This book examines the structural and cultural factors that explain the persistence of an attainment gap between white and Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) students in UK universities. So-called 'deficit' approaches have long represented the orthodoxy in higher education strategy-making, yet they overlook the structural and institutional…

College student persistence is of the most challenging issues currently facing higher education. This study is an exploration of grit, tenacity, and perseverance as demonstrated by 43 first-year students at a small, teaching-intensive university in South Texas in response to two required exercises assigned in a first-year seminar. Student…

This conceptual paper aims to characterize science teachers' practical knowledge utilizing a virtue-based theory of knowledge and the Aristotelian notion of phronesis/practical wisdom. The article argues that a greater understanding of the concept of phronesis and its relevance to science education would enrich our understandings of teacher…

Originally, the mission of the community college was one of access--to provide an opportunity for students to attend postsecondary education without leaving their communities. Over time, though, as more students enrolled in these institutions, many never left with an associate's degree, credential, or transfer to a four-year college or university.…

In 2007, a group of researchers proposed the term "grit" to describe a trait in people who have the diligence and endurance to keep working for a goal in spite of various setbacks, such as extended lengths of time to reach the goal, changing interests, or other problems encountered along the way (Duckworth et al. 2007). According to…

The higher education community faces a wave of challenges. Concerns about affordability and costs have led to questions about the value of higher education to students and society. State and federal funding has been cut or has failed to grow as need has ballooned. Pressures to innovate clash with calls for preserving tradition. Values of academic…

In the autumn of 2014, the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) launched the "Admissions, Retention, and Completion Survey" (ARC) in an attempt to collect for the first time honors program benchmarking data on important admissions, persistence, and completion metrics, data that are already widely used throughout higher education…

This study has investigated the job satisfaction of public primary school teachers in terms of intrinsic aspect of job life, interpersonal relations, attitude of the management, physical facilities, working conditions, and benefits/incentives as an indicator of their job commitment. Through a multi stage sampling, 258 public primary school…

The purpose of this qualitative case study is an exploratory study to examine what contributes to the failure of the persistence of non-residential single-parents pursuing a college degree. The participants of this study included ten non-residential single-parent students between the ages of 21 and 50. The site of the interviews was in the…

This study used a qualitative interpretive approach to examine perceptions of adult students in their final semester prior to graduation by analyzing what they believe contributed to their persistence to degree completion. Participants were all pursuing undergraduate degrees, were 25 years-of-age or older, and were enrolled in one of three schools…

Different types and levels of motivation can play an important role for graduate students to continue their studies. The current research study was one of the few studies that examined if domestic and international graduate students differ on their level of different motivational orientations to continue their education. This study employs a…

Born on the eve of the Civil War, community colleges were designed to provide access to higher education for the masses. Community colleges, also referred to as "the people's college," were a radical departure from the traditional institutions of higher education. One significant difference, compared to other institutions of higher…

Increasing participation and continued persistence of women in computing is a perennial problem. This paper explores how participation in computing has been defined and the consequences definitions have on understanding women's persistence in computing. The data for this paper come from 64 in-depth, qualitative interviews with young women who in…

Many school districts across the United States face severe shortages of high school science and mathematics teachers. Moreover, college graduates that major in a Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM) field face unique opportunity costs when deciding to enter the teaching field. An analysis of the opportunity costs faced by STEM…

This issue of "Equity Dispatch" seeks to interrogate and redefine what it should mean to have a diverse workforce, specifically at the district level. When we begin to recognize the importance of holistic representations of difference, we can begin to shift the culture of our districts in equitable and inclusive ways.