Failure to graduate from high school presents a serious problem to society reaching far beyond the education sphere. However, some high school non-graduates return to post-secondary institutions and successfully complete degrees, diplomas, and other credentials. Unfortunately, little is known about such individuals. Research on K-12 non-graduates tends to focus on retention within the K-12 system examining factors such as race, socioeconomic status, and the structures and organization of schooling. Regrettably little if any consideration is given to the future educational experiences and achievements of the K-12 non-graduates that return to post-secondary studies consequently creating a gap in the literature. This study examines administrative and achievement data of individuals who have not graduated from the British Columbia (BC) K-12 educational system and later re-entered the BC public post-secondary system. Specifically, this study identifies the percentage of non-graduates who go on to post-secondary studies and examines the year over year enrollment data for trends, the commonalities in the types of K-12 courses taken and associated achievement levels, the types of post-secondary programs selected, and concludes with a brief exploration of potential predictors, such as gender, home language, and previous academic performance. Overall the research findings on the study population provided some interesting results in terms of the proportions, composition, K-12 academic achievements, and program pursuit within the post-secondary system. Most notably was the proportions of non-graduates entering into post-secondary studies remaining stable over time, the K-12 academic achievements were average and did not include many at the higher end of the achievement spectrum, all attended a college, institute, or teaching-intensive university and not a research-intensive university, and there was a fairly even distribution across the programs that the study population opted to enroll in at their respective post-secondary institutions.

The aim of the thesis was to explore the magnitude of inequity in accessibility to initial formal education, continuing adult education, and work-related informal learning for the workplace. The two main issues that the thesis attempted to determine is whether social background characteristics that affect initial educational attainment continue to influence participation in adult education and work-related informal learning. More specifically, this research focused on three main questions: First, to what extent does parents’ social background influence educational attainment levels for Canadians from different generations? Second, to what extent does parents’ social background influencing participation in adult education for their offspring beyond the effects of an individual’s own social background? And, third, to what extent does parents' social background have on their offspring’s participation in informal learning for the workplace beyond the effects of an individual's own social class background? A secondary data quantitative analysis was carried out on the data collected in the 2004 Work and Lifelong Learning (WALL) survey. Both crosstab analysis and structural equation analysis were used to obtain an overview of inequities in participation in formal education and informal learning and to test the applicability of Bourdieu’s social reproduction theory. Overall, the findings of this thesis indicate that social reproduction occurs not only through the formal education system, but also through the adult education system. More specifically, parents’ education continues to be a good predictor of the level of education attained by offspring. Moreover, one’s level of education continued to be a predictor of participation in adult education. Social reproduction was not present for work-related informal learning. In fact, those from low incomes were more likely to engage in informal learning than those from high incomes. These findings indicate that despite level of cultural and economic capital, the majority of Canadians engage in a learning activity. It is apparent that structures that are present in our formal education system continue to advantage students with high cultural and economic capital; however, work-related informal learning is accessible to all.

The Sources of Middle School Mathematics Self-Efficacy Scale (Usher & Pajares, 2009) was adapted for use in this study investigating the impact that gender, race, sexual orientation, hometown location (rural, suburban, or urban), high school GPA, college GPA and letter grade of a mathematics course in the previous semester had on the four sources of mathematical self-efficacy of 102 college freshmen attending three small, private, liberal arts institutions. Even though this study found no interaction effects between the student characteristics, the four sources of mathematical self-efficacy, or the three subcategories of the vicarious experience construct, this study did find statistically significant results for several independent variables: gender, hometown environment, and the letter grade received in the mathematics course the preceding semester at the Bonferroni correction rate of .025. Additionally, small p-values for race and hometown environments warrant further investigation with a larger sample size.

abstract: Over the past two decades, substantial research has documented the increase of students with disabilities enrolling in post-secondary education. The purpose of the study was to examine factors identified as significant in preparing individuals who fall on the autism spectrum for post-secondary experiences. The study was exploratory in nature and designed to identify perceived critical program elements needed to design successful post-secondary transition programs for students with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The study used archival research and grounded theory to look at expectations of parents with young adults with an ASD and young adults with an ASD on post-secondary transition and to discern whether expectations impact the successful post transition of young adults. More than likely, due to an overall increase in the prevalence of ASDs, many more students with an ASD will be attending a post-secondary educational setting in the near future. Understanding expectations and particular challenges faced by students with an ASD will be necessary for colleges to meet the unique needs of this population. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2011

A focal concern amid Canadian French immersion students upon completion of their secondary school studies is a shared belief and feeling that they are limited in their ability to communicate with francophone communities (Howard, 2007; Schaffer, 2013; The Globe and Mail, Friesen, 2013). Furthermore, it has been widely discussed that French immersion students are finding themselves in the midst of language identity crisis, unable to find a place among either of the dominant monolingual groups (Roy, 2010). This case study examined the potential persistence of language identity crisis in three French immersion students who extended their French as a second language education by pursuing post-secondary education in a French immersion program at a large bilingual university. The study reveals the linguistic identity construction of these students by clarifying how each participant positioned (Davies & Harré, 1990) herself towards Francophone language and culture. It exposes the factors which influenced the linguistic positioning of the participants and comments on patterns in the factors which affected their linguistic identity in particular.

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore Tennessee high school counselors’ and dual enrollment advisors’ perceptions of student readiness for dual enrollment within the context of school, institutional, state, and federal policies as aligned with adolescent development theories in order to inform both policy and practice. Twelve purposely sampled participants from three school districts within the First Tennessee Core Region responded to questions via a recorded phone interview. Participants reflected on the readiness of their students for dual enrollment in the academic, social, and emotional domains. Additionally, participants identified strengths and weaknesses of dual enrollment programs and the Ready Graduateinitiative in Tennessee through the lenses of their school, post-secondary institutions, and their students and shared ideas for the improvement of programs and increasing student readiness.

Denna studie ämnade att undersöka hur studie- och yrkesvägledare informerar och vägleder elever på högskoleförberedande gymnasieprogram inför val av eftergymnasiala studier på högskola/universitet och yrkeshögskola. Studien bottnade i en teoretisk ansats som tar sin grund i Careershipteorin, med särskild tyngdpunkt i handlingshorisont. Sammanlagt har åtta studie- och yrkesvägledare verksamma på högskoleförberedande gymnasieprogram i olika delar av Sverige intervjuats i denna kvalitativa studie. De empiriska data som insamlats genom dessa intervjuer har analyserats genom en abduktiv kodning. Studiens resultat visade på att såväl information som vägledning anges kunna bedrivas på ett flertal olika sätt, alla med olika påverkan på eleverna och deras handlingshorisonter inför val av framtida studier på högskola/universitet och yrkeshögskola. / This study intended to investigate how study and career counselors inform and guide students in college preparatory programmes in upper secondary school before choosing post-secondary studies at colleges/universities and higher vocational education. The study was based on a theoretical approach that is based on the Careership theory, with special emphasis on horizons for action. A total of eight study and career counselors active in college preparatory programmes in various parts of Sweden have been interviewed in this qualitative study. The empirical data collected through these interviews have been analyzed through abductive coding. The results of the study showed that both information and guidance are stated to be conducted in a number of different ways, all with different effects on students and their horizons for action before choosing future studies at colleges/universities and higher vocational education.

This systematic review paper reviews instructional strategies for online developmental mathematics courses offered at post-secondary institutions. Adaptive learning technology was thoroughly reviewed as an intervention strategy. Success rates and other data from studies are compared to draw conclusions about the most effective instructional strategies for teaching online developmental mathematics. The following databases were used to examine literature in the subject area: Elton B. Stephens Co. (EBSCOhost), Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), ProQuest, Wiley - Blackwell Publishers, Journal Storage (JSTOR), and Gale Cengage Learning. These databases were selected from the NovaCat Online Library system via the Nova Southeastern University website. The documents reviewed in this research paper were used as data to give a diverse, concise quantitative and qualitative discussion of results for the comparison of the studies. The implications of this study may be useful to students, faculty, administrators, researchers, etc. The results of this systematic review showed adaptive learning technology’s assistive nature in course design and implementation. Strategies and course design were critical to the outcome of each study reviewed that incorporated adaptive learning technology. Further research is suggested to identify specific combinations of methodologies for most success completion rates of developmental mathematics courses offered at post-secondary institutions.

Many studies have been conducted on the achievement gap between Caucasian and minority students (Bankston & Caldas, 1998; A. Brown & Donnor, 2011; Howard, 2008; O’Conner, Lewis, & Mueller, 2007; Osborne, 1999), as this gap has been a persistent problem for decades. However, despite more students of color gaining access to institutions of higher education, there is still a severe gap in college graduation rates (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2011), with African American males being the least likely group to be found on college campuses (Dunn, 2012), and thus, possessing the lowest college graduation rate. St. Peter Claver Academy (pseudonym) is a Catholic, male high school located in an inner city, low-income community in the western United States. The demographic composition of the school is 65% Latino and 35% African American. Despite the fact that 100% of seniors are accepted into a college or university, the graduates of St. Peter Claver Academy have very poor college graduation rates. This qualitative study investigated the narratives of seven African- American graduates of the school in order to understand their college experiences, looking closely at attrition, retention, resilience, and persistence. Through the lens of critical bicultural theory, the voices of these former students are central to this study in an effort to seek common threads about their experiences, which can provide educators useful insight on how to improve the college graduation rate for this underrepresented student population group.

This qualitative study examined high school counselors' perceptions of postsecondary transition services to students with specific learning disabilities. Seven high school counselors in the Unnamed County Schools were interviewed to examine their perceptions of postsecondary transition services to students with specific learning disabilities. Categories that involved school counselor's perceptions of the provision of postsecondary transition services for students with learning disabilities emerged from the data. These themes were as follows: 1) plan of study for postsecondary goals based on vocational assessments, 2) assistance provided to prepare for college or work, 3) duties of counselors and involvement in the transition process, and 4) the IEP team, postsecondary goals, and self-advocacy of accommodation needs. There was also an area of other findings that was noted but was not identified as a theme. This other findings involved a participant's postsecondary personal vocational experience. Participants reported transition assessments that were administered to students with learning disabilities to determine career interests and strengths. Participants also discussed how transition services were included in the plan of study and career goals. Participants indicated that the School-to-Work program has helped students with learning disabilities work within the city and gain experiences in their area of interest. Additionally, participants suggested that students with learning disabilities have attended Career Technology Education (CTE) classes that provided a strong connection with the community and businesses. Participants spoke about their depth of knowledge on courses, scheduling, colleges' admission standards, and the employment process for all students. Participants also indicated that they have supplied information for the postsecondary transition service plans for students with disabilities at IEP meetings. Findings from this study may have encouraged high school counselors to expand their practice and perform at an enhanced level when helping students with special needs go to college, get a job, and succeed in life.