skills of a 'pre-IB' cohort preparing to enter the two year International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) and a graduating 'IB2' cohort. While the IB2…

Purpose: To examine the enhancement of a university health course through the utilization of the CIPP Model as a means to develop an integrated service-learning component. Methods: The CIPP model was utilized in two concurrent semesters of an undergraduate health course in order to design and evaluate the implementation of a drug and alcohol…

Academic achievement for African American and Latino students is lower than for White and Asian students. To help overcome the achievement gap, policymakers and social scientists have focused on the relationships between student outcomes and family, community, and schools. Family, church, and community have always played significant roles in…

This brief presents a third party, external perspective on the Akamai Workforce Initiative (AWI), highlighting some of the contributions of the initiative over the last ten years. AWI is a program that seeks to develop a skilled local STEM workforce to meet the needs of Hawai'i's growing high-tech industry. It began as an internship program…

Recent efforts to improve developmental education have included references to learning communities as examples of effective practices in basic skills education. The study "Basic skills as a foundation for student success in California community colleges" (2007) cited research from Tinto that suggested that learning communities and…

Each year, a sizeable percentage of community college students enroll in remedial coursework to address skill deficiencies in math, writing, and/or reading. Unfortunately, the majority of these students do not attain college-level competency in the subjects in which they require remedial assistance. Moreover, students whose point of entry into the…