Projects and Research

A growing number of institutions and state systems of higher education are embracing corequisite developmental education (DE) models whereby students take developmental (or remedial) courses in the same semester as the associated introductory college-level English or math course. This model abandons the traditional notion that students must complete all DE courses before taking college-level courses. In line with this movement, Texas passed House Bill 2223 in 2017, which required all public Texas institutions to adopt corequisites as the primary developmental education model. This legislation permitted individual institutions to decide how to offer corequisite course options in terms of both structure (concurrently/paired, sequentially, or via non-competency based option) and intensity (number of credit hours, ranging from 0 to 4). Texas corequisite developmental education research through the Center for Postsecondary Success presents insights from Texas faculty, staff, students, and administrators in hopes of better understanding these corequisite offerings and the implementation of HB 2223. 

Project Publications

Park-Gaghan, T., Mokher, C., Daniels, H., McCoy, K., Henning, H., & Moran, A. (2022). Exploring corequisite developmental education models in the lone star state: A first report on student success and corequisite implementation. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

In 2013, the Florida legislature drastically restructured developmental education placement and instruction through Senate Bill 1720. The new law mandates that the 28 state colleges (formerly the community colleges) in the Florida College System (FCS) provide developmental education that is more tailored to the needs of students. This law gives students much more flexibility in deciding whether they need developmental education and how they can go about receiving developmental education instruction. For many students, developmental education and placement tests are now optional regardless of prior academic preparation. In addition, developmental education must now be delivered through a variety of accelerated and co-requisite strategies. The legislation does not mandate the specific programmatic details around each option (it only requires that each option be provided), and therefore allows the individual campuses in the FCS some flexibility in the form and delivery of each option.

Project Publications

Hu, S., Mokher, C., Spencer, H., Park-Gaghan, T., Hu, X., & Bertrand Jones, T. (2019). Institutional transformation reflected: Administrators’ perceptions of the fifth year of developmental education reform in the Florida College System. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Hu, S., Park, T., Mokher, C., Spencer, H., Hu, X., & Bertrand Jones, T. (2019). Increasing momentum for student success: Developmental education redesign and student progress in Florida. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Hu, S., Mokher, C., Spencer, H., Hu, X., Park, T., & Bertrand Jones, T. (2018). Exploring institutional change: Administrator’s perceptions of the fourth year of developmental education reform in the Florida college system. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Brower, R. L., Woods, C., Bertrand Jones, T., Park, T., Hu, S., Tandberg, D. A., Nix, A. N., Rahming, S. G., & Martindale, S. K. (2018). Scaffolding mathematics remediation for academically at-risk students following developmental education reform in Florida. Community College Journal of Research and Practice.

Hu, S., Bertrand Jones, T., Brower, R., Harrison, J., Sermon, J., Daniels, H., Park, T., & Mokher, C. (2018). Meeting the Needs of Students: Site Visit Report of the Fourth Year of Developmental Education Reform in the Florida College System. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Hu, S., Mokher, C., Spencer, H., Hu, X., Park, T., & Bertrand Jones, T. (2018). Exploring Institutional Change: Administrator’s Perceptions of the Fourth Year of Developmental Education Reform in the Florida College System. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Hu, S., Mokher, C. G., Harris, J., Park, T., & Bertrand Jones, T. (2017). Continuing adaptations: Administrators’ perceptions of the third year of developmental education reform in the Florida College System. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success at Florida State University.

Brower, R., Bertrand Jones, T., Tandberg, D., Hu, S., & Park, T. (2017). A policy implementation typology of Florida’s developmental education reform. Journal of Higher Education, 88(6), 809-834.

Woods, C., Richard, K., Park, T., Tandberg, D., Hu, S., & Bertrand Jones, T. (2017). Academic advising, remedial courses, and legislative mandates: An exploration of academic advising in Florida community colleges with optional developmental education. Innovative Higher Education, 42(4), 289-303.

Hu, S., Bertrand Jones, T., Brower, R.L., Park, T., Nix, A., Rahming, S., Harrison, J., Sermon, J. & Daniels, H. (2017). Changes on the Ground: Site Visit Report of the Third Year of Developmental Education Reform in the Florida College System. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Hu, S., Mokher, C., Harris, J., Park., T & Bertrand Jones, T. (2017). Continuing adaptions: Administrators’ perceptions of the third year of developmental education reform in the Florida College System. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Park, T., Woods, C., Tandberg, D., Richard, K., Cig, O., Hu, S., & Bertrand Jones, T. (2016). Examining student success following developmental education redesign in Florida. Teachers College Record.

Hu, S., Park, T. J., Woods, C. S., Tandberg, D. A., Richard, K., & Hankerson, D. (2016). Investigating developmental and college-level course enrollment and passing before and after Florida’s developmental education reform (REL 2017–203). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education,

Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs.

Hu, S., Richard, K., Woods, C., Nix, S., Tandberg, D. A., Park, T., & Bertrand Jones, T. (2016). Adapting to Change: Administrators’ Perceptions of the Second Year of Developmental Education Reform in the Florida College System. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Hu, S., Bertrand Jones, T., Brower, R., Nix, A., Martindale, S., Rahming, S., Park, T., & Tandberg, D. A. (2016). Learning to Adapt: Lessons from the Second Year of Developmental Education Reform at Florida College System Institutions. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Hu, S., Park, T., Woods, C., Richard, K., Tandberg, D. A., & Bertrand Jones, T. (2016). Probability of Success: Evaluation of Florida’s Developmental Education Redesign Based on Cohorts of First-Time-In-College Students from 2009-10 to 2014-15. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Park, T. J., Woods, C. S., Richard, K., Tandberg, D. A., Hu, S., Bertrand Jones, T. (2016). When developmental education is optional, what will students do? A preliminary analysis of survey data on student course enrollment decisions in an environment of increased choice. Innovative Higher Education, 41, 221-236.

Park, T. J., Tandberg, D. A., Hu, S., Hankerson, D. (2016). One policy, disparate reactions: Institutional responses in Florida’s developmental education reform. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 40(10), 824-837.

Hu, S., Bertrand Jones, T., Brower, R., Park, T., Tandberg, D., Nix, A., Rahming, S., & Martindale, S. (2015). Learning from the Ground Up: Developmental Education Reform at Florida College System Institutions. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Hu, S., Woods, C., Richard, K., Tandberg, D., Park, T., & Bertrand Jones, T. (2015). Diving into the Deep End: How State College Administrators in Florida Describe the First Year of Developmental Education Reform. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Hu, S., Park, T., Woods, C., Tandberg, D., Bertrand Jones, T., Hankerson, D., & Richard, K. (2015). How Students Make Course Enrollment Decisions in an Era of Increased Choice: Results from a Survey of Enrollment Patterns and Choice Factors. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Hu, S., Park, T., Tandberg, D., Hankerson, D., Collins, R., & Nix, A. (2014). Florida developmental education reform: Responses from the leaders of Florida College System institutions. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Hu, S., Tandberg, D. A., Park, T., Nix, A., Collins, R., & Hankerson, D. (2014). Florida developmental education reform: What do the Florida College System institutions plan to do? Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Hu, S., Tandberg, D.A., Park, T., Nix, A. Collins, R. & Hankerson, D. (2014). Policy Brief 1, Developmental education reform in Florida: Perceptions of institutional leaders and plans for institutional actions. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Woods, C.S., Richard, K., Park, T. Tandberg, D.A., Hu, S., & Bertrand Jones, T. (2016). Academic advising, remedial courses, and legislative mandates: An exploration of academic advising in Florida community colleges with optional developmental education. Innovative Higher Education, doi:10.1007/s10755-016-9385-4.

This research focuses on pathways to educational attainment. These interests are particularly acute with respect to underrepresented minority youth, students from low-socio-economic backgrounds, and high school and community factors that influence college going and retention. We consider not only transitions from high school to college, but also transitions from community colleges to four-year institutions.

Project Publications

Perez-Felkner, L. (2015). Perceptions and resilience in underrepresented students’ pathways to college. Teachers College Record, 117(8), 1-60.

Perez-Felkner, L. (2015). Perceptions Matter: How Schools Can Enhance Underrepresented Students’ Resilience on the Rocky Path to College. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Perez-Felkner, L. (2012). Educational aspirations: Understanding social inequality in higher education and careers. Pathfinder (4), 5-8.

Perez-Felkner, L., Hedberg, E. C., & Schneider, B. (2011). The changing landscape: Enhancing the public school option for Black youth. In D. Slaughter-Defoe, H. Stevenson, E. Arrington, & D. J. Johnson (Eds.), Black educational choice: Assessing the private and public alternatives to traditional K-12 public schools (pp. 234-254). Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger Press.

Using the state of Florida as the study setting and the state’s merit aid program, the Bright Futures Scholarship program, as the fully developed intervention to be evaluated, this project examines the effects of Bright Futures program on 1) college enrollment and degree production in the state and in different types of institution, and 2) individual student college choice, persistence, and degree completion.

Project Publications

Zhang, L., Hu, S., Sun, L., & Pu, S. (2016). The effect of Florida’s Bright Futures program on college choice: A regression discontinuity approach. Journal of Higher Education, 87, 115-146.

Zhang, L., Hu, S., & Sensenig, V. (2013). The effect of Florida’s Bright Futures Program on college enrollment and degree production: An aggregated-level analysis. Research in Higher Education, 54, 746-764.

Hu, S., Trengove, M., & Zhang, L. (2012). Toward a greater understanding of the effects of state merit aid programs: Examining existing evidence and exploring future research direction. In J. C. Smart, & M. B. Paulsen (Eds.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (pp. 291-334). New York: Springer.

Philanthropic organizations have become increasingly interested in investing in scholarship programs to expand postsecondary educational opportunities for disadvantaged students. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, for example, established the Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) and Washington State Achievers (WSA) programs to help qualified students go to college and succeed in postsecondary education and beyond. A series of studies have been done to evaluate the impacts of GMS and WSA programs on student educational outcomes.

Project Publications

Hu, S. (2011). Scholarship awards, student engagement, and leadership capacity of college graduates. Journal of Higher Education, 82, 511-534.

St John, E. P., Hu, S., & Fisher, A. F. (2011). Breaking through the access barrier: Academic capital formation informing policy in higher education. New York: Routledge.

Hu, S. (2010). Scholarship awards, college choice, and student engagement in college activities. Journal of College Student Development, 51, 151-162.

Hu, S., & Ma, Y. (2010). Mentoring and student persistence in college: A study of the Washington State Achievers program. Innovative Higher Education, 35, 329-341.

Williams, K., Hu, S., & St. John, E. P. (2008). The influence of public funding strategies on enrollment of low-income, high-achieving African American students. In E. P. St. John (Ed.), Resources, assets, and strengths among successful students: Understanding the contributions of the Gates Millennium Scholars program (pp. 179-200). New York: AMS Press.

St. John, E. P., & Hu, S. (2007). School reform, scholarship guarantees, and college enrollment: A study of the Washington State Achievers program. In E. P. St. John (Ed.), Confronting educational inequality: Reframing, building understanding, and making change. Reading on equal education (pp. 351-385). New York: AMS Press.

St. John, E. P., & Hu, S. (2006). The impact of guarantees on financial aid on college enrollment: An evaluation of the Washington State Achievers program. In E. P. St. John (Ed.), Public policy and educational opportunity: School reforms, postsecondary encouragement, and state policies on postsecondary education. Reading on equal education (pp. 213-257). New York: AMS Press.

Performance funding for higher education has become an increasingly popular state policy for higher education. States, seeking to hold institutions accountable and desiring to move away from an inputs-oriented funding approach for public colleges and universities, have begun tying state funds to institutional performance on a number of agreed-upon metrics. Using a variety of data sources, and advanced quasi-experimental methods, this project seeks to evaluate the impact that state finance policies such as performance based funding and higher education vouchers have on educational outcomes for students.

Project Publications

Hillman, N., Tandberg, D. A., & Fryar, A. H. (2015). Evaluating the impacts of ‘new’ performance funding in higher education. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 37(4), 501-519.p>

Tandberg, D. A., Hillman, N., & Barakat, M. (2014). State higher education performance funding for community colleges. Teachers College Record, 116(12), 1-31.

Hillman, N. W., Tandberg, D. A., & Gross, J. P. K. (2014). Performance funding in higher education: Do financial incentives impact college completions? The Journal of Higher Education, 85(6), 826-857.

Tandberg, D. A., & Hillman, N. W. (2014). State higher education performance funding: Data, outcomes and policy implications. Journal of Education Finance, 39(3), 222-242.

Hillman, N. W., Tandberg, D. A., & Gross, J. P. K. (2014). Market-based higher education: Does Colorado’s voucher model improve higher education access and efficiency? Research in Higher Education, 55(6), 601-625.

Volkwein, J. F., & Tandberg, D. A. (2008). Measuring up: Examining the connections among state structural characteristics, regulatory practices, and performance. Research in Higher Education, 49(2), 180-197.

The purpose of this project is to compare and contrast student baccalaureate degree attainment for students who start their educational careers in three different educational pathways: (1) community college students who eventually transfer to four-year institutions, (2) students enrolling in baccalaureate degree programs in a community college, and (3) students initially enrolling at a four-year institution. Given the long-standing controversy over the role of the community college in student baccalaureate degree attainment, and the emergence of community college baccalaureate degree programs, this project will make a theoretical contribution and generate information keenly applicable to public policy conversation.

Project Publications

Park, T. J., Tandberg, D., Shim, H. K., Hu, S., & Herrington, C. (in press). Community college teacher education baccalaureate programs. Educational Policy.

This project examines the factors associated with states’ adoption of innovative postsecondary policy and state support of higher education generally. Using advanced statistical techniques including event history analysis, we examine the impact of policy diffusion and state political, higher education, and economic and demographic factors on the likelihood that states will adopt various policy innovations for higher education.

Project Publications

Lacy, T. A., & Tandberg, D. A. (2014). Rethinking policy diffusion: The interstate spread of state finance “innovations.”. Research in Higher Education, 55, 627-649.

McLendon, M., Tandberg, D. A., & Hillman, N. (2014). Financing the college opportunity: Factors influencing state spending on financial and campus appropriations, 1990 through 2010. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 655(1), 143-162.

Hillman, N. W., Tandberg, D. A., & Gross, J. P. K. (2014). The Efficacy of Vouchers in Higher Education: The Case of Colorado. WISCAPE Policy Brief.

Hillman, N. W., Tandberg, D. A., & Gross, J. P. K. (2014). The Efficacy of Vouchers in Higher Education: The Case of Colorado. WISCAPE Policy Brief.

Tandberg, D. A. (2013). The conditioning role of state higher education governance structures. The Journal of Higher Education, 84(4), 506-543.

Tandberg, D. A., & Griffith, C. (2013). State support of higher education: Data, measures, findings and directions for future research. In Smart, John C., & Paulsen, Michael B. (Eds.), Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, v. 28 (pp. 613-685). The Netherlands: Springer.

Ness, E., & Tandberg, D. A. (2013). The determinants of state spending on higher education: How capital project funding differs from general fund appropriations. The Journal of Higher Education, 84(3), 329-362.

Tandberg, D. A., & Ness, E. (2011). State capital expenditures for higher education: ‘Where the real politics happens.’. Journal of Education Finance, 36(4), 394-423.

Tandberg, D. A. (2010). Interest groups and governmental institutions: The politics of state funding of public higher education. Educational Policy, 24(5), 735-778.

Tandberg, D. A. (2010). Politics, interest groups and state funding of public higher education. Research in Higher Education, 51(5), 416-450.

Tandberg, D. A. (2008). The politics of state higher education funding. Higher Education in Review, 5, 1-36.

Tandberg, D. A., McLendon, M. K., & Fowles, J. T. (2017). The governor and the state higher education executive officer: How the relationship shapes state financial support for higher education. The Journal of Higher Education.

Fowles, J., Tandberg, D. A., & Lacy, A. (submitted). Even keel or balance wheel? Assessing the relationships between agency politicization, centralization, and volatility in state higher education appropriations. Review of Higher Education.

Tandberg, D. A., McLendon, M. K., & Fowles, J. T. (2017). The governor and the state higher education executive officer: How the relationship shapes state financial support for higher education. The Journal of Higher Education.

This project seeks to identify specific institution-wide policies that might be leveraged to increase college student engagement – a key predictor of student grades and persistence that is especially beneficial to Hispanic, African American, and academically under-prepared students.

Project Website http://cherti.fsu.edu/LIPSS/index.html

Project Publications

Brower, R. L., Cox, B. E., & Hampton, A. (2016). No adult left behind: Student affairs practices targeting adult undergraduates. ACPA Developments, 14(2).

Cox, B. E., Reason, R. D., Tobolowksy, B. F., Underwood, R. B., Luczyk, S., Nix, S., Dean, J., & Wetherell, T. K. (2012). Linking institutional policies to student success: Initial results from a five-state pilot study. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Higher Education Research, Teaching, and Innovation.

Tobolowsky, B. T., McClellan, R., & Cox, B. E. (2014). Opposing forces: An organizational view of transfer policies and practices. College Student Affairs Journal, 32(1), 67-80.

Tobolowsky, B. T. & Cox, B. E. (2012). Rationalizing neglect: An institutional response to transfer students. Journal of Higher Education, 83(3), 389-410.

Faculty members are the primary institutional representatives with whom students will interact throughout their college experience. This line of work examines the relationships between institutional policies, faculty cultures, and instructor behaviors that ultimately shape the student academic experience.

Project Publications

Cox, B. E. (2012). A developmental typology of faculty-student interaction outside of the classroom. In S. Hu & S. Li (Eds.), Understanding college student experiences and outcomes: A typological approach. New Directions for Institutional Research, 49-66.

Cox, B. E., McIntosh, K. L., Reason, R. D., & Terenzini, P. T. (2011). A culture of teaching: Policy, perception, and practice in higher education. Research in Higher Education, 52(8), 808-829.

Reason, R. D., Cox, B. E., Lutovsky Quaye, B. R., & Terenzini, P. T. (2010). Faculty and institutional factors that promote student encounters with difference in first-year courses. Review of Higher Education, 33(3), 391-414.

Cox, B. E., McIntosh, K. L., Terenzini, P. T., Reason, R. D., & Lutovsky Quaye, B. R. (2010). Pedagogical signals of faculty approachability: Factors shaping faculty-student interaction outside the classroom. Research in Higher Education, 51(8), 767-788.

Cox, B. E. & Orehovec, E. (2007). Faculty-student interaction outside the classroom: A typology from a residential college. Review of Higher Education, 30(4), 343-362.

Using a number of national data sets on college students, this project examines how student engagement in college activities is related to student persistence, learning, and personal developmental outcomes. A particular thread of this research is student athlete engagement and its relationship to student experiences and selected cognitive and affective outcomes.

Project Publications

Cox, B. E., Reason, R. D., Nix, S. & Schwab, M. (2016). Life happens (outside of college): Non-college life-events and students’ likelihood of on-time graduation. Research in Higher Education, 57(7), 823-844.

Rettig, J. & Hu, S. (2016). College sport participation and student educational experiences and selected outcomes. Journal of College Student Development, 57(4), 428-446.

Hu, S., & McCormick, A. (2012). An engagement-based student typology and its relationship to college outcomes. Research in Higher Education, 53, 738-754.

Hu, S., McCormick, A., & Gonyea, R. (2012). Examining the relationship between student learning and persistence. Innovative Higher Education, 37, 387-395.

Hu, S. (2011). Reconsidering the relationship between student engagement and persistence in college. Innovative Higher Education, 36 (2), 97-106.

Using a unique dataset from NORC of Gates Millennium Scholars recipients (GMS) and comparable non-GMS recipients, this project examines the contributions of academic and social engagement of students during college and their early career earnings in the labor market.

Project Publications

Hu, S., & Wolniak, G. (2013). College student engagement and early career earnings: Differences by gender, race/ethnicity, and academic preparation. Review of Higher Education, 36, 211-233.

Hu, S., & Wolniak, G. (2010). Initial evidence of the influence of college student engagement on early career earnings. Research in Higher Education, 51, 750-766.

The mixed-reality-integrated immersive learning environment (MILE) is an emerging and promising learning platform to support educational activities. It supports in-situ, immersive role-play to enable the transfer of skills between taught and real contexts, and provides a multi-user, embodied space for real time, remote learning.

Project Publications

Ke, F., Xie, K., & Xie, Y. (2016). Game-based learning engagement: A theory- and data-driven exploration. British Journal of Educational Technology, 47(6), 1183-1201.

Ke, F., & Hsu, Y. (2015). Mobile augmented-reality artifact design as a component of mobile computer-supported collaborative learning. The Internet and Higher Education, 26, 33-41. Inclusive Design of E-Learning

Ke, F., & Chávez, A. F. (2013). Web-based teaching and learning across culture and age. New York: Springer.

This research examines inclusive, e-learning environments that promote engaging and effective learning interactions.

Project Publications

Ke, F., & Chávez, A. F. (2013). Web-based teaching and learning across culture and age. New York: Springer.

This project utilizes multiple large-scale, nationally representative, and longitudinal databases to examine gendered differences in the changing landscape of U.S. postsecondary education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields (STEM), with a particular focus on those fields with the strongest patterns of sex segregation.

Project Publications

Nix, S., & Perez-Felkner, L. (2019). Difficulty orientations, gender, and race/ethnicity: An intersectional analysis of pathways to STEM degrees. Social Sciences, 8(2), 1-29. doi: 10.3390/socsci8020043. See also video abstract: Difficulty Orientations, Gender, and Race/Ethnicity | Dr. Perez-Felkner & Dr. Nix

Perez-Felkner, L., Gaston Gayles, J. (Eds.) (2019, in press).  Advancing Higher Education Research on Undergraduate Women in STEM. New Directions for Institutional Research, vol. 179.

Šaras, E., Perez-Felkner, L., & Nix, S. (2019, in press).  Warming the Chill: Insights for Institutions and Researchers to Keep Women in STEM. New Directions for Institutional Research, vol. 179.

Nix, S., Perez-Felkner, L. C., & Thomas, K. (2018). Perceived mathematical ability under challenge: A longitudinal perspective on sex segregation among STEM degree fields. In S. Ceci, W. M. Williams & S. Khan (Eds.), The Underrepresentation of Women in Science: International and Cross-Disciplinary Evidence and Debate (pp. 133-151). Lausanne, Switzerland: Frontiers Media. Retrieved from https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/2794/underrepresentation-of-women-in-science-international-and-cross-disciplinary-evidence-and-debate.  doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00530

Milesi, C., Perez-Felkner, L., Brown, K, & Schneider, B. (2017). Engagement, Persistence, and Gender in Computer Science: Results of a Smartphone ESM Study. Frontiers in Psychology. 8(602). doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00602

Nix, S., Perez-Felkner, L., & Thomas, K. (2015). Perceived mathematical ability under challenge: A longitudinal perspective on sex segregation among STEM degree fields. Frontiers in Psychology, 6.

Perez-Felkner, L. (2015). Achievement Differences and Gender. In R. Gunstone (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Science Education. (pp. 9-10): Springer Netherlands. doi: 10.1007/978-94-007-2150-0_349.

Schneider, B., Milesi, C., Perez-Felkner, L., Brown, K., & Gutin, I. (2015). Does the gender gap in STEM majors vary by field and institutional selectivity? Teachers College Record. See associated poster.

Perez-Felkner, L. (2015). Achievement differences and gender. In R. Gunstone (Ed.), Encyclopedia of science education (pp. 9-10). The Netherlands: Springer.

Perez-Felkner, L. (2015). Attitude differences and gender. In R. Gunstone (Ed.), Encyclopedia of science education (pp. 93-94): The Netherlands: Springer.

Perez-Felkner, L., McDonald, S.-K., & Schneider, B. L. (2014). What happens to high-achieving females after high school? Gender and persistence on the postsecondary STEM pipeline. In I. Schoon & J. S. Eccles (Eds.), Gender differences in aspirations and attainment: A life course perspective (pp. 285-320). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

Perez-Felkner, L., McDonald, S.-K., Schneider, B., & Grogan, E. (2012). Female and male adolescents’ subjective orientations to mathematics and their influence on postsecondary majors. Developmental Psychology, 48(6), 1658–1673.

Cross-National, Institutional, and Racial-Ethnic Variation in STEM Higher Education

Perez-Felkner, L., Thomas, K., Nix, S., Hopkins, J., & D’Sa, M. (2019, online first). Are 2-Year Colleges the Key? Institutional Variation and the Gender Gap in Undergraduate STEM Degrees. Journal of Higher Education. p. 1-29. doi: 10.1080/00221546.2018.1486641

Perez-Felkner, L. (2019, in press). Conceptualizing the field: Higher education research on STEM gender gaps. New Directions for Institutional Research, vol. 179.

Schneider, B., Milesi, C., Perez-Felkner, L., Brown, K., & Gutin, I. (2015). Does the gender gap in STEM majors vary by field and institutional selectivity? Teachers College Record.

Perez-Felkner, L. C., Nix, S., & Magalhaes, M. (presented 2015). Rural poverty and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) gender segregation in Cambodia. Paper presented at Annual Meeting, Association for the Study of Higher Education, Denver, CO.

Perez-Felkner, L. C., Thomas, K., Nix, S., & Hopkins, J. (presented 2014). Are two-year colleges the key to expanding the scientific labor force? Unpacking gender and racial-ethnic gaps in undergraduate STEM degrees. Paper presented at Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness, Washington, DC.

Drawing on U.S. and international data sources, this research examines STEM higher education with a focus on the intersections between students’ identities and the changing demographics of their institutional and national contexts.

Project Publications

Schneider, B., Milesi, C., Perez-Felkner, L., Brown, K., & Gutin, I. (2015). Does the gender gap in STEM majors vary by field and institutional selectivity? Teachers College Record.

Perez-Felkner, L. C., Nix, S., & Magalhaes, M. (presented 2015). Rural poverty and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) gender segregation in Cambodia. Paper presented at Annual Meeting, Association for the Study of Higher Education, Denver, CO.

Perez-Felkner, L. C., Thomas, K., Nix, S., & Hopkins, J. (presented 2014). Are two-year colleges the key to expanding the scientific labor force? Unpacking gender and racial-ethnic gaps in undergraduate STEM degrees. Paper presented at Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness, Washington, DC.

In 2013, the Florida legislature drastically restructured developmental education placement and instruction through Senate Bill 1720. The new law mandates that the 28 state colleges (formerly the community colleges) in the Florida College System (FCS) provide developmental education that is more tailored to the needs of students. This law gives students much more flexibility in deciding whether they need developmental education and how they can go about receiving developmental education instruction. For many students, developmental education and placement tests are now optional regardless of prior academic preparation. In addition, developmental education must now be delivered through a variety of accelerated and co-requisite strategies. The legislation does not mandate the specific programmatic details around each option (it only requires that each option be provided), and therefore allows the individual campuses in the FCS some flexibility in the form and delivery of each option.

Project Publications

Hu, S., Mokher, C., Spencer, H., Park-Gaghan, T., Hu, X., & Bertrand Jones, T. (2019). Institutional transformation reflected: Administrators’ perceptions of the fifth year of developmental education reform in the Florida College System. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Hu, S., Park, T., Mokher, C., Spencer, H., Hu, X., & Bertrand Jones, T. (2019). Increasing momentum for student success: Developmental education redesign and student progress in Florida. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Hu, S., Mokher, C., Spencer, H., Hu, X., Park, T., & Bertrand Jones, T. (2018). Exploring institutional change: Administrator’s perceptions of the fourth year of developmental education reform in the Florida college system. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Brower, R. L., Woods, C., Bertrand Jones, T., Park, T., Hu, S., Tandberg, D. A., Nix, A. N., Rahming, S. G., & Martindale, S. K. (2018). Scaffolding mathematics remediation for academically at-risk students following developmental education reform in Florida. Community College Journal of Research and Practice.

Hu, S., Bertrand Jones, T., Brower, R., Harrison, J., Sermon, J., Daniels, H., Park, T., & Mokher, C. (2018). Meeting the Needs of Students: Site Visit Report of the Fourth Year of Developmental Education Reform in the Florida College System. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Hu, S., Mokher, C., Spencer, H., Hu, X., Park, T., & Bertrand Jones, T. (2018). Exploring Institutional Change: Administrator’s Perceptions of the Fourth Year of Developmental Education Reform in the Florida College System. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Hu, S., Mokher, C. G., Harris, J., Park, T., & Bertrand Jones, T. (2017). Continuing adaptations: Administrators’ perceptions of the third year of developmental education reform in the Florida College System. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success at Florida State University.

Brower, R., Bertrand Jones, T., Tandberg, D., Hu, S., & Park, T. (2017). A policy implementation typology of Florida’s developmental education reform. Journal of Higher Education, 88(6), 809-834.

Woods, C., Richard, K., Park, T., Tandberg, D., Hu, S., & Bertrand Jones, T. (2017). Academic advising, remedial courses, and legislative mandates: An exploration of academic advising in Florida community colleges with optional developmental education. Innovative Higher Education, 42(4), 289-303.

Hu, S., Bertrand Jones, T., Brower, R.L., Park, T., Nix, A., Rahming, S., Harrison, J., Sermon, J. & Daniels, H. (2017). Changes on the Ground: Site Visit Report of the Third Year of Developmental Education Reform in the Florida College System. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Hu, S., Mokher, C., Harris, J., Park., T & Bertrand Jones, T. (2017). Continuing adaptions: Administrators’ perceptions of the third year of developmental education reform in the Florida College System. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Park, T., Woods, C., Tandberg, D., Richard, K., Cig, O., Hu, S., & Bertrand Jones, T. (2016). Examining student success following developmental education redesign in Florida. Teachers College Record.

Hu, S., Park, T. J., Woods, C. S., Tandberg, D. A., Richard, K., & Hankerson, D. (2016). Investigating developmental and college-level course enrollment and passing before and after Florida’s developmental education reform (REL 2017–203). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education,

Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs.

Hu, S., Richard, K., Woods, C., Nix, S., Tandberg, D. A., Park, T., & Bertrand Jones, T. (2016). Adapting to Change: Administrators’ Perceptions of the Second Year of Developmental Education Reform in the Florida College System. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Hu, S., Bertrand Jones, T., Brower, R., Nix, A., Martindale, S., Rahming, S., Park, T., & Tandberg, D. A. (2016). Learning to Adapt: Lessons from the Second Year of Developmental Education Reform at Florida College System Institutions. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Hu, S., Park, T., Woods, C., Richard, K., Tandberg, D. A., & Bertrand Jones, T. (2016). Probability of Success: Evaluation of Florida’s Developmental Education Redesign Based on Cohorts of First-Time-In-College Students from 2009-10 to 2014-15. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Park, T. J., Woods, C. S., Richard, K., Tandberg, D. A., Hu, S., Bertrand Jones, T. (2016). When developmental education is optional, what will students do? A preliminary analysis of survey data on student course enrollment decisions in an environment of increased choice. Innovative Higher Education, 41, 221-236.

Park, T. J., Tandberg, D. A., Hu, S., Hankerson, D. (2016). One policy, disparate reactions: Institutional responses in Florida’s developmental education reform. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 40(10), 824-837.

Hu, S., Bertrand Jones, T., Brower, R., Park, T., Tandberg, D., Nix, A., Rahming, S., & Martindale, S. (2015). Learning from the Ground Up: Developmental Education Reform at Florida College System Institutions. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Hu, S., Woods, C., Richard, K., Tandberg, D., Park, T., & Bertrand Jones, T. (2015). Diving into the Deep End: How State College Administrators in Florida Describe the First Year of Developmental Education Reform. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Hu, S., Park, T., Woods, C., Tandberg, D., Bertrand Jones, T., Hankerson, D., & Richard, K. (2015). How Students Make Course Enrollment Decisions in an Era of Increased Choice: Results from a Survey of Enrollment Patterns and Choice Factors. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Hu, S., Park, T., Tandberg, D., Hankerson, D., Collins, R., & Nix, A. (2014). Florida developmental education reform: Responses from the leaders of Florida College System institutions. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Hu, S., Tandberg, D. A., Park, T., Nix, A., Collins, R., & Hankerson, D. (2014). Florida developmental education reform: What do the Florida College System institutions plan to do? Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Hu, S., Tandberg, D.A., Park, T., Nix, A. Collins, R. & Hankerson, D. (2014). Policy Brief 1, Developmental education reform in Florida: Perceptions of institutional leaders and plans for institutional actions. Tallahassee, FL: Center for Postsecondary Success.

Woods, C.S., Richard, K., Park, T. Tandberg, D.A., Hu, S., & Bertrand Jones, T. (2016). Academic advising, remedial courses, and legislative mandates: An exploration of academic advising in Florida community colleges with optional developmental education. Innovative Higher Education, doi:10.1007/s10755-016-9385-4.

The purpose of this project is to compare and contrast student baccalaureate degree attainment for students who start their educational careers in three different educational pathways: (1) community college students who eventually transfer to four-year institutions, (2) students enrolling in baccalaureate degree programs in a community college, and (3) students initially enrolling at a four-year institution. Given the long-standing controversy over the role of the community college in student baccalaureate degree attainment, and the emergence of community college baccalaureate degree programs, this project will make a theoretical contribution and generate information keenly applicable to public policy conversation.

Project Publications

Park, T. J., Tandberg, D., Shim, H. K., Hu, S., & Herrington, C. (in press). Community college teacher education baccalaureate programs: Increasing teacher education degree production and diversity?. Educational Policy.

Project (NSF ECR grant #19-20670, 2019-2022)

In 2013, the Florida legislature drastically restructured developmental education placement and instruction through Senate Bill 1720. The new law mandates that the 28 state colleges (formerly the community colleges) in the Florida College System (FCS) provide developmental education that is more tailored to the needs of students. This law gives students much more flexibility in deciding whether they need developmental education and how they can go about receiving developmental education instruction. For many students, developmental education and placement tests are now optional regardless of prior academic preparation. In addition, developmental education must now be delivered through a variety of accelerated and co-requisite strategies. The legislation does not mandate the specific programmatic details around each option (it only requires that each option be provided), and therefore allows the individual campuses in the FCS some flexibility in the form and delivery of each option.

Investigator Team: Dr. Lara Perez-Felkner and Dr. Shouping Hu

Dr. Lara Perez-Felkner and Graduate Assistants

Meet the Team

Dr. Lara Perez-Felkner, Principal Investigator and Associate Professor of Higher Education and Sociology

Dr. Shouping Hu, Co-Principal Investigator and Louis W. and Elizabeth N. Bender Endowed Professor of Higher Education

Jinjushang (Chena) Chen, Ph.D. Candidate in Educational Psychology

Kristen Erichsen, Graduate Research Assistant, Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology

Teng Zhao, Graduate Research Assistant, Ph.D. Candidate in Higher Education

Yang Li, Graduate Research Intern, Ph.D. Student in Higher Education

Advisory Board to Enhance Rigor and Impact

We draw on both a Technical Advisory Board and Broader Impacts Advisory Board given the importance of research informed by policy and practice and designed to generate results, which can contribute to broadening participation in computing and science and technology more broadly, in Florida, the U.S., and beyond.

News and Relevant Links

• Florida State University news coverage of our work includes radio and TV features on why community college women’s access to computing fields matters.
• Upcoming paper sessions scheduled at AERA 2020, ASEE 2020

Contact us for more information or to subscribe to our project newsletter

Associated Recent Publications, with * denoting funding support from NSF computing project and ^ denoting past NSF funding support.

^ Perez-Felkner, L., Felkner, J., Nix, S., & Magalhães, M. (2020). The Puzzling Relationship between International Development and Gender Equity: The Case of STEM Postsecondary Education in Cambodia. International Journal of Educational Development 72(1) 1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2019.102102 See related translational article in Elsevier Connect.

^ Nix, S., & Perez-Felkner, L. (2019). Difficulty orientations, gender, and race/ethnicity: An intersectional analysis of pathways to STEM degrees. Social Sciences, 8(2), 1-29. doi: 10.3390/socsci8020043. See also video abstract: https://youtu.be/w-2QEoJjKDE

^ Perez-Felkner, L., Thomas, K., Nix, S., Hopkins, J., & D’Sa, M. (2019). Are 2-Year Colleges the Key? Institutional Variation and the Gender Gap in Undergraduate STEM Degrees. Journal of Higher Education. 90(2), 181-209. doi: 10.1080/00221546.2018.1486641

Perez-Felkner, L., Gaston Gayles, J. (Eds.) (2018). Special Issue: Advancing Higher Education Research on Undergraduate Women in STEM. New Directions for Institutional Research, vol. 179, pp. 1-137.

Perez-Felkner, L., Gaston Gayles, J. (2018). Editor’s Notes. New Directions for Institutional Research, 2018(179): 7-9.

Perez-Felkner, L. (2018). Conceptualizing the field: Higher education research on the STEM gender gap. New Directions for Institutional Research, 2018(179): 11-26. doi: 10.1002/ir.20273

Šaras, E., Perez-Felkner, L., & Nix, S. (2018).  Warming the Chill: Insights for Institutions and Researchers to Keep Women in STEM. New Directions for Institutional Research, 2018(179): 115-137. doi:10.1002/ir.20278

^ Milesi, C., Perez-Felkner, L., Brown, K, & Schneider, B. (2017). Engagement, Persistence, and Gender in Computer Science: Results of a Smartphone ESM Study. Frontiers in Psychology. 8(602). doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00602

^ Perez-Felkner, L., Nix, S., & Thomas, K. (2017). Gendered Pathways: How Mathematics Ability Beliefs Shape Secondary and Postsecondary Course and Degree Field Choices. Frontiers in Psychology, 8(386). doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00386 See related press.

^ Schneider, B., Milesi, C., Perez-Felkner, L., Brown, K., & Gutin, I. (2015). Does the gender gap in STEM majors vary by field and institutional selectivity? Teachers College Record. See associated poster.

^ Nix, S., Perez-Felkner, L. C., & Thomas, K. (2015). Perceived mathematical ability under challenge: A longitudinal perspective on sex segregation among STEM degree fields. Frontiers in Psychology, 6(530), 1-19. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00530. See related press.

^ Perez-Felkner, L., McDonald, S.-K., & Schneider, B. L. (2014). What happens to high-achieving females after high school? Gender and persistence on the postsecondary STEM pipeline. In I. Schoon & J. S. Eccles (Eds.), Gender differences in aspirations and attainment: A life course perspective (pp. 285-320). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139128933.018 Read and download here.

Perez-Felkner, L., McDonald, S.-K., Schneider, B., & Grogan, E. (2012). Female and Male Adolescents’ Subjective Orientations to Mathematics and Their Influence on Postsecondary Majors. Developmental Psychology, 48(6), 1658–1673. See also APA link. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0027020