The nation's community colleges play a central role in producing a more educated workforce and promoting social mobility. They serve about 40 percent of all college students and, not surprisingly, they serve a disproportionate number of low-income and underrepresented students. But most students who enter these colleges do not graduate--only about…

This study evaluates if persistence and completion rates increased after (a) establishing a centralized advising center for entering freshmen, (b) developing a mandatory new student orientation program, and (c) revising the curriculum for the college's student success course. For this study, persistence is defined as the percentage of first-time…

Perhaps if we had a better understanding between the relationships among indicators of success in college, college student self-efficacy and participation in programs that help students succeed in college, we could improve success rates and persistence in post-secondary education. This mixed methods study sheds light on the relationship among…

In contrast to the increase in college enrollment rates of youth with learning disabilities (LD), graduation rates have remained stagnant and low. Using propensity methods, this study examined the effect of disability-specific and universally available support receipt on the college perseverance and completion of students with LD. Based on…

Wesley College secured a five-year National Science Foundation (NSF) S-STEM (scholarships in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) grant (1355554) to provide affordability and access to its robust STEM programs. With these funds, the college initiated a freshman to senior level, mixed-cohort, Cannon Scholar (CS) learning community…

As the need for educated workers in the workforce grows at the national and state level, educating low-skilled adults is one way of addressing the skills gap. Adult education programs offer low-skilled adults an opportunity to increase basic academic skills and prepare for college and career. Today, transitioning students from adult education…

This study focused on the impact of Supplemental Instruction (SI) on student achievement in first semester Calculus for transfer students over a three-year period. Transfer students participating in SI achieved dramatically higher passing rates and course grades than did non-SI transfer students, despite no significant differences in academic…

While college enrollment among low-income students has increased steadily over the last decade, the share of students from the lowest-income families that enroll in college continues to lag considerably behind college entry rates among the highest income students. Furthermore, gaps in college completion by family income have only widened over…

This study examined the effect of the NOVA program, a Students Support Services program at Eastern Kentucky University, on academic success for first-generation and low-income college students. An archival database was used to identify differences in the level of academic success among first-year students in the NOVA program from fall-to-fall of…

Increasing numbers of underprepared students are admitted to colleges and universities with aspirations of earning a degree in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) discipline. Transitioning to college is difficult for all students, but can be especially challenging for the underprepared STEM student. Many of these students are…

The 6-yr degree-completion rate of undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors at U.S. colleges and universities is less than 40%. Persistence among women and underrepresented minorities (URMs), including African-American, Latino/a, Native American, and Pacific Islander students, is even more troubling, as these…

This research study compared the effects of the intrusive form of developmental academic advising (IDAA) and the influence of additional academic support services on the mean cumulative Grade Point Averages (GPAs) of 4 randomly assembled groups of academically at-risk college students during 2 separate semesters. Academically at-risk students are…

It is widely accepted that postsecondary education has become a necessity for US youth. College access, however, has been found not to be equal for all. As a result, federally funded college-readiness programs, such as Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP), have been established to increase the numbers of…

The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of learning communities for underprepared first-year students. The topic was examined by synthesizing data collected on a cohort of first-year college students participating in a "developmental" (special admittance) program. A quasi-experimental design evaluated the effectiveness of…

Supplemental Instruction (SI) is a national program designed to aid college student learning. Many researchers have noted that analysis of the impact of the SI program on student achievement is problematic as a result of the inherent self-selection bias. We apply a sufficiently sophisticated statistical technique that controls for the…