Educational Researcher

Includes bibliographical references.

California DREAM: The Impact of Financial Aid for Undocumented Community College Students -- Talking Our Way Around Expert Caution: A Rhetorical Analysis of VAM -- Cracks in the Bedrock of American Democracy: Differences in Civic Engagement Across Institutions of Higher Education.

[Article Title : California DREAM: The Impact of Financial Aid for Undocumented Community College Students / Federick Ngo and Samantha Astudillo, p. 5-18] Abstract : Ineligibility for state financial aid has traditionally limited undocumented students' access to higher education. Since 2013, the California Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act (CA-DREAM) has made state-supported aid available to undocumented college students with demonstrated financial need. We use a difference-in-difference strategy and administrative data to examine the impact of the policy on undocumented community college students' enrollment behaviors and postsecondary outcomes. The availability of CA-DREAM aid for these students, in the form of enrollment fee waivers, drew in undocumented Hispanic male students, students with lower average incoming high school GPAs, and those who increased their 11th to 12th grade achievement. Receiving DREAM aid significantly increased the average number of units attempted and completed and, in some cases, improved persistence and attainment outcomes. Undocumented students receiving aid achieved at similar levels as U.S. citizen peers receiving aid and better than their undocumented peers not receiving aid.;[Article Title : Talking Our Way Around Expert Caution: A Rhetorical Analysis of VAM / Glory Tobiason, p. 19-30] Abstract : This study turns a rhetorical lens on the debate about how best to use value-added modeling (VAM) in teacher evaluation by addressing the question, Which arguments legitimize the dismissal of expert caution about proposed education reforms? My rhetorical analysis of a corpus of nonacademic texts (e.g., newspapers, magazines, political speeches) reveals three persuasive strategies that function to get around technical concerns about VAM. By pointing out these strategies and explaining how they work, the study disrupts their persuasive potential and suggests a potentially overlooked role of expertise in public decision making.;[Article Title : Cracks in the Bedrock of American Democracy: Differences in Civic Engagement Across Institutions of Higher Education / Brent J. Evans, Christopher R. Marsicano, and Courtney J. Lennartz, p. 31-44] Abstract : Preparing educated and active citizens is one of the primary goals of higher education, yet colleges and universities may neglect civic engagement due to the prioritization of labor market preparation. Drawing on neoinstitutional theory, this paper examines the missions, infrastructure, activities, and outcomes related to civic engagement across postsecondary institutional characteristics. By combining several data sources on a diverse set of institutions, we empirically demonstrate institutional isomorphism with respect to civic engagement mission and decoupling of mission from infrastructure and activities. Our most striking finding is that a residential student population is strongly associated with an increased emphasis on civic engagement even after controlling for institutional control, selectivity, research funding, and student services spending. Given the growing number of students attending nonresidential institutions, this finding has important implications for whether higher education is an effective instrument for preparing civically engaged citizens in our society.