Questionnaires were sent to 601 zero credit-hour earned nonpersisting students at Moraine Valley Community College (MVCC) who enrolled in spring but did not re-enroll for fall 1976. The survey response rate, which included 85 students contacted by telephone, was 40%. Information on educational goals, withdrawal from classes, hours employed while…

The study derives a model of the unemployment insurance (UI) system and its relationship to the labor market, estimates it with data from the Detroit Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area, and evaluates its potential use to forecast UI benefit amounts, UI insured unemployment, and UI exhaustions. It further uses the model to analyze policy issues…

Data in this report reveals that collectively bargaining agreements are not the source of the teacher quality problem in urban school districts. The data shows that collective bargaining agreements are associated with reduced teacher transfer activity, especially in high-poverty schools, and less reliance on first-year teachers to staff…

To explore whether teachers' attitudes toward pay for performance are the result of experience or socialization, or whether teachers are already predisposed to prefer pay systems not based on performance, and whether some forms of performance pay might be preferred to others, a study was conducted of the pay system preferences of students…

This study used a self-report survey to investigate the sense of classroom community in an online community college classroom. The study also aimed to investigate the relationship between classroom community and academic performance. The author administered a 40-item questionnaire either directly or via the course web site three times during the…

It is well known that the number of community college students who complete an Associate's degree or even a certificate program is low. Among those who begin an Associate's degree program, fewer that 50% have earned their degree or are still enrolled after 5 years. For nontraditional students, the rates are even lower. For minorities, low income…

This report examines heterogeneity in young adult outcomes among students at risk for school failure due to low socioeconomic status (SES). It addresses the question: "Among students at risk due to status characteristics, what are the relationships of high school engagement and attainments with post-high school outcomes?" Two sets of…

Many school districts experience difficulties attracting and retaining teachers, and schools in urban areas serving economically disadvantaged and minority students appear particularly vulnerable to these problems. This paper investigates factors that affect the probabilities that teachers will switch schools or exit the public schools entirely.…

This issue is the last in a three-part series on teaching quality. The first examined the effectiveness of various approaches to recruiting, educating, and inducting teachers. This report discusses the school environment and role of teachers' working conditions in attracting and retaining good teachers, noting several disparate factors that…

This document presents the personal narrative of an adult literacy practitioner who has worked with Literacy Volunteers of America and a reading center in Connecticut and who signed up for the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) Teacher Research Project on Learner Motivation, Retention, and Persistence in 1998.…

This report from the Study of Personnel Needs in Special Education (SPeNSE) focuses on working conditions that affect special education teachers and how teachers acquire needed professional skills. The report found: (1) 80% of special education teachers serve students with two or more primary disabilities; (2) almost one-fourth of students served…

Between spring 1992 and spring 1995, California's Southwestern College (SWC) conducted a study on the characteristics of students on academic or progress probation. The study was done as part of the Matriculation Research and Evaluation Plan to assess academic outcomes for SWC students. The report explores the demographic and educational…

This guide for students with Attention Deficit Disorders (ADD) and their counselors and teachers offers practical advice for success in college. The 11 chapters cover the following topics: (1) the possibility of success; (2) definitions and characteristics of ADD; (3) diagnosis and treatment of ADD; (4) interviews with college students about their…

This final report describes activities and accomplishments of a 3-year, federally supported project at the University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa) to improve the retention of African-American students in undergraduate premedical programs by developing an improved personal and social support system for black students interested in the health…

The effects of financial aid on persistence to Bachelor's degree were studied using data from the national longitudinal Beginning Postsecondary Student Survey for 1989-90 freshmen. The subsample of 3,188 students were enrolled full-time in four-year institutions; persistence was defined as attainment of the Bachelor's degree from the institution…