This study investigates the predictive influences of expectancies and values that may sustain students' dropout intentions in physics as well as gender differences in students' motivation and intention. Eccles's expectancy-value model was used to frame the study. The academic self-concept (expectancy component) and value components focusing on…

Despite a diverse body of literature on college student retention, studies focusing on small, private, selective liberal arts colleges are limited. This study utilized a mixed methodology beginning with logistic regression analyses and followed with a qualitative inquiry that included interviews with students who had not persisted. While variables…

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…