Recent research on classroom achievement dynamics suggests a conflict of teacher/student values regarding effort expenditure. Student effort is clearly rewarded and the indifferences punished by teachers. From the student perspective, expending effort when risking failure is a potential threat because high effort/failure invites ascriptions to low…

Reports the findings of a study to determine what procedural protections are afforded students at public colleges and universities who are faced with disciplinary or academic dismissal. The data are from 62 of the 85 public postsecondary institutions asked to provide published procedural guidelines. (Author/MLF)

A study of 9,800 Swiss and foreign students born in 1956 and enrolled in Swiss higher education found that two-thirds passed their final examinations and graduated before leaving the institution. Students in programs oriented to specific careers had a higher success rate. Very few became dropouts or perpetual students. (MSE)

A study to test the connection between "A" level grades and age at entry with degree performance at Oxford Polytechnic is reported. "A" level grades were found to be of little value in predicting degree performance. (MLW)

Under a mastery learning system students can take successive parallel tests with study interspersed between tests until they demonstrate a minimal level of competency. For most students, such procedures increase final performance, yet some may experience repeated subjective failure. Self-worth theory predicts that repeated failure in the face of…

The purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics of minority students who take the General Knowledge Test of the National Teachers Examination (NTE) Core Battery. Low minority pass rates on these tests demonstrate the need for interventions to increase the supply of minority teachers. Data were analyzed to determine candidates': (1)…

Interviews and questionnaires were administered to black students and black and white faculty and administrators at seven universities to identify the principal problems related to the retention of black undergraduate students in higher educational institutions and to propose program alternatives and strategies for their retention and graduation…

This study, conducted at the Buca Faculty of Education, Dokuz Eylul University (Turkey), sought to identify factors associated with academic failure of college students. Data were collected through a survey questionnaire titled "Perceived Causes of Academic Failure Inventory" that identified 10 subgroups of factors: teachers' behavior;…

Attrition for various demographic groups in the several major disciplinary areas represented by graduate students enrolled at New Mexico State University during the fall semesters of the years 1979, 1980, and 1981 are presented. Questions addressed include: overall rate of attrition; significant variance among students from year to year; sex ratio…

A survey concerning 2,449 graduate medical students who withdrew and 887 who took extended leave from residencies in the 1991-92 year investigated the reasons for leaving and patterns among residency years, specialties, men and women, and ethnic groups. Comparisons were also made with osteopathic, foreign, and Canadian programs. (MSE)

The third in a series of four monographs, this study focuses on Black engineering students at Purdue University who persisted, withdrew, or transferred. A survey of the students was conducted to determine factors that influence retention and attrition of Black American students in engineering. A comparison of the pre-college and college…

The New Jersey Basic Skills Council seventh annual report to the Board of Higher Education looks at the status of the reading, writing, and mathematical skills of incoming freshmen and of the effectiveness of remedial programs in its public colleges and universities. A comparison is presented of students who needed and completed remediation;…