Considers recent investigations of conditions that promote forward-thinking in young people and their realization of personal goals. Discusses environmental affordance, environmental press, mediational strategies, consequence management, and resources for coping. Suggests ways educators may help individuals develop potentials for foresight and…

Japan's economic success may have its origins in its educational system, which instills the values of persistence and hard work in children. This process is begun by Japanese mothers, continues throughout preschool and school, and is reinforced by cultural beliefs and practices. In one study, task persistence was significantly greater among…

Discusses findings from interviews with 19 committed principals and places them within the context of new research on principals as lifelong learners who publicly model intellectual curiosity. Conditions for continuous learning exemplified by these principals comprise three categories: professional identity, influence of the liberal arts, and…

The effects of persistence on students' ability to interact and learn in cooperative learning groups was studied, and the effect of collaboration on students' attitudes toward their partners was assessed. Participants were 138 sixth graders in a midwestern public school. A computer-based lesson and posttest dealt with the advertising concepts of…

The impact of the home learning environment on children's autonomous learning behaviors (ALBs) was examined. The three key topics addressed were: (1) the relation of types of helping techniques used by mothers to their children's help-seeking and persistence behaviors in the classroom; (2) the relation of children's ALBs to gender; and (3)…

University retention rates for minority students are low and no significant increase in minority attendance is occurring. Most universities are not open-door, and special admissions policies for blacks have been halved since 1969. Other problems are the lessening of recruitment efforts and differences between blacks' expectations of the university…

Students assessed as high risk at Essex Community College (Maryland) were paired by identical scores on vocabulary and reading comprehension tests and as to whether they elected to take a learning skills course (N=56) or to ignore advice and not take the course (N=67). The learning skills course uses a programmed multimedia approach and as much…

Since 1975, the Student Flow Project of the Hawaii community colleges, an ongoing longitudinal study, has examined the progress of students through the community college system. It complements enrollment data with information on non-continuing students and graduates. The Project consists of three basic components: (1) admissions, which deals with…

A study was conducted to analyze the sociodemographic determinants of participation, satisfaction, and persistence in American adult education in order to formulate recommendations for public policy regarding access to lifelong learning opportunities. Data were collected from questionnaire responses by a sample of 79,631 adults. Of the total…

Faculty members are the most important resource for attaining high student achievement and retention rates. At the City Colleges of Chicago (CCC), interviews with instructors who achieved over 90% retention for the Spring 1979 semester revealed that their courses were well-structured, used materials related to students' needs, and did not rely…

The purpose of this project was to assess needs in job survival skills of those persons released from California Youth Authority incarceration and then to develop and field-test a curriculum to upgrade the skills which appear weakest. Interviews of a representative sample of 145 parolees were conducted. Findings include some of the following: over…

A survey of two random samples of 500 students drawn from lists of returning and non-returning students at Triton College was conducted to study student retention between Fall 1978 and Spring 1979. Data, gathered from 248 returning and 159 non-returning respondents, were analyzed in terms of: (1) student educational intent, (2) reasons for…

The persistence of the freshman class (5,052 students) of 1974 at Indiana University's Bloomington campus was investigated. The students were classified into three groups according to their enrollment status in the fall of 1976. Two-thirds were persisters who were enrolled for their third academic year. Among the students who were no longer…

A follow-up study was conducted among new students at West Los Angeles College (WLAC) to identify student characteristics, educational goals, and objectives; and to relate these characteristics to student attrition. Subjects for the study were 483 first-time freshmen enrolled at WLAC in Fall 1977. This initial sample was surveyed again one year…

This study examines the responses of the 1,474 students who withdraw from Los Angeles City College during the spring semesters of 1973, 1974, and 1975, and who completed the exit questionnaire. In spring 1975, 65 percent of the withdrawees were of non-Caucasian background, and 46 percent were male. About 40 percent of the males, and 20 percent of…