Hope, the ability to establish goals, plan for the future, persist in the face of challenges, and motivate oneself throughout the goal cycle, is a social endeavor requiring the collective support and resources of families, school staff, and peers. Schools that teach and reinforce life skills (i.e., hope and social-emotional competence) are able to…

School leaders play a vital role in ensuring student achievement. In fact, they are second only to classroom instruction. All too often, however, principals are immersed in administrative duties with little time or training to become true leaders of learning who can shape the success of a school. This dissertation focuses on the need for central…

There is a critical need for teacher retention in all schools, and the need is even greater in urban schools in the U.S. There are disparities in teacher retention rates between teachers of color and white teachers, the latter staying in their roles at a higher rate. While teachers of color are entering the workforce at higher rates than a decade…

The problem addressed in this study was the equity gap in college certificate and degree completion between first and continuing generation college students. The purpose of this qualitative interpretive study was to examine the perceptions and experiences of first-generation, low-income students regarding their persistence decisions for…

The principles presented by the deficit model (Tinto, 1975) asserted that low socioeconomic (SES) minority post-secondary students failed to persist and successfully achieve graduation as a result of their inherent deficits. Sherman and Tinto (1975) posited that social and cultural capital deficiencies resulted in high attrition and low…

Postsecondary student performance has been studied in great detail by higher education systems and their stakeholders in attempts to identify what may contribute to increased rates of retention and degree completion. Research on predictors of postsecondary performance has focused significantly on the relationship between performance and…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether engaging in collaborative learning influences persistence to the 2nd year of college among 2,987 college freshmen at 19 institutions. Considering potential confounders such as sex, race, precollege academic ability, type of institution attended, college coursework taken, academic motivation, and…

Latina/o college students (N = 130) provided perceptions of psychological grit, presence of meaning in life, search for meaning in life, hope, life satisfaction, and mindfulness. Hope and mindfulness were significant predictors of psychological grit. A discussion regarding the importance of these findings and implications for counselors are…

The Predominately Undergraduate Institution in this study identified a sharp decline in external grant seeking during the 2007-2014 academic years. During these years some faculty applied for grants on a regular basis, but some faculty stopped seeking grants altogether. The first author interviewed 15 of the most persistent grant seekers to…

While considerable research explores the phenomenon of early-career teacher retention, surprisingly few studies report long-term intervention strategies that attempt to resolve this issue. For context, the paper briefly describes one exception, a seven-year longitudinal project involving over 170 secondary teachers that provides mechanisms to help…

The Black Teacher Project (BTP) is an organization that supports, develops and sustains Black teachers for schools in the United States. The organization is building a Black teaching force that reflects the diversity and excellence of Black people in the United States. In our pilot year, BTP offered racial affinity-based professional development…

Marygrove College's mission is to foster Christian values, educating students from diverse backgrounds, and serving the people of Detroit and beyond. This commitment consistently guides its actions, including opening its doors for men in a school originally for women by introducing one of the earlier Grow Your Own programs. Known as the…

Even with the best preparation, it is undeniable that novice teachers must gain significant knowledge and skills on the job. Induction programs are shown to be beneficial in mitigating the transition between preparation and practice for novice teachers and help to further prepare teachers, during their first years in the classroom (Ingersoll &…

This study investigated the individual experiences of adult undergraduate students, defined as those 25 years of age or older, to understand their perceptions of how they succeeded in completing their bachelor's degree programs. The sample of 15 participants was purposefully selected from a pool of Empire State College alumni who had graduated…

Using a descriptive phenomenological method, this study examined the influence of emotional intelligence on the tenure of senior pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The aim of the study was to seek evidence from the lived experiences of senior pastors with five or more consecutive years of service to determine if high emotional…