Public discourse often frames the value of undergraduate education in financial terms--credentialing and increased earning power. Students must prepare to be self-supporting, but are financial prospects their only important goals? We asked 1,500 students from 11 U.S. colleges to write about their goals, the reasons their goals were important, and…

Hispanic students enroll in higher education as a strategy for upward mobility, but their completion rates demonstrate the significant challenges they face. In the state of California, 65 percent of Hispanic students attend a community college, and the two-year college system is struggling to increase the graduation and retention rates. The…

To better understand the intersections of race, ethnicity, gender identity, and sexual orientation, this report presents data drawn from the California Healthy Kids Survey (2017-2019) regarding high school students' social and emotional well-being, school experiences, engagement, and their perceptions of the supports they received at school. With…

This study explored personal agency and motivation of students enrolled in Linked Learning Pathways across low, mid-low, mid-high, and high poverty school settings. Specifically, the study examined student personal agency beliefs, goal setting practices, and student emotional connectedness. The researcher aimed to examine student perceptions of…

We explore possibilities for placing community college students in math using non-cognitive measures, such as indicators of motivation or students' educational plans. First, we use supplemental administrative data gathered during routine placement testing in a large urban community college district in California to conduct predictive exercises…

The author investigated the relationship between aspects of student motivation and performance on mathematical tasks varying in cognitive demand relevant to meeting the expectations of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSS-M). A sample of 479 primarily Latino middle school students completed established survey measures of…

Value-added (VA) models measure teacher contributions to student learning and are increasingly employed in educational reform efforts. Using data from 35 seventh-grade teachers and 2,026 students across seven schools, we employ VA methods to measure teacher contributions to students' motivational orientations (mastery and performance achievement…

A national initiative encourages STEM careers to prepare students to succeed in an increasingly competitive economy (National Research Council, 2011). The STEM pipeline is dependent on students' mathematics course-taking trajectories, which are determined once a student enrolls in his/her first Algebra course. Despite efforts to increase access to…

Research indicates that students are more likely to succeed when they experience the following six factors: (1) have a goal and a path leading to this goal; (2) stay motivated to achieve this outcome; (3) believe that their success matters to others; (4) are engaged in the classroom; (5) feel connected to the college community; and (6) feel they…

This research brief presents key findings and actionable themes from Student Support (Re)defined--a multi-year study that asked almost 900 students from 13 California community colleges what they think supports their educational success, paying special attention to the factors Africa Americans and Latinos cite as important to their achievement.…

Motivation is a fundamental educational challenge for adolescents in the United States, and particularly for immigrant youth. The motivation to achieve, especially in mathematics, declines during adolescence. Most of what is known about motivation is based on studies of predominately middle-class White students; yet the influx of immigrants over…

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…

The belief that a trait can be cultivated with effort, known as an "incremental theory or growth mindset," promotes behavior that leads to higher levels of achievement, such as the enthusiastic embrace of challenges and resilience to obstacles. Roughly 40% of the general student population in the United States, however, conceptualizes…

Educators and experts alike have come to a growing realization that academic factors alone do not tell the whole story of what it means to successfully navigate the educational system through high school and into higher education or the workplace. This national report from "Education Week" investigates the role that student engagement…

The purpose of this study was to explore the perspectives of staff and faculty regarding factors affecting student success in distance learning at a California community college (CCC). Participants were members of the leadership group known as the distance learning committee. Data were collected through in-depth interviews using open-ended…