We examined key influences on STEM college seniors' postgraduate plans. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Freshmen we utilized multilevel modeling to identify variables associated with planning to pursue a STEM-related job or STEM graduate study after graduation. Key findings emphasize the importance of volunteering and…

The Wake County Public School System's Student Engagement Survey is administered annually to measure students' perceptions of their learning experiences. This report is the first publication on student engagement results in the school system since 2018-19. Approximately 34,692 students from grades 5 through 12 responded in the spring of 2022 for a…

The Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles (APCSP) course was introduced in 2016 to address long-standing gender and racial/ethnic disparities in the United States among students taking Advanced Placement Computer Science (APCS) in high school, as well as among those who pursued computing majors in college. Although APCSP has drawn a more…

Background: Insufficient physical activity is a significant concern because a growing body of research demonstrates that physical activity during adolescence has numerous benefits on physical health, mental health, and educational achievement. A less-studied area of physical activity research is how physical activity participation in adolescence…

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth of 1979, this article examines the relationship between adolescents' educational and occupational expectations, and how they correspond to their subsequent labor market outcomes in adulthood. We show that over-aligned adolescents, those who expect to obtain more education than is necessary…

This poll was conducted between August 22-August 26, 2024 among a national sample of 1,002 Teens. The interviews were conducted online and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of Teens based on gender, age, race, and region. Results from the full survey have a measure of precision of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. This…

The WCPSS [Wake County Public School System] Student Survey is administered each year to measure students' perceptions about their learning experiences. Approximately 70,000 students from grades 5 through 12 responded in the spring of 2019. The majority of students had positive perceptions of their schools and teachers, were hopeful about their…

The transition to adulthood is an underresearched topic for cross-systems youth, defined as young people who have experienced homelessness, child welfare system involvement, and educational challenges. This qualitative study explored processes of resilience in the transition to adulthood for cross-systems youth aged 18 to 24 (n = 20). Analysis of…

Objective: Although upward transfer in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields represents a prominent national policy concern, community college students' aspirations for transfer in STEM are often impeded, resulting in lower transfer rates. This study investigated four aspects of community college STEM students'…

This report compares the STEM-focused ACE summer program and the regular ACE summer program conducted at AISD during summer 2018. Students in both the regular and the STEM summer camp programs experienced positive STEM engagement; high academic self-confidence; a sense of being prepared for college, job or career in STEM; favorable school and…

We know little about the role of faculty mentoring in the development of interest in pursuing an academic career among doctoral students. Drawing on Social Cognitive Career Theory, this study examined the relationships between different kinds of mentoring (instrumental, psychosocial, and sponsorship) and academic career self-efficacy, interests,…

This report looks at the progress of the ACT®-tested 2018 U.S. high school graduating class relative to college and career readiness. The data in this report are based on more than 1.9 million graduates--55% of the students in the 2018 national graduating class--who took the ACT at some time from grade 10 to 12. The ACT was taken by the majority…

This report looks at the progress of the 2017 ACT®-tested graduating class relative to college and career readiness. This year's report shows that 60% of students in the 2017 US graduating class took the ACT test, up from 54% in 2013. The increased number of test takers over the past several years enhances the breadth and depth of the data pool,…

While experiences of students with disabilities transitioning from high school to college have been well documented, the influence exerted by selected factors on these experiences is less well understood. Using data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, the influence of selected risk and resilience factors on the short-term postsecondary…

This study examined the career, social, and academic self-appraisals and educational aspirations of first-year college students of diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds. Participants included 72 first-year students of Black, Asian, and White ethnicities. Career self-appraisals were significantly different for Black and Asian students when compared to…