Employer-provided training is the dominant form of skill development among American workers, but when it comes to training that people can seek out on their own, community colleges are just one of many options that include job training programs run by government agencies, nonprofits, proprietary schools, online programs, and unions. This brief…

At least 55 million students ended the 2019-2020 school year learning at home after approximately 124,000 public and private schools closed their doors due to the coronavirus. More recently, only a little over a third of students were in the classroom five days a week, with the remainder learning entirely or partially at home. At the end of the…

The COVID-19 pandemic greatly reduced the college enrollment rate for students during the Fall 2020 semester. National data show that although enrollment of new students declined overall, it varied substantially by institution type and student characteristics. What national data do "not" reveal is how certain communities with already…

The Postsecondary Value Framework sets wealth accumulation as a key indicator of postsecondary value. Postsecondary education's impact on wealth-building is especially salient for students of color, who tend to start a financial step behind their more privileged White counterparts due to the longstanding racial wealth gap. The racial wealth gaps…

COVID-19 caused the most dramatic disruption of elementary and secondary education in our lifetime. By late March 2020, every US state had closed public schools in an effort to flatten the curve. Delays in reopening schools have coincided with the emergence of sharp divisions among parents in their willingness to send their children back to…

This phenomenological study explored the influences of Black community college women learners' successful online learning experiences through their described observations, perceptions, and experiences. The drivers for a study about the successful online experiences of Black community college women were twofold. First, despite the substantial…

The coronavirus has profoundly disrupted American public education and substantially harmed the learning trajectories of tens of millions of students. The incoming administration will have its hands full trying to get schools reopened and students back on track. As it does so, it may feel tempted to use this crisis to consolidate federal control…

This dissertation aims to advance our understanding of Asian American students' choices and trajectories in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields, especially in math-intensive STEM sub-fields, by investigating Asian American female and male students' math-related motivational beliefs held in high school and whether/how…

Background and Context: Differences in children's and adolescents' initial attitudes about computing and other STEM fields may form during middle school and shape decisions leading to career entry. Early emerging differences in career interest may propagate a lack of diversity in computer science and programming fields. Objective: Though middle…

Summer programming is one of the main ways school districts have sought to help students recover academically from COVID-19 pandemic-related setbacks. Authors use a survey administered to a nationally representative sample of kindergarten through grade 12 public school districts to investigate the prevalence and structure of districts' programming…

In 1972, the United States Office of Education (USOE) released a lengthy and unprecedented report about gifted education in response to a Congressional mandate. Both Congress and the USOE lamented the inadequate state of gifted programmes in American schools and urged that gifted education should become a greater national priority. In this essay,…

Aspirations and expectations are conceptually and empirically different. Given their differential impact on various educational outcomes, it is expected that they, and consequently their convergence, would be affected by different factors. This study examines the factors leading to high aspirations, high expectations and to their alignment by…

This convergent mixed method study examined the supports and barriers of Black male student persistence at a predominantly White institution in the southeastern United States through four research questions: 1) To what extent do mean graduation rates vary across self-described racial designations and gender over the academic years 2013-2021 at a…

Objective: The present study examines sociopolitical stress, coping, and well-being among college students. Participants: Young adult college students (N = 588; ages 18-29; 72% cisgender women) from 10 universities in the USA participated in this study. Methods: Participants completed a 45-minute online survey with closed-ended and open-ended…

Objective: In this study, we examine the prevalence and demographic, academic, and psychosocial correlates of perfectionism typologies among postsecondary students. We focus on a lesser-known typology characterized by low personal standards and moderate self-critical cognitions, which we label "discordant perfectionism." Participants:…