After exiting elementary school, a considerable number of struggling adolescent readers who are not reading on grade level exists, especially in high-poverty schools. For secondary teachers to develop proficient readers, their instructional methods need to prepare students to master skills, such as their ability to read accurately and with…

Career academies are specialized educational programs that offer graduates a pathway to acquire the skills, knowledge, and credentials needed to enter the workforce or pursue further education in a specific career field. These programs are designed to improve student engagement, reduce dropout rates, and enhance post-graduation outcomes. The…

College access programs provide middle and high school students with essential skills to prepare them for a successful transition to postsecondary education. TRIO Talent Search (TS)and Upward Bound (UB) are federally funded programs established to strengthen the likelihood that students from underserved groups will graduate high school and pursue…

In post-secondary education, degree attainment for first-generation college students (FGCS) is essential. The purpose of this explanatory sequential mixed-methods study is to explore the first-generation college student's persistence from their first year to the second year at a private or public post-secondary institution. The second purpose is…

Evaluations of college awareness programs have been devoted almost exclusively to secondary-level programs. Thus, it remains unclear the extent to which elementary-level programs are effective in influencing students' attitudes about college. This research project investigated a program that attempted to influence elementary students' attitudes…

With the high enrollment number of Chinese international students in U.S. universities, there has been an increase in the amount of research on the difficulties and challenges these students face in their American-university life. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the key processes and procedures of the pathway program from…

This mixed methods study examines the design process and capacity of four high school master schedules to provide language support while moving newcomer students successfully towards graduation and college prep coursework. All four schools house newcomer programs and reside in the same large urban school district. Through qualitative interviews,…

Non-rural students are repeatedly outpacing rural students in postsecondary enrollment rates. Lower enrollment and college completion rates among rural populations can often be problematic for many communities whose economies depend upon an educated workforce to increase the demand for economic growth. One of the problems of low college enrollment…

The Upward Bound Math and Science (UBMS) program at Temple University (TU) seeks to guide first-generation, low-income high school students from Philadelphia in their quest to obtain postsecondary STEM degrees that lead to related careers. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of the program by analyzing its students' performance in light of…

Through this research I explored the challenges faced by first-generation and low-income students during their transition to higher education, focusing on the role of pre-college programs like TRIO. The study aims to identify barriers to college accessibility and success for these underrepresented students and assess the effectiveness of TRIO…

Early College High Schools are a model that combines high school and college to accelerate postsecondary degree and credential attainment. This program model was also created to address equity gaps for underrepresented student populations in higher education. The early college high school model is designed to combine dual credit courses with…

This dissertation investigates whether dual credit students' academic performance in subsequent university courses is comparable to that of non-dual-credit students. The study uses data from a Midwest regional public university over a ten-year period and employs propensity score matching and proportional odds ordinal logistic regression to create…

Early college high schools (ECHS) were designed specifically to disrupt the inequities that are present in high schools by focusing on serving students underrepresented in higher education. ECHS students can earn 60 hours of college credit setting them on a fast track to college and degree completion. Utilizing Yosso's (2005) Community Cultural…

Background: First generation college students, whose parents' highest earned degree is a high school diploma, go on to earn postsecondary degrees less often than their peers whose parents have a college degree. A current approach to addressing this problem is making sure "first gens" are ready to succeed in college. Purpose: There are…

College preparation resources to support academic and college success have the potential to decrease challenges students often face when preparing for college. TRIO programs, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, were introduced in the 1960s as part of the fight on the war on poverty to make the college experience more accessible to low…