Using large-scale longitudinal data, this study sought to examine factors influencing two important student development outcomes in students with disabilities attending 4-year colleges and universities. Informed by Astin's Input-Environment-Outcome model and the interactional model of disability, this study investigated the effect of student…

Professional Development Engagement (PDE) is defined as "the level of undergraduate engagement in professional development." It reflects career-related work preparation for "life after college" and is a distinct externally-focused component of student engagement (SE). The increased college retention and subsequent job placement…

This report focuses on the perceptions and experiences of teachers and administrators during the first year of REACH implementation, which was in many ways a particularly demanding year. These experiences can be helpful to Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and to other districts across the country as they work to restructure and transform teacher…

This study investigated the degree to which strengths ownership, psychological capital (PsyCap) qualities of hope, self-efficacy, optimism, and resiliency, and demographic characteristics of gender, college class level, leadership experience, and strengths experience are predictive of effective leadership practices as defined by the Leadership…

This study examines the relationship between service-learning participation and global perspective-taking. A global perspective is broadly defined to include both the acquisition of knowledge, attitudes, and skills important to intercultural communication and the development of more complex epistemological processes, identities, and interpersonal…

Liberal arts colleges have prided themselves on providing students with a quality undergraduate education among a scholarly community who are interested in their holistic development. Past research has found students who attended liberal arts colleges more frequently experienced Chickering and Gamson's (1987, 1991) good practices in undergraduate…

Notions of what it is to be knowledgeable and skilled in one's profession have evolved in recent decades. For instance, medical practitioners are expected to think critically and creatively, communicate effectively, and to be a professional and community leader. While these attributes have always been well regarded, it is only relatively recently…

Approximately 28% of students with disabilities do not complete high school (National Longitudinal Transition Study-2, 2005). This increases the likelihood that these students will experience low wages, high rates of incarceration, and limited access to postsecondary education. This article reviews evidence-based secondary transition practices…

In recent years, there has been heightened awareness of the importance of early childhood education and high school as intervention points in the educational lives of America's children. Less attention has been paid to the importance of the upper elementary grades and middle school and the role they must play in the preparation of students for…

This study examined patterns of coursework and levels of involvement of 1,099 adult students to evaluate whether some key factors commonly used to predict undergraduate students' academic performance are appropriate for use with this population. Results suggest traditional models are inappropriate for this large and growing proportion of the…

Extending an earlier study that found high self-esteem to modify the impact of otherwise maladaptive perfectionism on depression, the current study used adult attachment theory to explore the link between perfectionism, self-esteem, and depression in college students. Results indicated that self-esteem buffered the effects of maladaptive…

In a sample of 434 university freshmen, Sense of Identity was found to be positively related to GPA, even controlling for the Big Five personality traits of Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, Extraversion, and Openness. Similar correlations were found for racial and gender subgroups. When all study variables entered a stepwise…

A model to assess the relationships between student characteristics (especially student effort), perceived college environments, student behavior, and student achievement gains was evaluated through examination of responses of 2,271 students on the College Student Experiences Questionnaire. Academic and social effort expended were the principal…

Predicts, using independent variables such as student effort and campus environment, how community college students perceive their gains in general education and personal and social development. Finds that quality and quantity of student effort, as well as a positive perception of the campus environment, were significant predictors regardless of…

The College Life Task Assessment Instrument (CLT), a 35-item questionnaire, assesses college student performance in 7 life-task domains important to college life. Reliability and Validity results demonstrate the CLT's ability to predict freshman and cumulative GPA, freshman and cumulative credits earned, academic, social, and personal-emotional…