Access to post-secondary education for first-generation college students (FGCS) has become even more important after COVID-19 brought to the forefront the most affected in the workforce: those who had a high school degree or less. College access programs play a vital role to move the needle in closing the educational achievement gap. These…

This article reports on research investigating the aspirations of pupils in primary schools located in low-socioeconomic areas in one English county. The research adopted a qualitative approach to explore aspirations, self-efficacy, opinions regarding the merits of investment in education, and notions of perceived future selves. The research also…

Grade 7 students are not college-ready because they do not have skills for applying, accessing, or identifying their college needs. Students do not know the opportunities and resources available to help gain acceptance into college and feel they cannot apply for college due to financial, academic, career, or personal reasons. Districts fall short…

Indulgence in risky behavior is a reason for low academic performance. We hypothesized that four constructs including academic aspiration, self-confidence, interest in schooling, and peer influence mediate the relationship between risky behavior and academic performance. Data are from 1256 school-going girls in urban slums who came from the lowest…

Limited research exists on rural student academic aspirations from a counseling perspective. Much of the existing research focuses on the high school years and their implications for college. This study explores the relationship between place attachment, academic self-efficacy, and academic aspirations in rural elementary students. The sample…

The study was a comparison of general students of promise affect and mathematical students of promise affect after doing a mathematical modeling activity. Participants? gender (n=160), in grades 7-8, were nearly equal in number (81 girls & 79 boys). After completing a Model-eliciting Activity (MEA) in groups of three, participants completed…

Drawing from the concepts of social constructionism, the article provides insights on how six purposively sampled Grade 6 vulnerable children, aged between 11-15, from poverty-stricken families, child-headed households and those allegedly orphaned by AIDS, resiliently navigated their schooling spaces and places in one rural, primary school in…

The aim of this study to create a comprehensive overview of factors that may influence motivation of ethnic minority students from their own perspective. A systematic review was conducted in PubMed, ERIC, and PsycINFO to find studies in which the motivation of ethnic minority students was studied. The articles reviewed were qualitatively…

Indigenous students remain vastly under-represented within higher education in Australia. While aspirations have been a key focus of the widening participation agenda, the aspirations of Indigenous students have largely been overlooked. Drawing on survey data collected as part of a mixed methods longitudinal study conducted with students in Years…

The work of professional school counselors in helping students achieve academically and increasing their college-going rates is significant work. Research indicates that high school and even middle school is often too late for students to begin the process of college and career planning. This dissertation includes two manuscripts. The first…

In this study, we analyse the predictive power of home and school environment-related factors for determining pupils' aggression. The multiple regression analyses are performed for fourth- and eighth-grade pupils based on the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2007 (N = 8394) and TIMSS 2011 (N = 9415) databases for Slovenia. At the…

This study examined the relationships of college knowledge and parent education level with these college-going beliefs: (a) self-efficacy, (b) outcome expectations, (c) likelihood both to go to and graduate from college, (d) choice intentions, and (e) educational goals. Social Cognitive Career Theory (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) provided the…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate how students at Henry Lord Middle School in Fall River take into consideration their initial college and career aspirations when making their decision for high school. Self-efficacy theory, critical theory, and a literature review related to high school decision-making inform the analysis of…

This study examined how demographic and psychological factors shape the involvement of Japanese mothers in their children's education. The five demographic variables studied were family income, maternal education, family size, mothers' employment status, and sex of the child. Three forms of parental cognition were also studied: mothers'…

The evaluation of an elementary classroom self-regulated learning program aimed at the central causes of academic underachievement is recounted. The participants of the study were 36 Fourth Grade gifted underachievers in mathematics, who were identified in a sample of 1200 students. The training program developed by Zimmerman, Bonner and Kovach…