This research line focuses on students’ pathways to college and career, with a focus on understanding the mechanisms that can hinder successful transitions or alternately enhance secondary school pathways towards college and career. Current project activities are detailed below, including featured information about our project team. Project findings and publications are also shown.
Ready for Excellence: Strengthening Pathways to Enhanced College/Career Trajectories. Leveraging multiple forms of local, state, and national data, this line of research focuses on reducing inequality in pathways to college, with particular attention to STEM careers where long-standing disparities remain but show the potential for transformation. This line is currently especially focused on computing, engineering, math/science, and career and technical education (CTE), towards greater opportunity for student and institutional-level postsecondary success.
School Discipline and Belonging. This project focuses on the relationship between school discipline and belonging, including attention academic self-efficacy and tracking towards college and career opportunities. Specifically, we investigate (1) How do secondary school school students experience school discipline? (2) What are the consequences of witnessing and being referred for discipline for their sense of belonging and self-efficacy? and (3) What are the relationships between these school climate experiences and academic outcomes?
Investing in Momentum: Planning and Assessment for College and Career Transitions (IMPACCT). Secondary and postsecondary institutions and their student service offices are typically aligned in wanting to support students’ pathways to college and career. Yet, in schools that serve students less typically represented in selective colleges and professional careers, staff in these positions often have limited resources and time to fully support students’ needs. This project focuses on needs assessment and collaboration between secondary and postsecondary partners to help identify effective approaches and enhance student preparation for college and career.
Project Team
Additional Team Members and Affiliates
Dr. Roxanne Hughes, Associate Professor of Science Education and Director of the Center for Integrating Research and Learning (CIRL) at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab)
Dr. Daniel Moraguez, Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership and Administration
Dr. Matthew Lenard, Assistant Professor of Educational Policy and Evaluation
Dr. Denise Dennis, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow at FCRR, Curriculum and Instruction, Special Education
Ravi Bhatt, M.S., Higher Education Ph.D. Candidate
Leah Register, M.S., Educational Policy Ph.D. Student, Former Middle School Teacher
Cat Metcalfe, M.S., Higher Education Ph.D. Candidate
Anum Fatima, Higher Education Ph.D. Candidate
Dr. Zahra Gholami, Higher Education Ph.D. Student
Dr. Danielle Morsching, Special Education Ph.D. and Former LCS Teacher
Shaylyn King-St. Remy, Communication Sciences Ph.D. Candidate
Briefs, Podcasts, and Other Insights
- Perez-Felkner, L. (2023) FAFSA College Affordability Map (2023), Focus on Florida Student and Family Options.
- Perez-Felkner, L. (2022). Transforming Opportunity to Support STEM Success for All. Policy Brief published with Scholars Strategy Network (SSN) and Student Experience Research Network (SERN).
- Perez-Felkner, L. (2022). “Invisible Barriers in STEM Education” on Scholars Strategy Network’s No Jargon podcast.
- Perez-Felkner, L. (2021). “Stoking the Fire of Equity: Kindness, Humanity and Science.” See also discussion guide, transcript, and audio.
- Perez-Felkner, L. (2015). “Perceptions Matter: How Schools Can Enhance Underrepresented Students’ Success on the Rocky Path to College.” Policy brief published by Center for Postsecondary Success at Florida State University.
Journal Articles and Books
- Nicolas, M., Perez-Felkner, L. (in-press) The (Mis)Education of Black Boys: Exploring the Contributing Factors of Their Accelerated Curricular Course Decision-Making Process. Journal of African American Males in Education.
- Perez-Felkner, L. Li, Y., Erichsen, K., Hu, S., Chen, J., Nhien, C., Fluker, C. (in press). Does Advanced High School Coursework Enhance Community College Women’s Pathways to Computing Degrees? Evidence from Florida. Review of Higher Education. Impact factor = 2.2. SSCI-indexed.
- Wofford, A., Perez-Felkner, L., Staudt-Willet, B., Nhien, C. (in press). Geography of Computing Graduate Degree Opportunities: Examining the Characteristics of Minority-Serving Institutions. Research in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-025-09848-4 Impact factor = 2.3. SSCI-indexed.
- Wofford, A., Fatima, A., Wu, X. Perez-Felkner, L., Nhien, C., Staudt-Willet, B. (in press). Minority-Serving Institutions’ Role in Enhancing Access to Computing Doctoral Education: A Multi-Method Landscape Analysis. Innovative Higher Education. Impact factor = 2.4. ESCI-indexed.
- Armbrister, C., Perez-Felkner, L., Dickens, T., Lowe, K. (in press) Manufacturing the STEM Workforce: The Effect of Structured Undergraduate Research Experiences at a Shared Engineering Workspace on STEM Student Retention. American Society for Engineering Education, PEER Proceedings, Montreal, CA.
- Perez-Felkner, L.. Acosta, J., Iturriaga, V. (in press). Postsecondary Student Success for Latin* Students. Ch 11 in Shouping Hu and Joseph O’Shea (Eds.) The Routledge Handbook on Postsecondary Student Success.
- Perez-Felkner, L., Gholami, Z., & Wu, X. Public Financing of STEM Education: Research Evidence and Policy Recommendations (2025). Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1177/23727322251360330
- Perez-Felkner, L. Erichsen, K., Li, Y., Chen, J., Hu, S., Ramirez Surmeier, L., Shore, C. (2025). Computing Education Interventions to Increase Gender Equity from 2000 to 2020: A Systematic Literature Review. Review of Educational Research. Impact factor = 11.2. SSCI-indexed. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543241241536
- Nhien, C., Perez-Felkner, L., Li, Y., & Hu, S. (2024). Pathways into Computing Fields by Florida’s Community College Students: An Intersectional Descriptive Analysis. Community College Journal of Research and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1080/10668926.2024.2425323
- Zhao, T., Perez-Felkner, L., & Hu, S. (2024). The Impact of Merit Aid on STEM Major Choices: A Propensity Score Approach. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, XX(X), p. 1-21. https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737241254842 Supplemental material available here.
- Lustick, H., Johnson, M., Register, L., & Gilzene, A. (2024). Restorative Justice in a “Don’t Say Gay” State: Are Relationships Enough? Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, 27(2), 88-104. https://doi.org/10.1177/15554589231220004
- Chen, J., Perez-Felkner, L., Nhien, C., Hu, S., Erichsen, K., Li, Y. (2023). Gender Differences in Motivational and Curricular Pathways Towards Postsecondary Computing Majors. Research in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-023-09751-w
- Holton-Thomas, A., Perez-Felkner, L., & Portis Templeton, D. (2023). How Do Institutional Type and Transfer Affect Contemporary College Students’ Degree Attainment? Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 47(9), p. 602-607. https://doi.org/10.1080/10668926.2022.2156633 Free full-text for those w/out subscription access here.
- Zhao, T. & Perez-Felkner, L. (2022). Perceived Abilities or Academic Interests? Longitudinal High School Science and Mathematics Effects on Postsecondary STEM Outcomes by Gender and Race. International Journal of STEM Education, 9(42), 1-26. DOI: 10.1186/s40594-022-00356-w.
- Perez-Felkner, L., Shore, C., Dickens, T., & Yang, M. D. (2020). Engineering Resilience through Research Mentorship: Manufacturing Pathways to Careers. American Society for Engineering Education, PEER Proceedings, Montreal, CA. https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2–34557
- Perez-Felkner, L. (2020). EDITORIAL: Surpassing STEM’s Gender Limitations: Structures, Interventions, and Systems Change. International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology, 11(3), 1-4.
- Perez-Felkner, L. (2015). Perceptions and Resilience in Underrepresented Students’ Pathways to College. Teachers College Record, 117(8), 1-60. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146811511700806 Note: Full text available here, with TCR reprint rights. Impact factor = 1.0. SSCI-indexed.
- 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 and free full-text, including published supplemental appendix.
- 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(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
Lara Perez-Felkner, Ph.D. 