Every time Dr. Larry Shinagawa teaches his "Introduction to Asian American Studies" course at the University of Maryland (UMD), College Park, he finds that 10 to 20 percent of his students are adoptees. Among other things, they hunger to better comprehend the social and political circumstances overseas leading to their adoption. In…

According to the 2008 U.S. Census, there are 15.5 million Asian Americans in the United States, and 17% are students enrolled in a university (Shea & Yeh, 2008). Asian American college students in higher education are oftentimes perceived as the "model minority" with high academic achievements and few mental and/or behavioral…

Purpose: The purpose of this causal-comparative quantitative study was to examine the effect of Texas' Closing the Gaps by 2015 college readiness plan on graduation and persistence rates in community colleges. Specifically examined in this study were the graduation and persistence rates and the 4-year and 6-year graduation rates of Texas community…

The "2019 Nebraska Higher Education Progress Report" is the fourteenth annual report designed to provide the Nebraska Legislature with comparative statistics to monitor and evaluate progress toward achieving three major goals for Nebraska's postsecondary education system: (1) Increase the number of students who enter postsecondary…

The past year highlighted and heightened California's key challenges. Millions of Californians lost jobs and income during the COVID-19 crisis; low-income families, communities of color, and women were hit hardest. As schools and universities shifted rapidly to remote learning, educators and parents scrambled to provide all students with…

The understanding of Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) students, beyond stereotypes, has been limited (Museus, 2009). Although literature on transfer students has grown, the limited research on AAPI transfer students is lacking. A more accurate portrayal of their academic progress needs to be examined. One of the ways to better understand…

This report provides information on the retention, graduation, and transfer rates of first-time, full-time students entering Maryland community colleges between 1991 and 2011. The report includes information on retention and graduation of students within two, three, and four years of matriculation at a Maryland community college. The Appendix also…

Since the release of the Coleman Report in 1966, studies (such as Sirin, 2005; Radford, Berkner, Wheeless, & Shepherd, 2010) have continued to find an association between socioeconomic status and educational attainment. Wyner, Bridgeland, and Diiulio (2007) observe that a progressively lower proportion of low-income, high achieving students…

Academic year 2009-2010 was a banner year for associate degree conferrals in the United States. In just one year, the total number of degrees awarded increased from slightly less than 790,000 to nearly 850,000, an increase of 8 percent. Minorities receive one-third of all associate degrees conferred in the U.S., with nearly equal numbers going to…

According to the Geneseo Migrant Center, 1 million to 3 million migrant workers leave their homes each year to work in agricultural fields, many coming to the United States from homes in Mexico and Latin America. The Pew Hispanic Center recently reported that one in four U.S. farm workers is an unauthorized immigrant, meaning they lack either a…

This "Focus On" first considers the role two-year colleges (TYCs) play in post-secondary physics education. In their 2007 Survey of Undergraduate Seniors in degree-granting physics departments, the authors asked students if they had begun their post-secondary education at a TYC. Nine percent of the physics undergraduate seniors in 2007…

This report provides information on the retention, graduation, and transfer rates of first-time, full-time students entering Maryland community colleges between 2000 and 2010. The report examines retention and graduation data for students within two, three, and four years after matriculation into a community college. The Appendix contains tables…

This primer introduces 23 practices designed to support students inside and outside of the classroom and increase their community college success. These case studies illustrate the five themes for effective student support that emerged from Student Support (Re)defined--a multi-year study performed by the Research and Planning Group for California…

This annual report from Ruffalo Noel Levitz goes beyond the usual metrics of standardized test scores and high school transcripts to explore a wide range of non-cognitive attitudes and motivations that influence student retention and college completion rates. The report is based on student survey responses drawn from a sizable sample of incoming…

This paper examines two topics understudied in higher education: the within group diversity of ethnic subgroups subsumed by the label Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) and minority-serving institutions. Using structural equation modeling, this paper examines the college pathways of community college students in Hawai'i through the…