Relying heavily on case or regional studies, higher education institutions market the perceived global skills that students acquire from education abroad as a value-added commodity. As industries increase their global reach, understanding the labor market effects of education abroad from a national perspective is necessary and timely. This study isolates many factors known to influence education abroad using the 2008-2012 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study dataset (B&B: 08/12). Through a 2-level hierarchical linear regression analysis model, earning levels of graduates of undergraduate programs are analyzed, offering a national perspective. The findings revealed that students who participated in education abroad earned more money within the labor market, even during harsh recessionary times. While income differences observed between men and women existed in both samples, initial incomes during the first three years post-graduation demonstrated significantly higher wages for some students who studied abroad when compared to their non-participating peers.

This study offers a theoretical construct for better understanding how experiential learning enables student teachers to acquire social and cultural variation skills, develop cultural empathy in the K-12 classroom, and the transference of these skills to new educational situations. An Australian and United States research team used a phenomenological approach to explore the connections between the skills student teachers acquire and the application of these newly developed skills to professional practices. Participants were a group of United States pre-teachers who enrolled in a 5 week teaching experience in Australia. Findings show that participation in cultural based events is part of a complex decision making process. The variety of cultures that now exist in schools requires new teachers to obtain and apply a skillset that promotes manoeuvrability through, and an understanding of the many definitions of culture. A better understanding of this process may strengthen curricula and improvements in teacher education program delivery and further enhance higher education study-abroad international partnerships.

Community colleges are becoming the primary access point for a growing number of underrepresented and underserved students in the higher education system. First-generation college students make up a large proportion of this population, comprising about 45% of community college attendees (Nomi, 2005). Research has explored the transfer success of community college students in general, but very little is known about the transfer and labor market outcomes of first-generation community college students postgraduation. This study uses propensity score matching to compare the college persistence, degree-completion rates, and labor market outcomes of first-generation students who began their studies at a community college versus those who began at a four-year institution. The results show that first-generation community college students who successfully transfer and graduate with a bachelor's degree have similar labor market outcomes to their peers who start at a four-year institution.

Public deliberation provides an inclusive and robust mechanism for making shared decisions in community and political settings; however, its application to teaching and learning remains underutilized (McMillan & Harriger, 2007). This manuscript reports on a case study of the use of public deliberation as a teaching andragogy in a graduate level course in higher education policy, which showed that public deliberation creates greater ownership of the course, fosters critical thinking and student agency, and implicates taking action.

Reviewed by: Racial and Ethnic Minority Students' Success in STEM Education by Samuel D. Museus et al. Frim Ampaw (bio) and Margaret Partlo (bio) Samuel D. Museus, Robert T. Palmer, Ryan J. Davis, and Dina C. Maramba. Racial and Ethnic Minority Students' Success in STEM Education. San Francisco, CA: Wiley, 2011. 140 pp. Paper: $29.00. ISBN: 978-1-1180-6586-0 The experiences of racial and ethnic minority students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) have become an important element to increasing the scientific and technology workforce in this country. This monograph by Samuel D. Museus, Robert T. Palmer, Ryan J. Davis, and Dina C. Maramba seeks to continue this ongoing conversation and to answer the question of what can be done to promote these students' successes. The book does a great job of bringing together the K-16 literature and offers practical examples of activities at various institutions aimed at improving minority student's achievements in the STEM fields. The authors also take care not to lump the experiences of all racial and ethnic minority students together but to provide distinct information on all the races. They take this a step further whenever possible, such as further distinguishing the ethnic groups within the Asian and Pacific Islanders as well as the Hispanic students. By doing this, they are able to illustrate the similarities and uniqueness among and between races and ethnicities—a major strength of this work. The book is organized into four chapters. The first sets the context by providing the current demographic trends, current state of minority students in STEM, and key definitions used in the study. The authors argue that by increasing the number of diverse students in STEM fields, American competitiveness in a global market could increase and benefit the country economically. The chapter provides an in-depth overview of America's changing workforce, and a focus on the financial and social benefits of increasing the success rates of students, specifically minority students, in STEM fields. They identify the factors contributing to the learning needs of various student groups and argue that success rates can be improved only by adapting current educational pedagogy. They are able to show in the chapter that racism and racial oppression in the form of disparity, inequity, and Eurocentric stereotyping hinder every stage of the STEM circuit. The second chapter focuses on the factors discussed in the K-12 literature that enhance the success of racial and ethnic minority students in the STEM circuit. These factors include school-district funding, academic tracking into remedial and AP classes, unqualified teachers, and teacher expectations that have led to the current under-representation of minority students in STEM. The authors then turn their attention to practices that can reverse the trend. The chapter takes this idea further, exploring current K-12 initiatives at the district and institutional level aimed at improving the students' successes. The next chapter tackles the problem with colleges and universities. The authors consider whether the changing landscape on colorblind meritocracy and affirmative action have helped or hurt minority students' success in the STEM field. The economic influences affecting college (cost, financial aid, job prospects) are also extensively reviewed. The discussion then focuses on minority-serving and selective institutions, and the STEM climates and culture with attention to the role that faculty, academic advisors, and peers play in racial and ethnic minority students' success in [End Page 551] STEM fields. In parallel to the previous chapter, the authors conclude by highlighting various initiatives at the higher education level that have cultivated a positive and productive environment conducive to minority students' success. To fully tap into the human potential available, the authors provide a wealth of timely information for policymakers and practitioners in the final chapter. By creating an illustrated model, they analyze and synthesize key concepts from which they draw implications for future research. Specifically, the chapter highlights five implications intended to help educators create and provide STEM-focused opportunities for students. They link success for greater numbers of students to early exposure and culturally supportive help for cultural and racial minorities. Promoting global leadership and technological innovation, this investment in time, energy, and resources will advance America...