Many research indicated that more and more students choose to drop out of mathematics-related subjects during university study, especially in the western context. Besides the difficulty of mathematics content, first-year university students also face issues of the transition period. Identifying the impact of first-year university students' belief…

Vocational education and training (VET) programs are typically regarded as the means to enable successful school-to-work transitions. However, high rates of premature contract terminations in VET programs suggest that adolescents face difficulties during this transition. This paper aims to examine the determinants of persistence intention,…

When exploring the effects of leadership on students, most studies have focused on either how leadership affects the students' academic outcomes or how it contributes to their personal development. This study merged both approaches and aimed to measure the mediating effects of self-efficacy and self-determination among leadership, students'…

Grounded in the expectancy-value and hope theories, the present study was conducted to examine the extent to which self-efficacy, task value, and academic hope predict persistence among science teacher-trainees in Uganda. The sample consisted of 278 undergraduate science teacher-trainees selected from a large public university in northern Uganda.…

Student retention models were tested via structural equation modeling to examine the interrelations and predictability among socioeconomic status, psychosocial, and student success variables with a sample of 445 undergraduate students attending a large Hispanic serving institution. The proposed theoretical model included socioeconomic status…

Measurement shortcomings have hampered the understanding of institutional commitment (IC) in college students. Therefore, this study sought to (a) develop validated indices of IC and associated psychosocial attributes and (b) use these indices to test a nomological network of variables and their direct and indirect relationships to IC. Exploratory…

African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans are historically underrepresented minorities (URMs) among science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degree earners. Viewed from a perspective of social influence, this pattern suggests that URMs do not integrate into the STEM academic community at the same rate as non-URM students.…

Universities are facing challenges in the area of student retention and graduation. A critical question is what schools can do to improve undergraduate students' intentions to complete college. Dropout intention has been studied, yet the exploration of college completion intention has not been thoroughly examined. Using structural equation…

Background: Engineering programs strive to retain students and prepare them for engineering careers. Introducing group design projects into courses may help keep students interested while also improving their learning outcomes. Purpose/Hypothesis: This study measures differences in student content knowledge and intention to persist in engineering…

Wilderness orientation programs (WOPs) are becoming a popular method of encouraging college student retention and success. Previous studies have identified outcomes and correlates of participation in these programs, but a cohesive model of impact is lacking. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of WOPs on first-year student success…

The present study assessed the mediating role of expectancy for success and value beliefs in civic education in linking socio-academic factors (gender, ethnicity, school level and prior achievement) to desirable civic attributes. The sample comprised 1664 students in their Year-7-Year-12 (mean age = 14.79, range = 12-18). Structural equation…

Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) careers have been touted as critical to the success of our nation and also provide important opportunities for access and equity of underrepresented minorities (URM's). Community colleges serve a diverse population and a large number of undergraduates currently enrolled in college, they are…

To address continually decreasing enrollment and rising attrition in post-secondary STEM degree (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programs, particularly for women, the present study examines the utility of motivation and emotion variables to account for persistence and achievement in science in male and female students…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between college students' social class and their academic outcomes. A structural equation model was proposed, hypothesizing that a student's socioeconomic status (SES) is related to their motives for attending college, thus influencing their perception of fit at the university, their…

Home-based parental involvement practices (i.e., educational encouragement, monitoring, and support) and their impact on students' academic persistence were investigated with a sample of 137, ninth-grade Latino students in a northeast high school. Structural Equation Modeling results indicate that the relationship between home-based parental…