The Psychology of College and Career Readiness: Cognitive, Motivational, and Social-Contextual Pathways for Underserved, Rural, and Multilingual Learners

Educational psychology provides an important framework for understanding college and career readiness as a developmental process shaped by students’ cognitive, motivational, learning, and social experiences. Beyond academic achievement, readiness involves self-efficacy, self-regulated learning, working memory, problem-solving, engagement, identity development, belonging, well-being, and future orientation. Research has shown that these factors, together with instructional practices, teacher support, and family involvement, influence academic performance, STEM orientation, educational transitions, and postsecondary aspirations and enrollment. However, further research is needed to clarify how these processes interact across development and how educational environments can support readiness among multilingual learners, emergent bilingual students, and other underserved populations.This Research Topic aims to examine the cognitive, motivational, instructional, and social-contextual pathways through which students develop college and career readiness. It will welcome research on how learning processes, self-efficacy, motivation, self-regulation, identity, teacher practices, family involvement, and school contexts influence students’ academic development, postsecondary decision-making, STEM learning, and future career orientation.To gather further insights into college and career readiness across diverse educational contexts, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:• Academic motivation, engagement, and persistence• Working memory and problem-solving skills• AI literacy and AI-assisted learning: self-regulation, motivation, and access in under-resourced and/or multilingual learning environments• Self-efficacy and self-regulated learning• Working memory and problem-solving skills• STEM learning and career orientation• Language development for multilingual learners• Instructional practices and teacher support• Teacher professional learning and empowerment• Family involvement and home–school partnerships• Student identity, belonging, resilience, and well-being• Educational transitions and postsecondary enrollment and adjustment • Rural, first-generation, low-income, and underserved students• Inside and outside the classroom through classroom instruction, after-school programs, and community partnerships for supporting readinessManuscripts should clearly demonstrate that human cognition, learning, motivation, and/or beliefs about learning are the focus of the study, and should be submitted under the Educational Psychology section option. Papers addressing career readiness from other angles should be submitted under the Human Developmental Psychology section option, both of which appear as choices when submitting to this Research Topic. If you have questions about which option applies, please contact the editorial office at psychology@frontiersin.org. Topic editors: Jui-Teng Li, Beverly J Irby, Ching-Huei Chen Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/86009/the-psychology-of-college-and-career-readiness-cognitive-motivational-and-social-contextual-pathways-for-underserved-rural-and-multilingual-learners/magazine