As the demand for higher education has grown, so has the role of community colleges in providing post-secondary education to students. The development of curriculum articulation and school transfer policies is one policy movement that demonstrates the extent to which state policymakers view community colleges as creating greater and broader access…

This longitudinal case study examined the effectiveness of the CO-OP Upward Bound Program activities from 2003 through 2008 applying cultural and social capital theories. The program was evaluated in order to give a local perspective to program implementation and operations in a community-based setting. The participant researcher used mixed…

The Converging Literacies Center (CLiC) is a deeply integrated model for writing programs, bringing together the writing center, first-year writing, basic writing, professional development activities, graduate coursework, and research activities to re-imagine and support twenty-first-century literacies. What is unique about CLiC is not merely the…

First-generation college students face a number of barriers to academic success and completion of their degrees. Using Bronfenbrenner's (1989) ecological theory as a framework, qualitative research was used to examine the experiences of 10 first-generation Appalachian Kentucky university students (mean age = 21 years) and factors they attributed…

Marginalized college students are retained at disproportional rates than their counterparts. A major factor of retention is student engagement in the classroom, which can be impacted by course design and instruction. Critical pedagogy aims to value all students' experiences through six elements of course design and instruction: decreasing teacher…

This paper is based on findings from the first phase of a longitudinal project examining how a group of students from diverse backgrounds succeed in higher education. The concept of perspective transformation is used to explore students' stories about factors that influenced them on their journey to university, including socio-economic background,…

This paper offers a comprehensive description of the academic and social support systems for low-income, first-generation students attending a major four-year, for-profit, multi-campus university. College retention and success research has determined that effective support services succeed in retaining and graduating low-income, first-generation…

This research study explores the first-generation undergraduate Latino male student experience at a Predominantly White Institution (PWI) affiliated within Latino Greek fraternities. The Psychosociocultural (PSC) model (Gloria & Rodriguez, 2000; Pope & Reynolds, 2000) that is used highlights the psychological, social and cultural contributing…

Academic dismissal resulting from poor scholastic achievement is an unfortunate reality at American universities, and one that involves students, faculty, and academic advisers. This chapter analyzes learning outcomes of the academic dismissal process for first-generation college students (FGS) resulting from a year-long study conducted at a…

In the United States first-generation students (FGSs), those who are the first in their families to attend university, are recognised as disadvantaged and receive government support. Amidst affirmative action debates in higher education in South Africa, an increased awareness has emerged about challenges that FGSs in this country face. A…

This retrospective interview study investigated the role of parental support in the writing growth of eight first-generation Latino college students in the years prior to admission to a 4-year university. All of the students came from low-income households in urban settings and spoke zero English at the time they entered kindergarten. Participants…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychosocial factors that affect the persistence of the 2002 cohort of first-generation college students at a Historically Black University. Specifically, this investigation was concerned with the relationship between persistence and selected demographic, academic, financial aid, and family…

This study asks the question: what are the promising practices for transferring students from two-year to four-year institutions? To answer this question, the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education conducted a study to examine the institutional characteristics, practices, and policies that might contribute to assuring that…

Students who are first in their families to pursue higher education are often less likely to receive the academic, social, and financial support needed to experience success when compared to students from college-educated families. This study examined the perceived differences among salient factors influencing the pursuit of higher education…

This paper focuses on a little known Bernstein concept of "gender codes" developed in the study of schooling, suggesting that schools transmit hidden gender messages though a range of semiotic devices. Initially, the paper shows how Bernstein's 1970s' research provided a novel way of looking at some critical issues current in educational…