Four models are developed to provide a conceptual basis for a curvilinear relation between intelligence and an individual's influence over group members. The models deal with influence and percentile placement in intelligence, comprehension by potential followers, vulnerability to rival intellects, and correlation between mean group IQ and the…

Tested an alcohol/drug education curriculum in 25 Nebraska junior high schools involving 1,800 students. Using teacher training and student age as independent variables, gains in knowledge and decision-making ability were assessed. Results showed teacher training was a critical variable in curriculum innovation, especially for older students. (JAC)

American College Testing Program (ACT) scores, high school rank, high school GPA, high school algebra grades, algebra pretest score, sex, birth order, family size, and high school size were used to predict course grades in the first semester of college calculus. The best predictors were the algebra pretest and high school rank. (Author/BW)

Based on a trend study of 970 graduating seniors, this paper presents a model for designing senior survey research studies to achieve optimum impact on assessment and policy development. The paper demonstrates how the link between research and policy was achieved through the conceptual organization, design and statistical analyses of the study.…

This paper reports estimates of the distribution of individual private rates of return to undergraduate and community college education by field of study for Canada. It is important to know the dispersion of the private rate of return to post-secondary education, as well as its average level. There are very different implications for…

This study examined factors predicting the enrollment of men and women in science, math, and engineering (SME) graduate programs among those who had earned SME Bachelor's degrees. The data, which covered a 9-year period: 1985, 1989 (4-year follow-up), and 1994 (9-year follow-up), was drawn from the Cooperative Institutional Research program, a…

This study used current data from a cohort of eighth graders in the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 to test whether dropping out of high school and other measures of educational performance and involvement influenced the likelihood of having a school-age birth for whites, blacks, and Hispanics. Three major sets of independent…

This study examined the effects of race on first-year retention at York University (Ontario). Data were obtained from student surveys conducted in 1993, 1994, and 1995, involving a total of 1,864 first-year students, along with administrative records. The study found that the number of black students who left the university because of poor…

The aim of this study was to assess the interrelations of social support and school attitudes as predictors of achievement across a culturally and economically diverse sample of preadolescent children. Parent and peer support were assessed along with parent and peer attitudes toward school. Achievement indices were the child's own attitudes,…

This study predicted student achievement based on need for developmental study, investigating different students' types of censoring; variables influencing student achievement; and whether developmental study was appropriate for realizing student achievement. Participants were 403 community college students. Achievers were students who within four…

Race, sex, IQ, self-perception, and student's perceptions of their teacher's perceptions were examined as sources of variance in academic achievement. Self-perceptions account for more variance in academic achievement for students who are of the same sex and race as the teacher than for those who are not. (Author/RD)

A study relates junior grade point average, student birth year, assertion inventory scores, previous organizational leadership and membership roles, volunteer experience, and work experience to later performance ratings in an undergraduate fieldwork program. Younger students with higher grade point averages performed better in the fieldwork…

This study examined out-of-home applications of 88 Israeli parents who had children with severe mental retardation. Five predictors had significant correlations with parental application: high parental stress, less social support, favorable attitudes toward normalization, low family environment score, and the child being of adolescent age.…

Data on 3,449 children (ages 0-3) indicate children at risk because of low income, minority status, or lack of insurance were 3 to 12 times more likely to be without a usual source of care and 2 to 30 times more likely to have unmet needs for health care. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

The relationships between reading proficiency and field independence/field dependence and sex were studied in 84 male and 79 female second graders. There were no significant gender differences in achievement or with the reading measures. Field-independent subjects were more proficient readers in the separate skill areas of reading than were…