The present study extends a previous study of student teachers' teaching potential to first-year teachers and includes variables addressing commitment to a teaching career and efficacy. Respondents consisted of 126 first-year teachers who completed questionnaires at student teaching, graduation, and one year following graduation. Seven tables are…

This paper briefly reviews the literature on the common factors in effective college student retention programs, then presents a study assessing the impact of the institution's mission effectiveness as distinct from other determinants of student retention. The assessment of retention predictors and the effects of the school's mission were…

This document reviews the research related to students' and teachers' anxiety related to science and the teaching of science in order to better understand the relationships between the variables that can predict this phenomenon. The research reports reviewed used either the Science State Trait Anxiety Inventory or the Science Teaching State Trait…

This manual is designed to serve as a comprehensive guide for utilizing 20/20 analysis, an instructional planning approach that aims to overcome the disjointedness of current, narrowly formed categorical programs for educating marginal students. The authors explain that 20/20 analysis is a key element in developing an integrated service delivery…

Education researchers have long been concerned with finding the appropriate method for correlational analysis of hierarchical data. In recent years, the alternative of hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) has come into extensive use. HLM users typically center some or all student-level predictors either at the grand mean or at the school means. This…

This paper suggests that community colleges receive undeserved criticism as institutions that contribute to students' decline in college motivation. Rather, many college-bound youths underestimate college demands due to open-admissions policies and the ready availability of remedial courses, and fail to prepare adequately for this educational…

Despite a strong and persistent interest in fathers and concern about their absence in children's lives, there is little information on the complex ways fathers make contributions to their families and children. Six major topic areas were covered by panels of experts during the conference: (1) economic, sociological, psychological, and…

This study was conducted to identify competency areas most problematic for students who did not complete their student teaching experience. Data were collected from case studies of 19 student teachers who did not complete the experience and 31 student teachers who did. Evaluations were based on objective competency measures and subjective…

This study examined the effects of increased computing experience on the computer anxiety of 101 first year preservice teacher education students at a regional university in Australia. Three instruments measuring computer anxiety and attitudes--the Computer Anxiety Rating Scale (CARS), Attitudes Towards Computers Scale (ATCS), and Computer…

This study assessed whether the Academic Misconduct Survey (AMS) can distinguish groups of teacher education students relative to their propensity toward various forms of misconduct. Focus was on identifying clusters of persons within each school who had a propensity toward the various academic misconduct constructs. The AMS includes 41…

A study was done of student achievement and its relation to family and community poverty in light of 20 years of education reform and Chapter 1 funding since 1966. The study used the following three long-term studies of American high school students, in which measures of achievement and socioeconomic standing are meant to be comparable among…

Associations between school district poverty and achievement and Chapter 1 programs are studied. The allocation formula in the legislation states that funding is to be distributed in direct proportion to poverty and regional cost. Dependent variables include Chapter 1 funding, the number of district participants in compensatory education…

To investigate the influence of student modes of learning, or preferences for modes of learning, researchers at the Chulalongkorn University (Thailand) studied 97 Thai students who were beginners of English. It was hypothesized that: (1) aural and visual modes of listening and reading are related to achievement in English; (2) language aptitude,…

A study was undertaken at Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC), in North Carolina, to examine student opinions of services and factors influencing student satisfaction with the overall quality of CPCC. Questionnaires were distributed to 4,500 students in randomly selected classes in fall 1992, soliciting information on student…

An experimental study compared the effectiveness of a traditional General Educational Development (GED) curriculum with a literacy curriculum based on applied literacy skills. An experimental group of 34 adult students received GED instruction emphasizing functional and workplace contexts and supplemental instruction, whereas the 35 students in…