Quantitative reasoning takes on different meanings based on experience and background. Across the curriculum students have various needs for their quantitative reasoning experience. As a result, at our university students have a range of choices that more closely fit their future needs. Seven different departments across campus offer quantitative…

Agricultural educators can have a profound impact on student's lives and are often aware of their students' life experiences outside of the classroom. Students often treat their agricultural educator as a mentor, which increases their likeliness of confiding in them when facing hardships, such as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). An ACE is…

This dissertation examined the acculturation experience of community college international students in the hopes of providing practitioners with a guide on best support practices. Considering the important contributions international students at community colleges make to the economy and the diverse environment at community colleges, it is…

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the existing Student Inquiry and Research program at Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy transitioned to a remote-only format. This paper describes the mentoring of 12 high school juniors and seniors in yearlong remote research projects involving plant biology and protein engineering. Working in groups of two or…

Active teaching methods are believed to facilitate higher-order thinking skills and prepare allied health students for independent clinical decision-making. This quantitative, correlational study aimed to explain the relationships between student preferences for active over traditional methods and their beliefs, the frequency and positiveness of…

This research was conducted as a qualitative study of African American college students' racialized and academic experiences while completing the teacher preparation program at their respective universities. This study was carried out at three predominantly White institutions (PWIs) of varying sizes in rural, urban, and suburban cities in the…

This scholarly personal narrative explores the experiences of a graduate-student turned tenure-track faculty member engaging religion and spirituality in the curriculum. Using autoethnographic methods, the author reflects on his curricular experiences in a student affairs master's program at a faith-based institution and his early career…

The Research Apprentice Program is a pre-college, summer enrichment program that seeks to recruit underrepresented students into the field of agriculture and the College of ACES at the University of Illinois. The program has been in operation for more than thirty years and has reported many successes. Among these successes are a recruitment rate…

Background/Context: This article is a policy discussion of the edTPA preservice portfolio assessment; it uses Foucault's work and our data to suggest a more critical and activist approach to the assessment. Currently 764 teacher education programs in 40 states have included the edTPA as part of their requirements. In Illinois, it is a newly…

Postsecondary education is associated with achieving economic self-sufficiency and other positive outcomes. Young people in foster care face challenges pursuing postsecondary education, which can lead to them being less likely than their peers to enroll in college and less likely to earn a degree when enrolled. One federal initiative meant to…

This study explored students' perceptions of the library's impact on their academic success based on open-ended responses from a 2018 survey assessing student use and satisfaction. The qualitative findings demonstrated differences in the library resources students perceived as contributing to their achievements, based on such demographics as race,…

The purpose of this descriptive, nonexperimental quantitative research study was to examine Illinois High School Principals' perceptions of principal leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. Areas of focus include daily leadership responsibilities, instructional leadership, and associated stressors. Quantitative data were collected through a…

This qualitative study examines reflections of 11 Latinx youth in Illinois and Colorado in their predominantly White, suburban high schools. We center the experiences and perspectives of Latinx youth, as we stand to gain insights into how they perceive their schools prepared and impacted their engagement for civic life. We highlight how youth from…

The global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and related closures that began in spring of 2020 created an unprecedented challenge for higher education broadly and social work education specifically. This article describes qualitative data collected from a survey of social work educators in the spring of 2020. Social work educators from across the…

This article presents findings from a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) study on the experiences of six undocumented college students at a community college in the Midwest United States. We focused on two main research questions: What are some of the key developmental experiences of undocumented youth? What is the impact of these…