Helping students adjust to university life is a critical developmental issue. Using longitudinal data from 1652 German late adolescents, this research tested the effect of initial high-school parent, same-sex, and opposite sex self-concept and its change on university dropout intentions, study stress, and study satisfaction. High-school…

We evaluated STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) coursework selection by women and men (representative longitudinal sample, 10,370 Australians) in senior high school and university, controlling achievement and expectancy-value variables. A near-zero total effect of gender on high school STEM enrollment reflected pathways…

The present study revisited the unresolved issue of the long-term effects of part-time working intensity during high school on students' achievement, participation in postsecondary education, time allocation, and work-related values and expectations. Using data from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (N = 14,654), the effects of part-time…

This investigation assesses performance and mastery orientation from a Rasch perspective among high school and university students and provides a complementary approach to the factor analytic methods typical in goal theory research. Data shows that both school and university students are high in mastery orientation relative to performance…

Life satisfaction is an important component of psychological health and wellbeing. Although personality is consistently linked to life satisfaction, its "innate" and stable nature can make it a difficult target for intervention by practitioners. More malleable and context-specific factors such as multidimensional self-concept may prove…

Interviews with university students selected as high or low in either self-handicapping or defensive pessimism identified personal perspectives on the nature of self-handicapping and defensive pessimism, the perceived reasons why they engage in these strategies and the perceived advantages that follow from them, and the extent to which ego goals…

Discusses two studies that debunk the popular myths that student evaluations of teaching (SETs) are substantially biased by low workload and grading leniency. Results imply teaching effects were related to SETs. Contrary to predictions workload, expected grades, and their relations to SETs were stable over 12 years. (Author/MKA)

Students' evaluations of university teachers cannot be adequately understood if their multidimensionality is ignored. Instruments collecting student evaluations of teaching should measure separate components of teaching effectiveness with consideration of the construct validity and content validity of the multiple dimensions. (SLD)

The validity of students' evaluations of university teacher effectiveness must be demonstrated through a construct validation approach. Empirical relations between students' evaluations of teaching effectiveness (such as the Students' Evaluation of Educational Quality instrument) and other indicators of effective teaching are examined. (SLD)

The average of student evaluations for each section of a computer programming course correlated positively with the average of student performance on a standardized final examination. A multisection method, with randomized assignment of instructors to conditions, was used and an unconfounded comparison between feedback and nonfeedback conditions…

Studies of the usefulness of student ratings of university teachers are often inadequate. The wide range of questions about how students use the other students' evaluations and how these evaluations can be used by administration and faculty to improve teacher effectiveness is a rich field for further research. (SLD)

The reliability, long-term stability, and generalizability of student ratings of teacher effectiveness are discussed. The Students' Evaluation of Educational Quality (SEEQ) instrument is examined from these perspectives. The multidimensionality of student response to such evaluation instruments must be recognized. (SLD)

Methodological problems have so biased the search for potential biases in student ratings of university teachers that the search itself has approximated a witch hunt. Meta-analysis and systematic review are required for more accurate estimates of the size of effects that have been reported and the conditions under which they were found. (SLD)

A paradigm is described for studying the applicability of two North American instruments (the Students' Evaluation of Educational Quality and Frey's Endeavor) to other countries. Factor analyses of studies in Australia, Spain, and Papua New Guinea support the generality of the instruments' factors to the educational contexts of other countries.…

The Dr. Fox effect is defined as the overriding influence of instructor expressiveness on students' evaluations of college and university teaching. Studies of this effect are reviewed, and the implications for the value of student evaluations of teachers are considered. (SLD)