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…

Only 11% of students who are Pell-eligible and the first in their family to attend college graduate with a bachelor's degree. Upward Bound is a federal-funded project that seeks to: (1) improve the motivation and skills of disadvantaged students; and (2) increase students' likelihood of success at two- and four-year institutions. The study sought…

This qualitative research study was designed to examine potential differences in the transition to college for rural and non-rural first-generation college students. In addition, the study also aimed to examine how students' other identities (including ethnic and socioeconomic identities) may have impacted their transition to college. Participants…

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…

This intrinsic case study investigated the experiences of select low-income and first-generation students who participated in the Upward Bound program throughout high school to understand how participation influenced enrollment at a postsecondary institution. Two theoretical frameworks guided this research study: Astin's (1984) I-E-O model and…

The 1960s launched the school movement of choice. Today, school choice is nationally threaded through many states serving a diversity of students. Indiana developed and implemented the Indiana Choice Scholarship Program (ICSP) policy in 2011 to align with these national initiatives to benefit students. The goal for Indiana was to ease the burden…

This critical ethnographic case study explores the impact of Performance-Based Assessment Tasks (PBATs) on high school dynamics and instructional practices, particularly in schools serving immigrant communities. PBATs, considered alternatives to standardized testing, have shown promise in enhancing student engagement, critical thinking, and…

Although increasing numbers of students with disabilities are attending college, they graduate at lower rates compared to students without disabilities. In order to understand how to effectively prepare students with disabilities and provide meaningful support to college students with disabilities, we investigated the experiences of students…

The article considers communicative competence as a sum of several competences such as linguistic, paralinguistic, linguistic-sociocultural, substantial competences, etc. Linguistic sociocultural competence is specifically featured. The article describes linguistic cultural, psychosocial and cultural expertise and skills. The criteria of learning…

This article provides a "snapshot" of fourth grade English Language Arts (ELA) vocabulary instruction before and after implementation of college and career readiness standards. Our exploratory study's findings demonstrate the instructional shifts for teaching deep vocabulary knowledge as required by college and career readiness…

This paper presents an overall educational philosophy of working with students underprepared for college-level work, which we term "a pedagogy of preparation." We consider how instructors scaffolded instruction to foster college readiness in students who were now able to enroll in college-level work regardless of academic preparation…

Many high school seniors who plan to attend college do not enroll, and others enroll but do not return for a second year. Low-income students are more likely than their higher-income peers to fall off track after high school ends, when they often have limited connections to advisors, insufficient information about key college transition steps, and…

Many high school seniors who plan to attend college do not enroll, and others enroll but do not return for a second year. Low-income students are more likely than their higher-income peers to fall off track after high school ends. Text-message-based advising is a popular strategy to get students timely information and support, including among…

Education is often depicted as one of the best ways out of poverty. At the same time, research over many decades finds that most educational outcomes are strongly correlated to poverty. It is not likely that these two themes are true at the same time. Either schools are windows of opportunity and help overcome or mitigate poverty and other…

There is a lack of information to allow researchers to fully understand the experience students from lower-income families have regarding college and career readiness received through interactions with their school counselors. College and career readiness education is implemented by school counselors for students participating in K-12 education.…