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An Initiative Of NASPA and The Suder Foundation

Research & Policy

Dedicated first-generation research allows for evidence-based decision-making that is critical to student success. This section highlights both foundational research and recent scholarship that informs understanding of the student experience, institutional approaches to programming, and identification of supports and barriers for first-generation students. Timely updates on public policy discussions shaping first-generation student success are also provided. In addition to the filters below, please utilize the “search” bar in the top, right corner to search by keyword, author name, or publication title.

The first edition of the inaugural Journal of First-generation Student Success is slated for release in April 2021. Learn more about the Journal.

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three happy students studying
Matching Graduate Teaching Assistant Identities to Student Identities

This study evaluated the effects on academic performance of Graduate Student Teaching Assistant matching for first-year students in an introductory biology lab course at a Hispanic-serving institution.

CBE—Life Sciences Education / November 2020
two female students sitting with male professor
Self-authorship and the Experiences of First-Gen Students of Color

This study helps fill a void in the literature about FGC students’ experiences in their home communities through the voices of one important student demographic

New York Journal of Student Affairs / November 2020
frustrated female student in class
Motivational and academic resources related to performance disparities

This study examines how differences in course grades by gender, race/ethnicity, and parent education vary in introductory chemistry, physics, and psychology courses.

International Journal of STEM Education / November 2020
CC Landscape Report Hero Image
First-generation Students in Community and Technical Colleges

A National Exploration of Institutional Support Practices

The Center / November 2020
Latino College Access
Latino Student Retention: A Case Study in Perseverance

This qualitative single case study explored the lived experience of a first-generation Latino college student in a four-year higher education setting, who despite obstacles, persisted in college.

Journal of Hispanic Higher Education / November 2020
Barriers as Building Blocks for Educational Advancement

This article describes three female professors’ experiences to attain degrees (bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate) as first-generation college students (FGCS) and become academics.

Journal of Advanced Academics / November 2020
diverse group of students sitting at table
Student writing and social justice education: lessons from a workshop

In this paper, the authors reflect on data and faculty experiences collected from one undergraduate writing workshop that was implemented in order to provide students with additional writing instruction and feedback while integrating principles of social justice education.

Social Work Education: The International Journal / November 2020
Tailoring Programs to Best Support Minoritized Student Success

This article draws on a five-year mixed methods study and focuses on the way staff tailor support within a comprehensive college transition program to meet the needs of low-income, first-generation, and racially minoritized students by adapting programmatic offerings and requirements to fit students’ multifaceted needs.

Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory, & Practice / November 2020
group of students with notebooks
Incoming First Year, First-gen College Student Worries About College

This narrative inquiry study analyzed 190 first-generation students’ worries about the first year of college as surveyed upon admission to a four-year university.

Journal of Student Success and Retention / November 2020
Uncovering the information literacy skills of first-generation students

This study assessed the information literacy gains of students who participated in the pilot of a new instructional model, in which librarians developed and taught a first-year composition course aimed at first-generation, provisionally-admitted college students.

The Journal of Academic Librarianship / October 2020
First-Gen PhDs Navigating Institutional Power in Early Careers (Vol. 2)

Scholars write of socialization to the professoriate through the complex lens of intersectional identities of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability and social class.

Van Galen & Sablan / October 2020
A comparison of teaching practices focused on student skills

This study uses the 2016 National Geoscience Faculty Survey to compare self-reported teaching practices used by instructors in introductory geoscience courses that support the development of students’ quantitative, data analysis, problem-based, communication, and metacognitive skills in 2YCs and 4YCs.

Journal of Geoscience Education / October 2020
The Health Sciences and Technology Academy (HSTA)

The Health Sciences and Technology Academy’s, (HSTA) goals are to increase college attendance of African American, financially disadvantaged, first generation college and rural Appalachian youth and increase health-care providers and STEM professionals in underserved communities.

Journal of STEM Outreach / October 2020
latino college student happy on laptop
The Impact of Social Support on Latino/a First-Gen Students

This study highlights Latino/a first-generation students by investigating the associations of stress, depression, and social isolation with family and friend social support in their college experiences.

Journal of Hispanic Higher Education / October 2020
Students around table
A Longitudinal Study of First-Gen Students' Stress and Depression

The author examine stress exposure and depressive symptoms among first and continuing-generation college students before and during college.

Social Forces / October 2020
High school counselors cut
Successful First‐Gen Graduates and Implications for Counselors

This article describes a qualitative study with seven first‐generation college graduates who went on to complete graduate school and are now working in colleges and universities as counselors and counselor educators.

Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development / October 2020
Students’ Challenges Understood with Expectancy Value Theory

The purpose of this study is to examine new perspectives of FG students that may further explain hindrances to retention and achievement.

Teaching of Psychology / October 2020
Parental Education, Faculty Interaction, and Summer Experiences

The purpose of this study is to better understand the ways that students’ cultural and social capital relate to their participation in undergraduate research, internships, paid work, or volunteering after the first year of college.

Innovative Higher Education / October 2020