For too many community college students, transferring to a four-year institution for a bachelor's degree (i.e., vertical transfer) remains an unrealized aspiration. Prior research suggests that forms of capital can assist students in realizing their goals. Therefore, we sought to explore how relationships both within and outside of their…

K-12 schools in Ohio are partially evaluated on their ability to successfully graduate students with their four-year cohort. Educators have been tasked with improving graduation rates. This study examined one urban high school to understand and provide insights to increase its graduation rate. This school recently received a poor score from the…

Ohio African American millennials represent a relatively small percentage of the population, overall employment, and the student population in career technical education. Therefore, understanding how a postsecondary career technical education institution can better meet the needs of underserved students, is an integral part of recruiting,…

Much research has been conducted to indicate that the freshman year of high school has an impact on a student's potential graduation from high school. Existing literature reveals that through the evolution of education in the United States, schools have been forced to place a strong emphasis on graduation. Many factors, including academic success,…

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…

In 2019, MDRC launched the Scaling Up College Completion Efforts for Student Success (SUCCESS) project to improve college completion rates for traditionally underserved students, such as students from low-income backgrounds and students of color, at community and broad-access colleges (those that have open or minimally selective admissions…

Earning a bachelor's degree has been documented as a potential social equalizer in American society. Yet, it has also been documented that first-generation college students (FGCS) have incongruently accessed and earned college degrees. This phenomenon has potentially perpetuated life-long differences in social outcomes in American society. As…

The population of adult learners with Some College, No Credential (SCNC) has risen over the years to over 40 million individuals. A smaller subset of this population has debt that they owe their institutions directly in addition to state, federal, or private loans. As of 2020, approximately 6.6 million students owed more than $15 billion in…

To gain an understanding of how students perceive the messages they receive in their K-12 school-based sex education (SBSE) courses, it is important to talk with students who have recently taken these courses. This paper explores the curricula, messaging and environments of sex education courses delivered in schools in Ohio through twenty in-depth…

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…

Research suggests that hearing how students perceive their experiences (positive and negative) can allow institutions to reevaluate their approaches and assumptions about what is working (or not) on their campuses and develop strategic plans that respond to this information. In early 2022, the Center for Community College Student Engagement…

While enrollments in online writing courses (OWCs), especially online first-year writing courses (OFYWCs) continue to grow at public and private non-profit institutions in the U.S., online writing instruction (OWI) scholars argue this change signals a desperate need for additional research on teaching and writing in online learning environments…

At Zane State, guided pathways has served as a framework for bringing multiple changes together to support student success. The college has placed particular emphasis on helping students enter and stay on a program path by connecting them to faculty and advisors called success coaches from the start. A focus on early engagement and onboarding is…

Undocumented students face numerous hardships in their pursuit of higher education. Those who are part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program experience some improved college access and tuition affordability, but many administrative and financial barriers continue to impede their educational pursuits. This qualitative work…

Summer melt is a national phenomenon that occurs when high school graduates who intend to matriculate into higher education following graduation end up not doing so. This phenomenon is widespread across the country and enables the poverty cycle to continue. Over the last decade, national studies conducted to understand the summer melt phenomenon…