Flipping the classroom to generate engaging and intentional student-driven lectures is the focus of this learning activity. The learning activity derived out of the necessity of making a 3-h, one day a week, in-person class engaging while adhering to social distancing measures and ensuring quarantining students were not at a disadvantage while…

This article's authors use student transcript data to identify differences in the study of economics among Black students at HBCUs and PWIs. The data show that a higher fraction of Black students at HBCUs initially intend to study economics, relative to those at PWIs (4.0% vs. 1.3% of micro principles enrollees) and persist in the major (9.4% vs.…

This essay examines the importance of student success in higher education, particularly for underserved and disadvantaged student populations. This essay provides a review of contemporary trends in national postsecondary completion and strategies to enhance student success outcomes which will provide thriving economies and a talented workforce.…

We examine effects of the pandemic on student attendance, course grades, and grade retention in North Carolina in 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 using descriptive and regression analyses. We find each outcome worsened on average in 2020-2021, with larger changes at the high end of the absence distribution, the low end of the grade distribution, and among…

The North Carolina Promise is a state-level policy that reduced the cost of tuition for all students who attended one of three campuses in the University of North Carolina System starting in fall of 2018. We use IPEDS data and a synthetic control approach to examine how this tuition reduction affected enrollment and persistence at these campuses.…

Western Carolina University (WCU) enrolls students from many different backgrounds and demographic categories. While access to the institution has expanded over the years, equity gaps still exist relative to retention and graduation outcomes for students in different demographic groups. Several offices at the University offer programing and…

Since the 2016 U.S. presidential election, increasing attention has been paid to rural communities. For our study, we used a multicase study approach that included five states to study the difference between the rhetoric about the need to focus more attention on rural communities soon after the 2016 election and the practiced reality of state…

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on students' experiences in school were widespread. Early research show reductions in test scores across grade levels and student groups. This study extends research evidence to additional student outcomes -- absences, course grades, and grad retention -- and to examine how pandemic effects are distributed…

We examine effects of the pandemic on student attendance, course grades, and grade retention in North Carolina in 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 using descriptive and regression analyses. We find each outcome worsened on average in 2020-2021, with larger changes at the high end of the absence distribution, the low end of the grade distribution, and among…

This article examines the impact of proactive, data-informed success coaching on students' retention and completion outcomes, drawing on theories of student engagement and a five-year (2016-2020), mixed-methods study of coaching conducted across 10 North Carolina community colleges. Results from a randomized controlled trial show that coaching…

This qualitative study describes and interprets how two educational leadership programs, participants in the UCEA (University Council for Educational Administration) Program Design Network Improvement Community, identified and responded to a problem of practice by focusing on the needs of each program regarding the recruitment, selection,…

For colleges of agriculture throughout the US, recruitment and retention of undergraduate students is a matter of existential importance. We analyzed personal statements written by applicants accepted to undergraduate degrees at North Carolina State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) to determine what pre-university…

Retention of students at a college or university is one of the highest priorities for an institution of higher education. This action research study specifically investigates improving retention of high-achieving, Generation-Z students at a private, liberal arts institution in North Carolina. Participants in the Cycle 1 data collection series were…

The volume of articles, books, and studies about increasing the retention, persistence, and graduation of undergraduate college students is nothing short of prolific (Seidman, 2005). However, only modest gains in undergraduate graduation rates have been made nationally (Chen, 2012; Seidman, 2005). Six-year graduation rates at all four-year…

Ten North Carolina community colleges participated in a large-scale experimental study of technology-enabled success coaching funded through the U.S. Department of Education's First in the World program. Results reveal positive impacts on longer-term retention, especially for Black students, suggesting that technology-enabled success coaching can…