Chinese higher education institutions would be more effective in assisting college graduates to meet the requirements of an increasingly complex society if they had a better understanding of Chinese college student development. Self-authorship theory, which was initially developed for use in the USA, is relevant to contemporary Chinese society's…

Freshman seminars are a ubiquitous offering in higher education, but they have not been evaluated using matched comparisons with data at scale. In this work, we use transcript data on over 76,000 students to examine the impact of first-year interest groups (FIGs) on student graduation and retention. We first apply propensity score matching on…

Despite increases in the high school graduation rate in the United States, large disparities persist for English learners (ELs). These disparities are particularly important given that ELs are the fastest growing segment of the United States public school population. EL youth, though, are not a homogeneous population. Instead, EL youth speak many…

With a rapidly globalizing and automating economy, there never has been a better time to have the right skills--or a worse time to have the wrong ones. The right skills include a combination of the academic, technical, and social-emotional preparation necessary to succeed in the workplace. Some students may begin careers right after high school,…

High School graduation rates are key indicators of accountability for high schools and school districts in Oregon. Beginning with the 2008-09 school year, the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) implemented the cohort method of calculating graduation rates. The cohort method identifies the year the student entered high school for the first time…

This resource provides data on reporting requirements determined by state statute. Only statutorily created requirements are included. In this resource, the following categories are used: (1) student populations (e.g., recent high school graduates, total number or percentage of students enrolled in developmental courses); (2) student…

Despite advances made in broadening access to higher education, some evidence suggests that college completion rates have actually declined over time, and attainment gaps stemming from race/ethnicity and socioeconomic background have remained stubbornly persistent (Bound, Lovenheim, & Turner, 2010; National Center for Education Statistics,…

This paper presents a three-manuscript dissertation exploring the unmet needs for academic support of TRIO-eligible college students on the Goodman Campus of Holmes Community College (HCC) in Mississippi. The quantitative study uses descriptive and comparative statistic techniques to analyze two data sets, including the academic success of…

Mentoring in higher education and especially at the level of doctoral work is critical for mentees to feel supported during this arduous journey. This explanatory sequential mixed methods study investigated the mentoring experiences of Black female doctoral students in distributed doctoral programs and its effects on degree completion, efficacy,…

General Education (GE) is a distinctive feature of U.S. higher education. Regional accreditation standards emphasize the inclusion of a GE component in degree programs, the identification of learning outcomes, and the assessment of those outcomes. Although GE reform is occurring on many campuses, the role of student choice of GE courses has…

University administrators, boards of trustees, and state and federal legislators spend significant time and effort focused on retention and graduation rates at American colleges and universities. The California State University (CSU) is no exception with its systemwide focus on Graduation Initiative 2025 which includes a commitment to eliminate…

Latinx males have the lowest college degree attainment compared to all other male ethnic groups (PEW Research Center, 2017). While the literature identifies the barriers and challenges Latinx males experience accessing and succeeding in college, these students possess assets and cultural knowledge (Yosso, 2005) that can help them overcome barriers…

African American men's graduation rates from institutions of higher education are among the lowest of any demographic group in the United States. I interviewed African American men who shared their narratives on how they lived out their manhood on a mid-western public regional four-year university campus. The purpose of the study was to garner…

There is no national consensus on how school districts calculate high school achievement disparities between students who experience homelessness and those who do not. Using administrative student-level data from a mid-sized public school district in the Southern United States, we show that commonly used ways of defining which students are…

Online courses provide flexible learning opportunities, but research suggests that students may learn less and persist at lower rates compared to face-to-face settings. However, few research studies have investigated more distal effects of online education. In this study we analyzed six years of institutional data for three cohorts of students in…