<p> <i>Skin tone bias or colorism</i> is &ldquo;the tendency to perceive or behave toward members of a racial category based on the lightness or darkness of their skin tone&rdquo; (Maddox &amp; Gray, 2002, p. 250). It is &ldquo;the prejudicial treatment of individuals falling within the same racial group on the basis of skin color&rdquo; (Thompson &amp; Keith, 2004, p. 46) and &ldquo;the allocation of privilege and disadvantage according to the lightness or darkness of one&rsquo;s skin&rdquo; (Burke &amp; Embrick, 2008, p. 17). Skin tone bias/colorism is a form of discrimination based on skin tone that typically privileges lighter-skinned individuals and penalizes darker-skinned individuals within and across racial and ethnic groups (Hunter, 2007; Jones, 2000). For my study, I focused my investigation of skin tone bias/colorism in relation to Blacks in the United States of America. </p><p> I conducted semi-structured face-to-face individual interviews with 30 Black undergraduate students (15 men and 15 women) at the University of Pennsylvania using purposive sampling. To triangulate data for this study, participants&rsquo; skin color was determined by two self-report assessments: the Skin Color Satisfaction Scale (SCSS) (Bond &amp; Cash, 1992; Falconer &amp; Neville, 2000) and the Skin Color Assessment Procedure (SCAP) (Bond &amp; Cash, 1992; Coard, Breland, &amp; Raskin, 2001). These assessments were administered prior to the interview. </p><p> Contrary to societal myth, Blacks are not a monolithic group. The impetus for my dissertation was to develop a qualitative study that necessitates the acknowledgment of the heterogeneity of Black students&rsquo; backgrounds and experiences with college, to ultimately shed light on the potential challenges faced by varying Black students in college based on skin tone, and to provide recommendations for Black students to effectively navigate highly selective institutions of higher education &ndash; with hopes to increase their persistence and success in college. Recommendations for higher education institutions, faculty, and student affairs administrators to better support Black students are also provided. </p><p> My research questions were as follows: How do the academic, personal, and social experiences of lighter-skinned Black students at a highly selective higher education institution vary compared with the experiences of darker-skinned Black students? How does this variation in experiences between lighter and darker-skinned Black students matter within the higher education context? </p><p>

During the past two decades there has been a dramatic increase in adult women's participation in higher education. Women re-entering college face a number of obstacles, including both psychological barriers and practical problems to be solved. Many researchers, educators, and administrators have attempted to design and conduct programs to assist re-entry women in making this transition with varying degrees of success. Although there is a substantial body of literature on factors affecting academic achievement, including motivation and locus of control, little work has been done on the relationship between self-esteem and academic success in the non-traditional, re-entry woman. Research concerning self-esteem and academic performance has focused largely on populations such as traditional aged college students, school children of various ages and minority groups, handicapped students, or comparative groups of male and female students. In this study, ten non-traditional women students entering a re-entry program at Quinsigamond Community College were examined. The subjects had approximately the same English and math placement scores, and similar backgrounds and life situations. Through examination and analysis of self-esteem inventory results, in-depth interviews, and academic transcripts, the study examined the correlation between their perceived sense of self and their academic achievement, irrespective of their academic ability. Self-esteem did not appear to be the issue in predicting academic success for these women. All of the students achieved success academically as indicated by their transcripts; and this is what seemed to determine their increased level of self-esteem. Further, it was the positive environment, feedback, and support, throughout their school careers, from people and from programs such as the Health Certificate, that seemed to make the difference in endurance, motivation, and ability to tough it out when the going got rough. For most of these women, their positive re-entry experiences appear to have raised their levels of self-esteem. In addition, I assessed the impact of the re-entry program on these participants. Every one of the ten re-entry women credited the Health Certificate Program for her success.

Online learning has revolutionized higher education in the United States. In 2007, there were 3.9 million students taking at least 1 online course. Assessment in online instruction is a new experience for teachers because of the recent advent of online course delivery. Current research on online learning does not address instructor experiences with learning assessments. This gap may contribute to online instructors being inadequately prepared to teach online. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore online instructors' experiences with assessments in their undergraduate social science courses. The study was guided by constructivism as well as theories associated with assessment for the college classroom. The main and secondary research questions focused on the participants' experiences with assessment in the online learning environment and the challenges and benefits of assessment in that learning environment. Data were collected with in-depth, semistructured interviews and analyzed via Moustakas's modification of van Kaam's method. The main themes are: (a) instructors use a combination of assessment practices, (b) changes to assessments are based on student feedback, and (c) academic honesty. The present study promotes positive social change by providing members of the online learning community with a better understanding of instructors' assessment processes, as well as the challenges and benefits those instructors face in assessing learning in online classes, all of which may contribute to improved instruction for online students.