The Tuition Opportunity Program for Students (subsequently renamed the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, also known as TOPS) was created by Act 1375 of the 1997 Regular Legislative Session. The first college freshman class to receive TOPS awards entered postsecondary education in the fall of 1998. Act 1202 of the 2001 Regular Legislative…

The education system is responsible for the choices and chances provided to the students it serves. Although racial disparities continue to impede some students' chance of success in education, service-learning in the classroom context may be the transformative strategy needed to make institutions of higher education the "great…

An equitable predictor of academic success is needed as nursing education strives toward comprehensive preparation of diverse nursing students. The purpose of this study was to discover how Sedlacek's (2004a) Noncognitive Questionnaire (NCQ) and Duckworth & Quinn's (2009) Grit-S predicted baccalaureate nursing student academic performance and…

The purpose of this study was to use a comprehensive framework to examine academic, psychosocial, noncognitive, and other background factors that are related to retention at a large, public four-year institution in the southeastern United States. Specifically, the study examined what factors are most important in predicting first-to-second year…

First-generation (FG) students are generally less likely than their continuing-generation (CG) peers to persist and complete a degree. Using student data available at initial enrollment, this multi-institutional study examines retention and transfer at the second year in relation to academic readiness, financial resources, college intentions,…

In response to interest in the role of noncognitive factors in academic performance, several theoretical models have been developed; however, there have been few empirical attempts to validate those models, particularly with minority populations. This study used measures of academic mindsets, social skills, academic perseverance, learning…

This study was conducted to examine the impact of selected demographic and academic factors on the academic performance, persistence rate and progression rate of first-time freshman of African American college students attending a historically Black University in the southern region of the United States. Specifically, this study was concerned with…

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effect of mobile app courseware on the college outcomes of developmental education students, using a research design which randomly assigned course sections to receive access to the apps or not. The results show that access to the apps significantly improved student performance in developmental…

Given low rates of student retention in community colleges, there has been growing interest in understanding characteristics that put students at-risk and that serve to buffer against academic difficulty. In particular, research on student success has focused on demographic predictors that are difficult to change, whereas motivational…

Community colleges and community college counselors have a vital role in degree attainment in the United States (Ma & Baum, 2016). Community colleges are responsible for educating approximately 40% of all college attending students (American Association of Community Colleges [AACC], 2017). Community college counselors are the third largest…

Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C), located in and around Cleveland, Ohio, opened in September 1963 and was Ohio's first community college. It now serves more than 50,000 credit and noncredit students each year at four traditional campuses located throughout Cuyahoga County, as well as two corporate college locations, the Manufacturing Technology…

This study explored science, mathematics, and general academic factors that predicted outcomes for community college students (N = 3052) in a regional institution. A binary logistic regression was performed to determine significant independent variables contributing to successful outcomes (graduation or transfer) vs. non-completion. Transcript…

Academic mindset encompasses individuals' beliefs about the ways learning and intelligence work. These beliefs frame students' thinking, influence how they interpret events, and ultimately affect their success. This report provides results from the first large set of data on mindset in community colleges. These data suggest that understanding the…

Considerable research has focused on the academic outcomes of part-time undergraduates, but few studies have addressed their post-college labor market outcomes. This study compares the post-college earnings of community college students based on different full-time, part-time, and stop-out trajectories during their first four semesters. Community…

High-impact practices (HIPs) have been shown to be effective in helping first-year students successfully transition into college. However, since most of the research on HIPs has been done in small liberal arts settings, little is known about the efficacy and implementation practices of HIPs in large, public, primarily nonresidential institutions,…