Conventional wisdom suggests that parents' educational expectations (how far they expect their children to go) and aspirations (how far they want their children to go) positively impact academic outcomes and benefits from attending high-ability schools. However, here we juxtapose the following: largely positive effects of educational expectations…

Examines prospectively the characteristics contributing to adolescent pregnancy in a pregnant and comparison group of adolescents. Adolescent pregnancy in Blacks was predicted by approval of delaying a family and pursuing a career, aspirations of working, and lower educational expectations. Higher educational wishes, lower educational…

Examines how 8th and 10th grade student and parent attitudes and aspirations affected postsecondary attendance. Two-year and four-year students differed by socioeconomic status; educational aspirations; and concerns about college costs, reputations, and admission standards. Recommends early intervention to effect long-term systemic change in the…

This paper discusses the role of perceived self-efficacy during self-regulated learning, the process whereby students' cognitions manifest themselves in behaviors systematically oriented toward the attainment of academic learning goals. The conceptual focus derives from A. Bandura's social cognitive learning theory. A model of cognitive skill…

Models that have appeared in the student attrition literature in the past decade and behavioral models from the social sciences that may help explain the dropout process are examined, and an attempt is made to synthesize a causal model of student attrition. The models of Tinto, Spady, and Rootman in the area of student attrition, and models of…

This study used data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 and follow-up data collected in 1990, 1992, and 1994, to examine the characteristics and personal/educational factors related to gifted high school dropouts (n=3,520). Results indicate: (1) many gifted students left school because they were failing school, did not like…

This study utilized data from the "NCES Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS 96/01)" to explore the 6-year persistence status of Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) students seeking the bachelor's degree at four-year institutions irrespective of whether they had remained at their initial institution, transferred, temporarily…