Objective: To explore health literacy (HL) experiences, needs, and future training directions among college students enrolled in health-related degree programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants Students (n = 169) enrolled in a health-related degree program at a state university in the mid-western U.S. completed an online survey. Methods:…

California's higher education system depends heavily on community colleges. California enrolls a much larger share of recent high school graduates in community colleges than other states--but is near the bottom when it comes to enrolling in four-year colleges and universities. Transferring to four-year institutions thus plays a vital role in…

Precalculus and calculus are considered gatekeeper courses because of their academic challenge and status as requirements for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and non-STEM majors alike. Despite college mathematics often being seen as a neutral space, the field has identified ways that expectations, interactions, and…

National employment data forecasts a significant need for graduates in the STEM disciplines for middle-income American jobs. If the American labor force is to keep pace with the global economy, it is critically important that American higher education increase STEM degree production. Currently, minority populations lack access and thus opportunity…

Students often identify research methods classes as one of the most difficult and intimidating classes of their academic career. The objectives of this study were twofold. The first was to ascertain whether the use of group-centered, collaborative learning would improve student mastery of material compared to traditional, lecture-based classes.…

This study develops a three-stage adoption framework to measure the impact of selected factors on a student's learning experience and evaluates the effectiveness of service learning in each learning stage. The agribusiness service-learning course utilized in this study matches groups of students with non-profit agribusiness entities to identify…

To be effective social justice leaders, school leaders need to gain critical understandings of their positionality and racial privilege and be prepared to engage in difficult conversations with others. This study examines how a peer-to-peer letter exchange assignment in a doctoral course allowed educational leadership doctoral students (N = 27) to…

Objective: Healthy equity (HE) implies the highest possible standard of health for all people while giving special attention to the needs of those at greatest risk of poor health, based on social conditions. The social determinants of health (SDH) are conditions within the environment in which people live that shape their opportunity to attain…

Two studies examined the link between academic self-concepts and grades (Studies 1 and 2) for first-generation (i.e., parents have not obtained a 4-year degree) and continuing-generation (i.e., at least one parent with a 4-year degree) college students, and how parent-student conversations about college related to this link (Study 2). In Study 1,…

Offering "Early Start" programs in the summer before students start their first year of college is one of the strategies that the California State University (CSU) system has used to support incoming students who may not be ready for college-level work in mathematics or written communication. In 2017, the CSU system began implementing a…

This report is part of a series focusing on studies intended to inform the California State University (CSU) system about the implementation of Executive Order 1110 (EO 1110). A major policy adopted by the CSU Chancellor's Office in 2017, EO 1110 requires CSU campuses to eliminate noncredit developmental courses -- often known as…

Each year, the state of California spends billions of dollars on funding for the University of California (UC), California State University (CSU), and California Community Colleges (CCC). Those dollars are invested to ensure all California residents have an opportunity to gain the skills and education they need to participate in and advance the…

This data note explores the extent to which the student population earning baccalaureate degrees at community and technical colleges mirrors the demographic characteristics of the student population earning baccalaureate degrees in comparable programs of study offered by four public universities in Washington State. Demographic analysis reveals…

In the context of ongoing discussions about student costs of non-credit developmental writing, this study reports on the affordances of Basic Writing as a traditional, stand-alone course at a career-focused, four-year university. Participants were students who took Basic Writing and Composition 1 between Fall 2011 and Spring 2013 (N = 2,693) in…

A college education is widely recognized as a gateway to economic opportunity and intergenerational mobility in the United States. Children from households with highly educated parents are three times more likely to get a Bachelor's degree than children from households in which the parents did not attend college. Today, at least some postsecondary…