During the 2023-24 academic year, Oklahoma's state system of higher education conferred 38,077 degrees and certificates -- an increase of 2.2 percent (827 awards) compared to the previous year and 4.0 percent (1,451 awards) over the past five years. In alignment with high-demand fields and critical occupations, state system institutions have seen…

Background: Home and Community-Based Service Medicaid waivers may reduce unmet healthcare needs for individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD). However, whether certain groups of individuals are relatively disadvantaged in accessing Medicaid waivers is unclear. Objectives: This cross-sectional study aimed to identify…

Grade inflation is a nuanced phenomenon that has important implications for educational outcomes. This study shows that while high school GPA (HSGPA) remains an important predictor of student success in college, its predictive strength can be diluted in the presence of grade inflation. Practically speaking, high GPAs from schools with a history of…

Two experiments assessed how racial ambiguity and racial salience moderates the cross-race effect (CRE). In experiment 1, White and Black participants studied and identified the race of Asian, Black, Latino, and White faces that varied in ethnic typicality (high or low ET). For White participants, the CRE was larger when comparing high-ET White…

Purpose Volunteer activities play an important role in shaping students with various skills including self-identity and soft skills. This study aimed to explore the attitudes of outstanding students at the Arabic Academic College for Education in Israel and Students at Other Colleges in Israel towards voluntarism Methodology: There were two…

This research brief examines race-based disparities in the lifetime earnings of Kentuckians at the same educational attainment level. It relies on data from the 2016-18 American Community Survey to approximate lifetime earnings for full-time workers with at least a high school diploma. It is the third of three research briefs on lifetime earnings…

This article presents one qualitative study that examined college student leaders of color's social justice leadership and their engagement in controversy and difficult conversations about issues of injustices. Specifically, this article applies the "controversy with courage" element from the social action, leadership, and transformation…

Problem Addressed: To better understand the factors associated with family cancer history (FCH) information and cancer information seeking, we model the process an individual undergoes when assessing whether to gather FCH and seek cancer information and compare models by sociodemographics and family history of cancer. We used cross-sectional data…

Purpose: As US suburbs experience profound demographic shifts, scholars have expressed concern of rising segregation among suburban public schools. We extend this work by examining exposure to poverty by race and racial differences in exposure to economic disadvantage in the wake of the Great Recession across a typology of suburban neighborhoods…

Our objective was to estimate disparities in binge drinking among secondary school students in California at the intersection of gender identity, race, and ethnicity, without aggregating racial and ethnic categories. We combined two years of the statewide middle and high school California Healthy Kids Survey (n = 951,995) and regressed past month…

The University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC) is an urban research university with a special emphasis on fostering diversity. In 2021, the Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence created a Faculty Fellows program to develop comprehensive resources and support in four areas: teaching and learning, service and engagement, research and creativity,…

Despite rising enrollment for first generation college students (FGCS) and Hispanic FGCS, there is a disparity in college graduation rates across the United State compared to other groups. FGCS and Hispanic FGCS have historically been faced with more factors that disrupt higher education success. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the…

This study employed integrative data analysis techniques to examine the long-term effects of the family check-up (FCU) on changes in youth suicide risk using three randomized prevention trials, including one trial initiated in early childhood and two initiated in early adolescence. Data were harmonized across studies using moderated nonlinear…

A common consequence for students who engage in disruptive behaviors at school is their removal from the instructional environment. Depending on the frequency and/or intensity of the disruptive behavior, this removal occurs from classrooms (e.g., office discipline referrals), school buildings (e.g., suspensions), or districts (e.g., expulsions).…

With close to a million Texas students attending rural schools, research on what influences student achievement is needed to guide policy, practice, and further research. Building on research relating student demographic variables and per student spending in rural schools to student achievement, through this dissertation research I used…