In spite of the tremendous growth and an option which allows greater flexibility for students to pursue a higher education, certain barriers contribute to higher attrition rates and lower student performance in fully online courses. Poor or inefficient technology skills, a lack of student readiness, and misaligned course expectations are barriers…

The need for educating engineers in the United States continues as the projected demand is rising the number of high school seniors planning to enter engineering careers has remained relatively stable (Sargent, 2014). Additionally, figures show that attrition rates in undergraduate engineering continue to be an area of concern, (Sargent, 2014;…

Many science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) studies have focused on issues related to underrepresented groups' participation in STEM disciplines. Most of these studies have targeted women and individuals from racial minorities as the underrepresented groups of interest, while little attention has been paid to people with disabilities.…

This article relates the efforts of faculty at one community college to define standards for achievement of two SLOs (critical thinking and effective communication) and to gather and analyze evidence of how well students meet those standards. Faculty from 13 disciplines assessed writing samples from 265 students. We found that, in general,…

Supplemental Instruction (SI) is a growing student support service used to offer students peer-guided activities to improve course learning. The current research was conducted to answer two research questions: 1) Do those who participate in SI perform better in their courses than those who do not attend SI? 2) Are those who participate in SI more…

This study compared college course grade outcomes, both during and after high school, of dual-enrollment students to those of traditional students. The study was based on a large, multiyear sample of Iowa high school and community college students. The results showed that while in high school, dual-enrollment students consistently outperformed…

This study evaluates the impact of a College to University Pathway Program in the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at The University of Ontario Institute of Technology. The findings support the assertion that Pathway students perform as well as or better than students who enter university directly from secondary school. This finding is…

Objective: This study examined to what extent differences exist in pre-college characteristics and academic performance between Black male student-athletes and their student-athlete peers. Method: Data provided by the Florida Department of Education's PK-20 Education Data Warehouse (EDW) were analyzed as a function of group membership (gender and…

The relationship between attendance policies and student grades in college courses was investigated. Specifically, a calculated grade point average was determined for all academic classes taught at Shelton State Community College between 2000 and 2008. These grade point averages were compared descriptively and statistically in an effort to…

One fundamental aspect of engagement in higher education is faculty-student interaction (FSI). FSI has been associated with student success and persistence in both four- and two-year institutions. Due to limited research concerning diverse students, understanding student engagement in higher education is based on White, traditional-age students…

The transition to upper-level course work of transferring students, predominantly students from 2-year/community colleges, has been explored in recent education research literature. Yet, it has not been sufficiently explored whether and what academic support programs could be successful in supporting transfer students with the transfer process.…

The Futures Academy program provides students with the opportunity to fulfill high school graduation requirements while simultaneously earning industry certifications, college credits, and/or an Associate of Applied Science degree by August following their senior year. In addition to taking college courses, Futures Academy students must earn…

The U.S. Department of Education tested a set of promising, low-cost advising strategies, called "Find the Fit," designed to help low-income and "first generation" students enrolled in the Department's Upward Bound program choose more selective colleges and stay in until they complete a degree. About 200 Upward Bound projects…

In 2012, funding for many colleges and universities was determined by the graduation rate at the institutions. The problem that was addressed was a business question that many community college officials must solve as low student success rates measured by retention and student grade point average lead to higher dropout rates. The purpose of this…

This brief provides a comparison of the performance of undocumented students to that of U.S. citizens and other legal migrants using restricted-access data from one of the largest urban public university systems in the U.S. where many undocumented students are eligible for in-state tuition. Overall, undocumented students perform well in the…