Researchers in higher education frequently evaluate institutional effectiveness as the difference between an actual and predicted graduation rate, but little is known about whether such a method is reliable or valid. This study examines the measurement properties of effectiveness scores derived from regression residuals for community colleges in…

Students often lose interest in critical foundational courses that act as a gateway to successive courses and careers. Utility value (UV) writing interventions have been designed to help students find the personal relevance and value of course material in order to promote interest and performance. However, little is known about how best to…

State policymakers in the United States have in recent years experimented with new initiatives to change the procedures used by public institutions to assess and assign academically underprepared students to non-credit developmental education (or remedial) courses. This study explores whether the most recent developmental education reform in…

Honors programs at two-year colleges vary substantially in scope, size, and structure depending on an individual college's mission, campus culture, and budget. One common curricular feature, however, is the honors seminar. However, little information is available on creating honors seminars at two-year schools. Our essay responds to this deficit…

Utility-value (UV) writing interventions help students find the personal relevance of course material to promote interest and performance. However, little is known about how best to frame the intervention, particularly in the 2-year college context where students have more varied backgrounds than the samples previously studied. Using a randomized…

This dissertation study has sought to understand both the experiences and expectations provided to students participating in a single basic writing course at a two-year college. Analysis of student writing artifacts, with the goal of comparing 21st century student written purpose with the written purposes shown in 19th century African American…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the effect that course format had on student success rates and withdrawal rates at an Alabama community college from 2012 to 2014. The goal was to determine if students who were enrolled in online, hybrid, or face-to-face developmental courses were more or less likely to withdraw from those…

This paper describes the Latino male transfer process from a community college to a four-year institution. Using a phenomenological qualitative process, the Latino male experience is analyzed to find common factors in the transfer process. The study's findings are compared to determine whether the Schlossberg transition model applies as a…

Purpose: The purpose of this journal-ready dissertation was to examine dual credit enrollment with respect to student demographic characteristics and to student success of Texas community college students. The first purpose was to describe the demographic characteristics with respect to gender and ethnicity/race of Texas community college students…

The purpose of this note is to develop insight into the performance of the individual fixed-effects model when used to estimate wage returns to postsecondary schooling. We focus our attention on the returns to attending and completing community college. While other methods (instrumental variables, regression discontinuity) have been used to…

This study problematizes the common discourse that rapid and widespread Latina/o demographic growth in the United States is a driving force in realizing higher education equity gains. Using equity indices for students, faculty, and administrative leaders at the state level, we present a portrait of changes in Latina/o participation in higher…

Classrooms, both by design and by accident, have been used to teach and reinforce certain ethics and ideologies. Examining the actual structures of a classroom one can recognize forces often hidden or considered background revealing how students and instructors together are culturally bound by educational spaces. Considerable research exists that…

Active instructional approaches have been demonstrated to result in greater student achievement, prompting institutions to transition to more active learning environments. However, little work has been conducted to specifically measure the retention of knowledge gained. The purpose of the research presented here was to test assumptions regarding…

Disparities exist among Latinos in educational attainment. These disparities are magnified when comparing their access, persistence, and degree attainment to their Caucasian and Asian American counterparts. The purpose of this quantitative study is to discover the impact of cultural competence among academic advising professionals as it relates to…

This is a mixed method study focusing on African-American Female (AAF) student experiences and success in the community college. This study was focused at a large southeastern, comprehensive community college. A chi-squared analysis of extant data concerning questions from the Community College Survey for Student Engagement (CCSSE) instrument was…