In this study, we sought to understand African-American students' higher-education experiences in predominantly White universities. We utilized Baxter's relational dialectics theory to study components of focus-group discussions in order to understand the discourse and meaning-making process of participants. Our findings provide insight into the…

This study explored factors related to college adjustment in nonresidential first-year students. It was hypothesized that stress, family functioning, and coping strategies would predict academic, personal-emotional, and social adjustment in addition to institutional attachment. The sample comprised 167 first-year college students (ages 18-23)…

This study frames continued long-term participation in community engagement activities as indicative of a sense of "purpose" as defined by Damon, Menon, and Cotton Bronk (2003). Using data from US-based National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we examined factors that predict whether students participating in civic engagement…

The goal of the current study was to examine the predictive relationships among a set of cognitive-motivational variables that have been found in previous studies to support academic achievement. Student perception of a classroom's achievement goal structure (classroom mastery, classroom performance-approach, classroom performance-avoidance) was…

What does it mean to engage in strengths-based (SB) approaches from a social justice perspective? In this paper we explore the accounts of educators who work with youth experiencing social and educational barriers to describe what it might mean to engage in SB practices from a social justice perspective. Using data generated from interviews, we…

The term and construct "school-to-prison" pipeline has been widely used by advocates, researchers, and policymakers to describe the relationship between school disciplinary practices and increased risk of juvenile justice contact. It has been unclear whether the construct is a useful heuristic or a descriptor of empirically validated…

The transition from middle into high school can be perilous for some students. High school freshmen fail at an alarming rate. In a general sense, the environment, expectations, structure, and culture of high schools are different from middle schools. However, school leaders can implement transition programs that may promote success of 9th graders.…

In order to be able to compete in an increasingly competitive graduate labour market students need to develop their 'personal capital'. Participation in a range of relevant extracurricular activities (ECAs) is a key element to the development of personal capital. This paper carried out in-depth interviews with undergraduates in the first and final…

The objective of this study was to examine how Latina/o students perceive and describe their experiences at a Hispanic-Serving Institution. The following research questions were addressed: 1. What does a large scale study of student experiences reveal about Latina/o experiences in HSIs? 2. How do Latina/o students attending an HSI describe their…

This article examines what it means to 'hang out with mates' and the effect that 'hanging out' has on boys' academic success and behaviours. The research was conducted in three geographic and socio-economic diverse secondary schools within New Zealand using 200 boys aged between 12 and 18 years both as participants and researchers. The research…

In the last few decades universities became service providers. In this case an open question is raised: what is the student role then? This article aims to enlighten the discourse of the student role. At first glance, a student is supposed to be just a passive service consumer--a client. Yet recent service management literature proposes that…

The purpose of this research is to discover the extent to which prospective higher education students still in secondary education might identify with international branch campuses and the extent to which organisational identification and its individual components might influence students' behavioural intentions towards these institutions. The…

We posited student behaviors observed during the recruitment process may reveal a student's commitment to our institution and their initial motivation to succeed, which influences their level of integration and decision to leave college or remain. In particular, we examined the impact of participating in a college fair, visiting the campus before…

To examine disparities in education, the researcher utilized a naturalistic approach to uncover how youth think, talk, and feel about their response to schooling. Findings are based on in-depth conversations with 12 inner city African-American kids enrolled in Urban, USA middle and high schools, rarely heard from in the scholarly literature.…

Given the increasing need for the retention of satisfied and successful students, the purpose of this study was to explore the factors that influence the perceived quality of relationships formed between students and their academic departments. Based on the extensive review of interdisciplinary literature, the study proposed three…