International education opportunities are vital to students' personal, professional, and educational development. Pre-COVID era research has found that students seek to participate in international education to learn about other cultures, enhance career development, gain world enlightenment, attain personal growth, or for leisure. However, minimal…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine doctoral student perceptions about an experiential learning summer study away program involving one Texas educational leadership doctoral (Ed.D.) program. Students shared their perceptions about how the four-day study away trip advanced their professional and educational development in…

The study explores the faculty, staff, and student perceptions of how leadership decisions impacted Odessa College, a Texas community college, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Community colleges in Texas have experienced a decrease in enrollment in recent years. The pandemic exacerbated the problem, as evidenced by the further drop in enrollment in…

In this report, AIR shares an exploratory analysis of how the past and present experiences of adult learners of color shape their perceptions of college and decisions they make. Existing research highlights some common motivations, strengths, and barriers for adult learners (see, e.g., Patterson, 2018); however, it does not deeply explore the full…

Lack of motivation to read is the culprit of many students' struggles in literacy achievement, resulting in wider gaps in reading achievement and resulting inequities in schools across America. When students are provided with the ability to choose the text they read for English class, they have an increase in interest and commitment to read, which…

As more students begin their higher education trajectory in community colleges in the US, there are few studies investigating the choice process for community college transfer students. This study draws on models of college choice to examine community college student transfer decisions. Using longitudinal administrative data, we examine…

School counselors implement social emotional learning (SEL) programs to support students' holistic development and to prepare them for both academic and personal success. It is imperative that school counselors use evaluation research as they continue to refine their implementation and program selection efforts. This phenomenological qualitative…

Student enrollment at community colleges within the U.S. has remained flat or decreased for over a decade (AACC, 2019). Before COVID-19, community colleges had been experiencing a steady decline in enrollment for approximately ten years (Irwin et al., 2021). The purpose was to determine whether demographic, environmental, and academic variables…

The following study highlights the importance of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and provides a descriptive overview of the Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) organization competencies at both the national and state level. Qualitative data was collected during a study conducted on at-risk Hispanic high school students…

This research employs a language ideologies framework to examine the language practices and beliefs of bilingual first grade students in an ESL classroom, in which the teacher valued and encouraged Spanish and translingual talk and writing. Using ethnographic methods of data collection and analysis, the findings pointed to the influence of both…

This narrative phenomenological study examined the experiences of public school teachers in three rural East Texas school districts to understand how facilities effect the attitude of teachers as it applies to their job. The intent of this study was to answer, do facilities in a school district affect the attitudes teachers have about their jobs?…

The present study examines the career pathways of Mexican-American music majors. Participants included 42 (17 female, 25 male) music majors enrolled at a Hispanic-Serving Institution in South Texas. The study focused on identifying relations among students' levels of acculturation and career goals. Students' cultural behavior, career…

Families play a key role in students' school choices throughout their education. While research has explored the familial supports for high-school students transitioning to college for the first time, few scholars have examined how family engagement influences the decisions of current community-college students seeking to transfer to four-year…

The purpose of this dissertation was to compare the perceived impact of federal financial aid on the decisions of college-aged African American and Hispanic males to attend college. Participants in the study were delimited to XYZ University, a regional university in Northeast Texas. A modified version of the College Experience Survey, originally…

This study reports the findings of a study assessing the acceptability differences in decisions made by Certified Public Accounting practitioners (CPA) and students studying to become CPAs. The study responds to researchers' call for additional research on topics related to accounting decision ethics. Modified managerial and accounting recognition…