Current approaches to educating at-risk students are the result of several shifts in thinking over the last 35 years, and a new way of defining at-risk students is needed to permit changes in school policy and practice to meet these students' needs. Cultural deprivation was originally considered the single cause of at-risk status. Subsequently,…

This paper identifies and assesses factors that may characterize students at risk of dropping out, based on a ninth grade class of Cincinnati (Ohio) public school students which was followed for five years, from 1984-85 to 1988-89. The paper aims to develop a quick, easy, and reliable method that teachers, counselors, and principals can use to…

The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) measures the English language proficiency of foreign students who apply for higher education in the United States. It is administered according to a strict schedule through the International and Special Center (I&SC) testing program or at ad hoc intervals by institutional users as part of the…

In forecasting its fall credit headcounts, the Office of Institutional Research and Analysis at Prince George's Community College (PGCC) utilizes the Component Yield Method (CYM), an enrollment projection model developed by the college's planning analyst in the early 1980's. By disaggregating enrolled students into multiple groups, each with an…

While current research is beginning to suggest that it is masculinity that correlates with mental health, results are inconclusive and studies have primarily focused on limited measures of mental health. This study incorporated multiple measures of self-concept in an analysis of the relationship between sex-role orientation and mental health of…

The effects of rule knowledge were investigated using Braille inkprint pairs. Both recognition and recall were studied in three groups of subjects: rule knowledge, rule discovery, and no rule. Two hypotheses were tested: (1) that the group exposed to the rule would score better than would a discovery group and a control group; and (2) that all…

A study examined the role higher education institutions play through their educational strategy in supporting student retention. Educational strategy was defined as patterns of institutional practices designed to support undergraduate education, and the question posed was: Do the practices a college implements at the institutional level to support…

Active and creative recruitment is necessary to compensate for the fact that minority group students may be disinclined to seek higher education. One such recruitment activity involves providing on-campus precollege experiences during which students can become familiar with college life, begin career exploration, and develop positive attitudes…

Interventions designed to prevent drug abuse have typically focused on the gateway drugs of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana, on the assumption that such prevention would indirectly prevent use of harder substances. Little data has been available, however, for examining the onset of harder substance use in a normal adolescent population. This…

Students who drop out of high school before graduating are of concern to families, educators, and policymakers. To obtain information on the scope of the dropout problem, three sources of national data were reviewed: (1) the Bureau of the Census' Current Population Survey; (2) the Center for Statistics' Common Core of Data; and (3) the Center for…

A model to distinguish persisters and nonpersisters at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, was developed. Persisters and nonpersisters differed in background characteristics, attitudes toward and interaction with the university, opportunities to leave, and intentions. Responses to a mail survey were returned by 86 first-time freshmen…

This study attempts to integrate and extend previous research by multivariate investigation to determine multidimensional relationships among both the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) subscales and the demographic variables for the 1981 WAIS-R standardization sample. Canonical correlation with orthogonal rotation of composite…

A visual display is introduced that enables one to compare the predictive validities of all possible non-negatively weighted sums of two predictors. This two-predictor validity curve assesses the level of predictability of a criterion from composites of two predictors. Derivations are presented for the general case. For illustrative purposes, the…

Fertility research among four groups of Chicanas showed intragroup differences in fertility rates and in relationships between fertility and independent socioeconomic variables. A literature review suggested that research on minority group fertility failed to recognize intragroup variations. Data from the 1980 Public-Use Microdata Sample yielded a…

This paper describes the Multiple Assessment Programs and Services (MAPS) Placement Research Service. Students entering nonselective colleges show a wide range of ability. The College Board offers these colleges a number of tests of reading, writing, and mathematics skills for use in placing students appropriately. The MAPS Placement Research…