This research explores how faculty members' conceptions of assessment and confidence in assessment change as a result of an instructor training course. Based on a sample of 27 faculty members enrolled in a semester-long instructional development course, this survey-based study provides initial evidence that faculty members can develop confidence…

The goal of this qualitative, narrative inquiry study was to explore the voices of community college students who have taken Career and Technical Education (CTE) while in high school, investigate if they perceived value from their high school CTE classes, and determine how those experiences impacted their high school and college educations. The…

This is the third data note on the project "Scaling Community College Baccalaureate Degrees: The Equity Imperative." The goal of this research is to examine degree-granting policies, institutional adoption, and program implementation related to community college baccalaureate (CCB) degrees in the United States. Given the changing policy…

According to the US Department of Education, adult learners make up 45% of all part-time enrollment in community colleges, compared to only 27% of full-time students. As the enrollment of adult learners in post-secondary education increases across the US, accountability efforts among higher education institutions has prioritized full-time…

Given the history of poor postschool outcomes for students with disabilities, researchers repeatedly sought to demonstrate the links between predictor variables and postschool outcomes for students with disabilities. This secondary data analysis used the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 to examine the relationship between postsecondary…

Online instruction, including online instruction that is blended with traditional in-person instruction, offers students more flexibility in the timing of their coursework and may deepen students' understanding of the material. By leveraging online courseware, colleges have the potential to expand college access, reduce costs, recruit a more…

Online instruction, including online instruction that is blended with traditional in-person instruction, offers students more flexibility in the timing of their coursework and may deepen students' understanding of the material. By leveraging online courseware, colleges have the potential to expand college access, reduce costs, recruit a more…

Online instruction, including online instruction that is blended with traditional in-person instruction, offers students more flexibility in the timing of their coursework and may deepen students' understanding of the material. By leveraging online courseware, colleges have the potential to expand college access, reduce costs, recruit a more…

For decades, social theorists have posited--and descriptive accounts have shown--that students isolated by both social class and ethnicity suffer extreme deprivations that limit the effectiveness of equal-opportunity interventions. Even educational programs that yield positive results for moderately disadvantaged students may not prove beneficial…

Building on a previous randomized experiment of the impact of Early Colleges (ECs) (Berger et al., 2013), this follow-up study assessed longer-term impacts of ECs on students' postsecondary outcomes 6 years after expected high school graduation. It also explored the extent to which students' high school experiences mediate EC impacts.…

The Exploring Making Through Mobile Emergent Technologies (EMMET) program sought to disrupt the trajectory from rural high school to factory floor by introducing STEM and computational thinking (STEM+C) skills through mentorship training and hands-on activities involving creative production--often referred to as "making." The program…

A significant challenge in higher education is to narrow the educational attainment gap between academically prepared and unprepared students. To this end, developmental or remedial education is intended to improve the academic skills and knowledge of students who are unprepared for undergraduate coursework, particularly in the areas of…

Every year, millions of new college students arrive on campus lacking the necessary academic skills to perform at the college level. Postsecondary institutions address this problem with extensive remedial programs designed to strengthen students' basic skills. While much research on the effectiveness of remedial education has been conducted,…

For southern New England, the middle-skills gap is projected to become acute by 2020, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Historically and currently, the middle-skills labor pool in Massachusetts has been significantly below national rates and has been recently experiencing a decline. Closing the middle-skills gap depends on improving…

This dissertation consists of three chapters that examine the effects of school and students improvement interventions. The first chapter investigates whether, for whom, and under which conditions high school mathematics and science course graduation requirements (CGRs) affect student achievement and educational attainment. Drawing on data from…