The path to becoming a school principal is characterized by a variety of trajectories that reflect the diverse experiences and backgrounds of aspiring leaders. While ideally the road to the principalship would result in a proportional and representative body of principals, research has shown this is rarely the case. To gain a better understanding…

Given its ongoing struggles at attaining demographic diversity and its key role in nations' economies, the engineering workforce receives considerable attention from researchers and policymakers. Yet, prior studies and STEM recruitment initiatives have often underemphasized the variety among available engineering jobs and careers. It therefore…

In this large-scale qualitative study, we use an emergent design to explore pre-service teachers' (PST) motivations to enter the profession. We open-code 2,798 PSTs responses to the directive, 'Explain why you decided to become a teacher', given over the course of a six-year period from one large Texas teacher preparation programme. Using constant…

As the hospitality and tourism workforce evolves high school Career and Technology Education (CTE) hospitality and tourism programs must remain relevant and innovative (Gauthier, 2020). One of the main goals of offering hospitality and tourism as a program of study during high school is to transition graduates into the hospitality and tourism…

Black male teachers in PK-12 make up less than 2% of the teacher workforce with an undetermined representation in elementary education. Although there have been efforts to increase their representation in the field, there remains a lack of Black males entering the classroom as teachers. In addition, there has been limited research examining…

The construct of science identity has been gaining attention across various domains in the educational arena. To date, however, no studies have used a person-centered quantitative approach within science identity research that is based upon traditional identity theory. Hence, there is an absence of a theoretical underpinning of the number of…

The Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin launched the Dana Center Mathematics Pathways (DCMP) in 2011. The initial version of DCMP diversified developmental and college-level math course content, separating it into distinct pathways that better aligned with students' career interests. It also streamlined the developmental…

Large numbers of students entering community colleges are deemed not academically prepared for college-level math. These students have historically been assigned to one or more non-credit-bearing courses for remedial, often called developmental, math instruction before they can take college-level courses. Research has found that most students…

Following up on a previous impact and cost study of the Dana Center Mathematics Pathways (DCMP) model, which used an individual-level randomized controlled trial, this study assesses the costs and cost-effectiveness of the program on longer-term college progress and college attainment. The version of DCMP included in this study diversified the…

Research in mentoring has shown that students may at times be more willing and able to absorb information that is delivered to them by their near-peers, rather than by traditional figures of authority, like teachers and professors. In this study, underrepresented minority high school students participated in an informal learning experience that…

A postsecondary credential is associated with higher levels of earnings, not just in the short term, but over a lifetime. Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce found that college graduates earn more than one million dollars more in lifetime wages, compared to high school graduates. However, many factors influence…

States and districts use career pathways in a variety of ways, in a variety of settings, and under vastly different circumstances to give young people access to meaningful careers and stable lives. In this report, the authors conducted case studies of career pathways initiatives in Texas, Ohio, and Colorado to better understand the triumphs and…

The goal of our ongoing research is to identify strengths and weaknesses of high school level science fair and improvements that can help science educators make science fair a more effective, inclusive and equitable learning experience. In this paper, we confirm and extend our previous findings in several important ways. We added new questions to…

The purpose of this study is to compare the college enrollment and STEM college major choice rates of graduates of a STEM-focused charter school system to those of students who graduated from traditional public schools in the state of Texas and the USA for low-income, first-generation, and underrepresented groups. In addition, the factors students…

In this collaborative autoethnography, 3 scholars of color, who were enrolled in the same doctoral program at a Hispanic Serving Institution located in South Texas between 2012 and 2017, engaged in systematic self-reflection through writing and dialogue to coconstruct meaning regarding the ways in which their interests in giving back through the…