Urban African American first-year high school students' absenteeism was found to be negatively related to grade point average (GPA) and avoidance as a means of coping (use of substances as a way to escape--food, alcohol, smoking, caffeine, etc.) and positively related to use of social support as a means of coping (efforts to stay emotionally…

The development and validation of a measure of adolescent future expectations associated with work, education, family, health, and church/community participation is presented. The 25-item measure was administered to a sample of 389 7th- to 12th-grade urban poor and working-class Chilean students. Results of an exploratory principal axis factor…

Because of advances in psychotropic medications, psychiatric rehabilitation methods, the implementation of civil rights legislation, and empowerment movement of consumers with psychiatric disabilities, students with mental illnesses are increasingly able to access and complete higher education. Disability services offices on college campuses can…

During the 1986-87 academic year, 1,115 high school seniors participated in the College Now (CN) program of New York's Kingsborough Community College. A study was undertaken to assess the academic progress of the 463 students who subsequently enrolled in any City University of New York (CUNY) college during the fall of 1987. To determine…

The literacy skills of General Educational Development (GED) program graduates were compared to those of high school graduates and high school dropouts who did not pass the GED test. The sample of 1,012 young adults (ages 21 to 25 years) studied was obtained by selecting all Whites, African Americans, and Hispanics who were studied in the Young…

By using a competing risks model, survival analysis methods can be extended to predict which of several mutually exclusive outcomes students will choose based on predictor variables, thereby ascertaining if the profile of risk differs across groups. The paper begins with a brief introduction to logistic regression and some of the basic concepts of…

A study was conducted at Donnelly College, in Kansas, to determine whether taking a math course prerequisite affected students' final course grades in an introductory chemistry course. From a sample of 329 students who finished the chemistry course between fall 1985 and fall 1993, course grades were compared for 30 students who had completed the…

This study focused on the role of family communication patterns as they affect children's academic achievement, as determined by grades. Sixty-two children (average age: 11.6 years) and their parents were observed and videotaped in dyadic settings (mother-child, father-child) in their homes while discussing everyday topics presented to them in a…

This study was designed to investigate the extent to which grade inflation has existed at Brigham Young University (BYU) after accounting for increased preparation levels of entering students over time. Analyses were conducted for the university at large and individual colleges. The study first developed a model to forecast student grade point…

This study examined the effects that cumulation of slight risks-prenatal up to adolescence-had on cognitive competence and school achievement in Austrian students who had not been identified as being at risk. Data were collected on 91 randomly selected 11- to 13-year-olds who participated in the Vienna Developmental Study, which analyzed…

A study was conducted to identify factors affecting student performance on the Texas Academic Skills Program (TASP), a state-mandated measure designed to assess students' basic skills and competencies. TASP and Assessment of Student Skills for Entry Transfer (ASSET) scores were analyzed for 328 academic track students from 6 community colleges in…

A number of studies have examined the relationships between noncognitive variables, such as academic self-concept and achievement expectancies, and subsequent academic performance. Results from a recent study indicated that noncognitive variables were more effective predictors of college chemistry grades than were admissions test scores or high…

This study examined factors contributing to under- and over-achievement in first-year college students at York University in Ontario (Canada). The difference between predicted and actual first-year grades of a sample of 1,229 students entering York University in 1994 was examined on the basis of information obtained from administrative records, a…

Researchers should investigate statistical models that can help counselors decide how to treat individual clients. This research investigated the questions, "Given an effect size (ES) from a counseling outcome study, what is the probability that a client would have a negative response to the treatment, and what is the probability that the client…

Research has shown that, when administered properly, kindergarten readiness screening results are associated closely with future school success. The Dallas Preschool Screening Test (DPST) is one of many such instruments used to determine school readiness and predict school success. A study sought to determine the effectiveness of the DPST in…