This article discusses the conflict that arises between rising enrollments and meaningful college learning. The author highlights data on students' response to the college environment, and offers a number of innovative ideas for fostering intellectual growth among a more diverse student body. These include: early declaration of major; rethinking…

The current study examines how the integration of SAT scores with context information about students' neighborhood and high school from the College Board's Landscape™ resource can provide institutions with a nuanced perspective on students' expected performance and retention. This allows institutions to identify incoming students that may benefit…

The match between a student's academic ability and the academic ability of the student's peers has been found to exert influence on student educational aspirations. Research on this has garnered mixed results with some finding that students whose peers have higher ability are more likely to develop a poor self-concept and lower their academic…

State-mandated systems of comprehensive examinations to be taken prior to high school graduation would focus the attention of students in high school, motivate them to higher levels of performance, provide guidance to teachers as to the appropriate material to be covered, and reduce antieducational pressures within peer groups, all of whose…

Minority student attrition and underachievement is a long-standing and widespread concern in higher education. It is especially acute in introductory science courses which are prerequisites for students planning to pursue science-related careers. Poor performance in these courses often results in attrition of minorities from the science fields.…