In this study, I investigated the impact of intrusive advising upon undergraduate student retention. Specifically, I sought to identify the background characteristics of at-risk students at the midterm point in a semester, and whether significant differences existed among students who were retained in comparison with those students who were not…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine whether the method of course placement for the first attempted English and mathematics courses was independent of the student demographic variables of gender, race/ethnicity, and Pell Grant eligibility. The study also analyzed if course success and semester-to-semester persistence were…

This quantitative, nonexperimental, expo-facto study examined the relationship of student risk factors and completion or noncompletion of degrees and certificates for first time students who took out loans to pay for college in the fall of 2011 at three rural community colleges, comprising all community colleges in a rural state. Archival student…

This study examined physical education teachers' perceptions of their knowledge, skills, and dispositions, who received federal funding and training from the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in Adapted Physical Education (APE). The OSEP offers grant opportunities to institutions of higher education, non-profits, and other educational…

Florida has been a leader in the K-20 educational reform in an effort to ensure the seamless transition into postsecondary education for all students, but specifically improving preparation for, and access to, higher education for populations traditionally marginalized and underrepresented in higher education. The purpose of this study was to…

There is a persistent and growing shortage in the supply of "highly qualified" future science and mathematics teachers in the nation's classrooms. As a consequence, as many as 53% science and 23% math students take classes from teachers who are teaching out-of-field. Currently, there are many established programs that provide incentives…

In recent years, community colleges have come into the spotlight nationally in terms of their potential to assist in the revitalization of the economy. This has resulted in an increased need for community colleges to understand more fully the factors that influence student persistence. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to…

This quasi-experimental, nonequivalent control group study compared the impact of Ennis's (1989) mixed instructional methodology to the immersion methodology on the development of critical thinking in a multicultural, undergraduate senior-year learning community. A convenience sample of students (n =171) were selected from four sections of a…

The influence of institutional grant aid on the enrollment behavior of college students has been the focal point of several empirical studies during the past decade. Yet, the extent to which this multibillion dollar per year grant-allocation process influences the matriculation choices of students deciding between multiple institutions remains…

The driving force behind the recent increase in financial aid for college education is the rapid growth of state merit-based grant programs that provide scholarships to students who meet predefined standards of academic preparation at the state level, and this trend represents one of the most pronounced policy shifts away from a long tradition of…

This quantitative research study used ex post facto data to analyze possible relationships between a discrete set of independent variables and academic achievement among provisionally admitted students at a public, four-year historically black university located in the mid-Atlantic United States. The independent variables were first-generation…