Background: In response to the effort to increase minority enrollment in college science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors, STEM summer bridge programs were created to help minorities with the transition from high school to college with the long-term goal of increasing the diversity of professionals in STEM. The goal of this…

This article looks at the effects of culture on the success of disadvantaged students in higher education, and in turn, the success or effectiveness of college bridge programs. McBay (1995) contends that there is no program that completely addresses the needs of disadvantaged students, but there are lessons to be learned. With this in mind, one…

The authors aim to illustrate the vernacular notion of reverse discrimination in higher education in the Trump era and beyond. While mapping out how a Whiteness affect morphs from White fragility to victimhood, the study uses Critical Race Theory to examine the discourse of reverse discrimination in a predominately White institution. The authors…

This essay examines the importance of student success in higher education, particularly for underserved and disadvantaged student populations. This essay provides a review of contemporary trends in national postsecondary completion and strategies to enhance student success outcomes which will provide thriving economies and a talented workforce.…

This invited article is a precursor to the Racial Justice in Literacy Research Report. It is framed around the key concepts of equity, literacy, race, and their intersections in the field of literacy research. The authors make the case that antiracism is the best antidote to a history of unacknowledged racism in the field and in contemporary…

Operating from intersecting theories of validation, marginality, and mattering, this phenomenological study investigated undocumented student support services from the perspective of 49 Undocumented Student Resource Center (USRC) practitioners. In-depth interviews highlighted the ways that USRC practitioners served as validating agents, directly…

A robust cybersecurity workforce is critical for protection against a range of malicious attacks. However, it has been noted that there are many vacancies and a shortage of individuals entering the cybersecurity workforce. This workforce shortage has partly been attributed to the lack of diversity in the cybersecurity field, with women, African…

Presently, there is a political attack on LGBTQ+ individuals, especially in southern states. In 2022, six southern states (Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas) enacted laws that prohibit discussing LGBTQ+ students or issues within P-12 schools. These laws perpetuate heteronormativity and create intolerant and unsafe…

Cultural taxation is a term used by some to describe the additional work required of faculty of color as representatives of their racial or ethnic groups. Padilla (1994) defines cultural taxation as "situations that are imposed [on faculty]... by the administration." Many prior studies about cultural taxation focus on the experiences of…

The Florida Department of Education requires that student teachers complete the Florida Teacher Certification General Knowledge (GK) Exam for certification. As of 2021, the Florida pass rate for the GK exam, the first of the required exams, is 63% and the pass rate at FIU is a similar 62%. There were also 28,517 GK retakes statewide that year. As…

The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) received a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in 2020 to explore the potential of open educational resources (OER) to reduce textbook costs for students at smaller and mid-sized independent colleges and universities, especially Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other…

Changing demographics in the United States have for many years pointed toward a developing minority-majority within the U.S. population. Projections from the U.S. Census (2015, 2016) signal that the aggregation of all minority groups will form a majority (i.e., a minority-majority) of the overall population by 2044. Despite making these many…

Partners United for Research Pathways Oriented to Social Justice in Education is a partnership between a university research training program and a Children's Defense Fund Freedom Schools® site in north Florida. It addresses the lack of demographic diversity among doctoral students in education. Emphasis is on researcher positionality and building…

This study addresses preservice teachers' understanding of culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) and their readiness to teach in culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) classrooms. This study analyzed preservice teachers' understanding of CRP and the challenges or barriers that implementation may present. Also, the research examined preservice…

This dissertation is a mixed methods study of race, language, and writing using the racial equity gaps in student success data as a starting point for the conversation that calls the fields of Rhetoric and Compositions, Literacy Studies, and Higher Education to act more intentionally towards creating equitable spaces in our writing classrooms.…