Objective: Two-thirds of U.S. colleges are near vape shops, where higher rates of underage sales exist. This study examined vape shop compliance with state-mandated age-of-sale signs, the presence of age-of-entry signs and the tobacco industry's "We Card" sign. Participants: Random sample of 614 California vape shops, stratified by…

To complete the bachelor's degrees that 82% of community college students aspire to and that the knowledge economy needs, there is an obstacle: most students have to transfer to a four-year institution. But less than one third of all students and about one sixth of Black, Latinx, and Native American, or underserved minority (USM), students get…

Transferring from community college to university is a key lever for increasing income equality. Those with bachelor's degrees earn significantly higher lifetime incomes, and the sheer availability of jobs for those with only a high school diploma is declining. Broadly, research documents location as a salient factor in students' college-going…

Background/Context: Research on the patterns of philanthropic funding of charter schools has largely focused on the behavior of major foundations. This work has documented how the once diffuse giving by these major foundations has become increasingly concentrated on a small number of jurisdictional challengers in the form of charter schools,…

The California Community College (CCC) system serves a large student body, diverse in backgrounds, experiences, and educational goals. This report uses data from the CCC system's records to measure variation in achievement across the state's Strong Workforce Regions. We consider a range of achievement measures, including initial enrollments,…

In 2016, the Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges (RP Group) launched the "Through the Gate" transfer study, aimed to identify strategies for increasing transfer among "high-leverage learners" in the California Community Colleges (CCC)--individuals who have completed all or most of their transfer…

This study looked at the factors Latina mothers want to see in their children's preschool centers, in order to provide a more holistic approach for defining high-quality preschools. A qualitative study was conducted in which 40 Latina mothers from a western region of the United States were interviewed to understand their views about quality…

Conceptualizing and measuring levels of segregation in higher education is difficult as both vertical and horizontal sorting is prevalent and patterns vary across racial groups. In this paper, we measure various trends in racial segregation in California for 20 years. We find that the most selective four-year campuses are the least segregated and…

Autism prevalence has increased rapidly in the United States during the past two decades. We have previously shown that the diffusion of information about autism through spatially proximate social relations has contributed significantly to the epidemic. This study expands on this finding by identifying the focal points for interaction that drive…

Housing choice vouchers provide low-income households with additional income to spend on rental housing in the private market. The assistance vouchers provide is substantial, offering the potential to dramatically expand the neighborhood--and associated public schools--that low-income households can reach. However, existing research on the program…

This study investigates how much the geographic shapes of school attendance zones contributes to their levels of income segregation while holding constant levels of income segregation across residential areas. Income segregation across attendance zones is measured with the rank ordered information theory index. Income segregation across…

This thesis examines two uncommon topics in the economic literature regarding college access and completion: the role of college proximity in recent high school graduates' enrollment decisions, and how structural changes to the student experience at a postsecondary institution can affect college completion. The first chapter is a review of the…

Students in alternative education programs often experience differential access to faculty, advisors, university support systems, and the supportive culture established by being on campus. This study is a descriptive-exploratory program evaluation of the distributed learning social work mentoring program at California State University, Chico. The…

A significant number of distance students report they "stray" from their home universities by using local libraries, despite the fact that distance education librarians work hard to provide customized resources and services tailored to their programs and needs. Are public libraries and special libraries able to meet the research needs of…

Colleges and universities increasingly voice a concern for, and dedicate institutional attention to ethnic "diversity" within their student population, a trend that aligns with broader concerns about social (in-)equity in US Elementary and Secondary schools. Current operational definition of diversity focuses on demographic variety of…