Research

Peer-Reviewed Research

The Promoting At-Promise Student Success (PASS) project has generated a significant amount of peer-reviewed research related to how programs and institutions might best support at-promise students. Below is a collection of that research organized by subject. New research will be added as the project progresses.

Creating a Campus-Wide Culture of Student Success

An Evidence-Based Approach to Supporting Low-Income, Racially Minoritized, and First-Generation College Students

By Ronald E. Hallett, Adrianna Kezar, Joseph A. Kitchen, Rosemary J. Perez (2024

Offering a new approach to institutional practices, this book describes evidence-based strategies to create a campus culture conducive to truly supporting all students. We are at a critical crossroads in higher education, where large numbers of low-income, racially minoritized, and first-generation college students – referred to in this book as "at-promise students" – are attending college in greater numbers than ever, yet access has not translated to significantly improved retention and graduation rates. This book, therefore, proposes a realignment of existing initiatives to create campus-wide support through a new model of coordination.

The ideas presented in this book are the culmination of one of the largest studies of comprehensive college support programs for at-promise students. Chapters include illustrations of the key concepts and promising practices of the Promoting At-promise Student Success (PASS) Project, as well as guiding questions that can be used to facilitate conversations on campus. In this helpful resource, the authors address how student supports are delivered in validating ways, rather than focusing solely on what supports are offered, as has typically been the way institutions address the issues that at-promise students face.

This book is intended to provide guidance and support to educators who want to be a part of changing how higher education supports at-promise students toward increased equity.

Mapping the connections of validation and high impact practices.

In J. Zilvinskis, J. Kinzie, J. Daday, K. O’Donnell, & C. Vande Zande (eds.), Delivering on the promise of high-impact practices: Research and models for achieving equity, fidelity, impact, and scale (pp. 30-39). Stylus Press.

Kezar, A., Hallett, R. E., Kitchen, J. A., & Perez, R. (2022).

RESEARCH

Peer-Reviewed Research

Creating a Campus-Wide Culture of Student Success

An Evidence-Based Approach to Supporting Low-Income, Racially Minoritized, and First-Generation College Students

Achievement

Career Self-Efficacy

Comprehensive College Transition Programs

Ecological Validation

Methodology

Proactive Advising

Professional Learning Communities

Sense of Belonging and Mattering

Shared Academic Courses

STEM

Well-Being

Mapping the connections of validation and high impact practices.

More than a pathway: Creating major and career ecology that promotes the success of low-income, first-generation, and racially minoritized students.

Moving toward institutional culture change in higher education: An exploration into cross-functional professional learning communities

Pedagogy of validation: Autobiographical reading and writing courses for first-year, low-income students.

Professional learning communities and culture change in higher education: Facilitators to learning ecological validation to support historically marginalized students.

Program staff as facilitators of academic self–efficacy, academic behavioral change, and achievement among low–income, first–generation, and minoritized students.

Promoting at-promise student success in 4-year universities: recommendations from the thompson scholars learning communities.

Promoting at-promise student success through ecological validation.

Promoting college students’ major and career self-efficacy through validating support.

Reflection tool – Sustaining the work of the coordinating group.

Rethinking traditional approaches to major and career development: The major and career ecology model.

Scaling success for low-income, first-generation in college, and/or racially minoritized students through a culture of ecological validation.

Sense of belonging and mattering among two cohorts of first-year students participating in a comprehensive college transition program.

Supporting first-generation, low-income, and under-represented students’ transitions to college through comprehensive and integrated programs.

Tailoring programs to best support low-income, first-generation, and racially minoritized college student success.

The impact of a college transition program proactive advising intervention on self-efficacy.

The possibilities and precautions of using the designation “at-promise” in higher education research.

The potential of and mechanisms for a hub of innovation on campus to support changes for low-income, first generation, and racially minoritized college students

The process of academic validation within a comprehensive college transition program.

The relationship between low-income college students’ time use and well-being: A mixed methods exploration.

The role of academic validation in developing mattering and academic success.

The tensions of teaching low-income students to perform professionalism.

Understanding how student support practitioners navigated ideal worker norms during COVID-19: The role of job-crafting.

Validating approaches to proactive advising: A promising practice to promote college success among low-Income, first-generation, and racially-minoritized students in a comprehensive college transition program.

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