In the present study, we analyzed the narratives embedded in the undergraduate personal statements of 40 nontraditional students--ages 25 years and older--accepted to an undergraduate degree program in agriculture and life sciences. Although widely available to universities, personal statements have been overlooked in the literature of…

In the United States, our traditional educational model is outdated, with subpar academic achievement and a high dropout rate. Alternative education provides non-traditional settings designed to help prevent students from falling through the cracks, but the atypical format and at-risk population can make it difficult to assess how effective…

The absence of federal support leaves undocumented students reliant on state policies to financially support their postsecondary education. We descriptively examine the postsecondary trajectories of tens of thousands of undocumented students newly eligible for California's state aid program, using detailed application data to compare them to…

The absence of federal support leaves undocumented students reliant on state policies to financially support their postsecondary education. We descriptively examine the postsecondary trajectories of tens of thousands of undocumented students newly eligible for California's state-aid program, using detailed application data to compare them to…

The purpose of this study was to establish the influence of peer pressure on secondary school students' drop out in Rongo Sub-County, Migori County, Kenya. The statement of the problem showed that the sub-county had a dropout rate of 43 percent as compared to the neighboring sub counties like Uriri, Awendo, Nyatike, Kuria and Migori which had 25,…

The relationship between aspirations and educational outcomes has been underexplored in sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing on six waves of panel data from the Malawi Schooling and Adolescent Study, I use discrete time models to examine the relationship between aspirations for both education and marriage, and school dropout in Southern Malawi. Results…

No course exists in isolation, so examining student progression through courses within a broader program context is an important step in integrating course-level and program-level analytics. Integration in this manner allows us to see the impact of course-level changes to the program, as well as identify points in the program structure where…

Background/Context: Early warning indicators (EWI) are often used by states and districts to identify students who are not on track to finish high school, and provide supports/interventions to increase the odds the student will graduate. While EWI are diverse in terms of the academic behaviors they capture, research suggests that indicators like…

Unrealistic expectations with regard to one's study program has been linked to negative consequences for future academic success. Previous studies that have shown this are often retrospective, however, and focus on performance-related expectations (e.g. expected grades), while unrealistic expectations about the required effort and the content of…

There is an increasing acknowledgment that suicidal behaviors are negatively affected by school failure in adolescents and young adults. However, no systematic reviews with meta-analysis have been performed to evaluate the strength of this association. We assessed the magnitude of association of school failure as risk factor for suicide behavior…

The aim of this article is to examine how EU lifelong learning policies are trying to reach the vulnerable by looking at what measures against social exclusion they offer and how equitable these measures are. It is a qualitative study that focuses on policy documents that form the European Union's legal and political frameworks of reference in the…

Background: Information is available about what predicts Lidcombe Program treatment time, but nothing is known about what predicts treatment prognosis. Aims: To investigate the predictors of treatment dropout and treatment outcome for children who were treated for early stuttering with the Lidcombe Program (N = 277). Methods & Procedures: A…

Appalachia has low rates of college attendance and graduation, but relevant data investigating student attrition from physiology majors in this region are lacking. This exploratory study examined freshman attrition from an undergraduate exercise physiology program in Appalachia with the goal of identifying potential strategies for improving…

It is estimated that only approximately 20 percent of adult European Roma have attained higher than primary education. Scholars have identified different potential causes of the unfavourable school outcomes achieved by Roma students. Cultural differences between the (traditional) way of life in Roma families and the values professed by the…

Educational Data Mining plays a critical role in advancing the learning environment by contributing state-of-the-art methods, techniques, and applications. The recent development provides valuable tools for understanding the student learning environment by exploring and utilizing educational data using machine learning and data mining techniques.…