Background: Schools are important contexts for preventing sexual violence (SV) among adolescents. Evaluating whether programming is effective requires surveying youth about SV experiences. However, school communities often have concerns about asking students, particularly those in middle school, about these experiences. This study sought to…

This article describes the Student Perception Project, a two-year opportunity for educators in Washington state to explore student perception surveys and ways the data students provide can inform educator practice. Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and led by the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and the…

Washington has made some strides in recent years toward increasing awareness and state support of students' basic needs but has lacked state and regional information to drive larger-scale policies, programs, and investments to address the attainment barriers associated with basic needs insecurity. State and regional data on unmet basic needs can…

Faced with poor retention and graduation rates for students with disabilities, postsecondary institutions have experimented with interventions to help students succeed in college. This practice brief describes a pilot initiative in which 41 students with disabilities pursuing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees at…

Recent calls to reform undergraduate biology education, including Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education, have led biology departments to examine their curriculum to determine the extent to which it aligns with Vision and Change content and competency recommendations. The recently released BioSkills Guide translates the broad Vision…

This study analyzed student perceptions of the psychosocial learning environment in online and face-to-face career and technical education courses, and used survey data from a school district in Washington state. A Mann-Whitney "U" test was used to measure variability and compare the mean scores for a series of psychosocial learning…

Over a two-year period, six colleges involved in the Working Students Success Network (WSSN) initiative received financial support and technical assistance from ATD to identify key financial challenges their students face, develop specific strategies to address those challenges, and provide feedback on lessons learned from the work to be shared…

Two studies were conducted to examine the relationship between motivational variables and satisfaction and success in online learning. College students enrolled in face-to-face psychology classes and who had taken at least one online course were surveyed. In Study 1, two hypotheses were tested: (1) that high need-for-affiliation students would be…

A great deal of research exists in the use of multimedia communications in online classrooms as a means of furthering student engagement. However, little research exists that examines the perceptions of students when such technologies are used. Additionally, it is unclear that students are likely to engage in the use of such technologies when…

The purpose of this ex post facto study was to determine differences in the level of student engagement in (a) students attending community colleges that participated in the Achieving the Dream (AtD) in 2011 and 2012 and (b) students attending community colleges that did not participate in AtD in 2011 and 2012. The Community College Survey of…

Campus common reading programs are intended to stimulate critical thinking and dialogue across disciplines yet scarce evidence exists to evaluate the success of such programs. We assess the extent to which engagement in an environmentally-themed common reading program is related to (1) concern for waste-related issues, (2) beliefs that addressing…

Recent experiences in rehearsals have led us to question how student dancers perceive the culture of rehearsal. We are interested in how the influence of shows like "So You Think You Can Dance" affects student expectations. How do students from competitive dance studio backgrounds approach learning in a rehearsal setting? Are there…

This study analyses the perspectives of four stakeholder groups towards Applied Baccalaureate (AB) degrees in the United States. Perspectives towards AB degrees that are held by community college personnel, university personnel, employers and student participants are analysed using the Policy Narrative Framework. Findings show the stakeholder…

Colleges and universities are increasingly adopting various software solutions to raise degree completion rates and lower costs (Ferguson, 2012; Vendituoli, 2014; Yanosky, 2014). Student success software, also known as Integrated Planning and Advising Services (IPAS), appears to be in high demand among both students and faculty (Dahlstrom &…

This study examines how two kinds of authentic research experiences related to smoking behavior--genotyping human DNA (wet lab) and using a database to test hypotheses about factors that affect smoking behavior (dry lab)--influence students' perceptions and understanding of scientific research and related science concepts. The study used pre and…