Education Commons^™

Defying The Odds, Stories Of Success: A Case Study Of Foster Care Alumni In The Community College Environment, Julia Philyaw

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the lived experiences of foster care alumni and how these experiences influenced the individual’s decision to enroll in a community college, persist, and complete a degree. The dissertation drew from two conceptual frameworks, Bandwidth (Verschelden, 2017) and Capitals – cultural, social, and academic (Bourdieu, 1986; St. John, Hu, & Fisher, 2010). Foster care alumni were selected as the population due to their underrepresentation in college enrollment and poor completion rates. Moving beyond a deficit model that focuses on identifying obstacles, this dissertation focused on success stories of the foster care alumni in …

The Pathways Program: Understanding The Effectiveness Of A Structured And Support Based Standalone Dual Credit Program, Pablo Ortega

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Since the 1970s’, dual credit programs have helped high school students earn college credit and gain college readiness skills. However, the standalone branch of dual credit programs lacks structured advising, educational planning, and student support. As a result, participants of the standalone dual credit option experience frustration and significant difficulties in their dual credit experience. This study adds to the literature by evaluating the effectiveness of a standalone dual credit program designed with Guided Pathways-style support services.

Through quantitative analysis, this study compared two groups of standalone dual credit students. Both groups participated in standalone dual credit programs at the …