Community colleges making the diversity, equity and inclusion journey need to recognize that one-size-fits-all support for students of color will not get the job done. To make everyone feel welcome on campus, leaders of two-year colleges need to ensure that they, as well as their faculty, staff and students, shed their assumptions, get out of…

This research was conducted as a qualitative study of African American college students' racialized and academic experiences while completing the teacher preparation program at their respective universities. This study was carried out at three predominantly White institutions (PWIs) of varying sizes in rural, urban, and suburban cities in the…

For decades, college tuition costs have been skyrocketing, yet state financial aid has failed to meet the increasing economic needs of college students -- leaving many young people with the choice of bridging the financial gap by taking out student loans or not attending college at all. This pressing issue of rising college tuition is not just a…

Both the United States and the United Nations have identified, examined, and put out a call to action to address the educational inequities that have disproportionately and negatively affected racially minoritized students, as well as those from a lower socioeconomic background, and poorer countries. Data from the Nations Report Card and the…

At 30 sites across the United States and Puerto Rico, the Bard College Clemente Course in the Humanities provides economically and socially marginalized adults with a free college course in the humanities. The experience of non-traditional adult students, particularly adults of color, is often missing from academic literature, exacerbating past…

This study continues an earlier (2021) examination of a program's move from an admissions framework that used standardized test score thresholds to a test-blind holistic review. While the initial study evinced holistic review as a more equitable gateway to honors education for students from underserved backgrounds (as compared to admission…

Hiring and retaining teachers of color is one approach that policymakers can use to support improved academic achievement and opportunities for racially and ethnically diverse students. National data show that while the student population is becoming more diverse, the teacher workforce remains largely white and female. While teachers from all…

As required in 105 ILCS 5/2-3.47a, the Illinois State Board of Education shall develop and maintain a continuing comprehensive strategic plan for elementary and secondary education. The 2020-2023 Strategic Plan consists of goals for equity, student learning, learning conditions, and elevating educators. The Strategic Plan leverages the wide range…

Recent iterations of the Program Review manual to guide the five-year program review process for Illinois community colleges asks institutions to disaggregate data toward identifying equity gaps, the process provides Illinois community colleges with an opportunity to utilize the review as a vehicle to implement anti-racist change. Within the…

Researchers and policymakers have written extensively about the lack of evidence for the use of suspension and expulsion in schools and the disproportionate impact among racial and ethnic minorities and children in special education. As a result, states across the country have passed legislation to reform school discipline practices, with varying…

This correlational quantitative study examined a five-year (2014-2019) trend to analyze whether there is a relationship between the level of state funding and the enrollment and graduation rates of students of color attending public institutions in Illinois. For the purposes of this study, the students of color include the following groups:…

Drawing from a context of reception framework, this article asks the following questions: How do educators describe issues of safety and belonging in the context of a charged immigration policy climate? What practices have educators developed to support immigrant-origin youth? And, what are the relationships between educators' perceptions of…

This quantitative, causal-comparative ex-post-facto study primarily examined differences in mathematics achievement between Latinx English Learner (EL) fourth-grade students instructed in English and Spanish within one-way dual/developmental additive elementary bilingual language programs but tested in English. Additional analyses examined the…

The purpose of this study was to provide a greater understanding of the broader characteristics of the lowest performing elementary and middle schools in Illinois, as little analysis of this data had been conducted. Furthermore, little to no research has explored the vertical and horizontal alignment of math curricula and its correlation to…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how equity-oriented pedagogy infused with Making activities promoted five non-dominant middle school youths' attitudes toward science in an after-school program in the Midwestern United States. The researchers conducted pre- and post-interviews with five students from non-dominant…