This study explored factors that influence the postsecondary career decisions of 427 11th and 12th grade students in a guaranteed tuition-based school district in a Midwestern state. Since 2005, this district has had a "Promise" program where eligible students can get up to 100% of their postsecondary tuition paid to attend a college,…

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to examine the spiritual resilience and post-secondary academic success of graduates from a Protestant Christian school serving preschool through secondary. In this case study, the researcher strove to measure the five most recent graduating classes' spiritual resiliency, perceptions of the impact of the…

Purpose: This study aims to explore the stories of two young refugee women, Sue Mar and Amora, and how their adolescent identities, experiences, and beliefs, partially shaped by their English teacher, helped pave their paths to higher education. Design/methodology/approach: This study is guided by the lens of critical literacy as "a way of…

The purpose of this study was to explore the rural schooling experience of ten high school students attending a small high school located in a rural county in Indiana regarding college and postsecondary aspirations. Specifically, do they have a positive, negative, or neutral view of college? Who or what is influencing their perceptions, values,…

Grounded in Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), this study contributes to empirical efforts to understand factors affecting the career-development process of American youth by focusing on change in occupational expectations between age 16 and 26. The study is based on the secondary analysis of longitudinal data from the Education Longitudinal…

Introduction: High school students' self-efficacy beliefs about their ability to successfully obtain a first postsecondary destination in employment, education or training, and the learning sources of these beliefs were examined. Method: Factor analysis of an inventory administered to 1044 high school students (573 males and 471 females) who…

This article highlights the voices of two 11th grade boys of color (one Black and one Latino), attending one U.S. urban charter school, as they describe the various ways their families supported their college going efforts. This study finds that these participants were equipped with what the author conceptualizes as "college going familial…

Monitoring the Future (MTF) is a long-term study of substance use and related factors among U.S. adolescents, college students, and adult high school graduates through age 55. It is conducted annually and supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. MTF findings identify emerging susbstance use problems, track substance use trends, and…

Substance use is a leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality; it is in large part why, among 17 high-income nations, people in the U.S. have the highest probability of dying by age 50. Substance use is also an important contributor to many social ills including child and spouse abuse, violence more generally, theft, suicide, and more;…

The present volume presents new 2017 findings from the U.S. national Monitoring the Future (MTF) follow-up study concerning substance use among the nation's college students and adults from ages 19 through 55. The authors report 2017 prevalence estimates on numerous illicit and licit substances, examine how substance use differs across this age…

Discussions at the local, state, and national level have been focused on the importance of providing access and opportunity for college attendance. While these discussions are important to raising public interest in higher education attainment, they often negate how community values influence the college attendance decision process. This study…