Using longitudinal administrative data from a large elite research university, this paper separately analyzes the determinants of persistence for life and physical science majors. My results confirm much of the previous research on major persistence in the sciences, but I document that many findings are solely driven by persistence patterns in the…

This research examined how rural high school students' self-perceptions and environmental perceptions influence their engagement, expectations, and achievement, and how those relationships differ by geographic rural location. Participants were 224 students in four rural, public high schools in two U.S. states, Colorado and Indiana. Path models…

In this study, face-to-face (FTF) and online students' (N = 198) feelings of and desire for sense of community (SOC) in their courses were compared. In support of previous research, FTF students felt more SOC than online students. However, overall, relatively few students (FTF or online) expressed desire for SOC. Additionally, regression analyses…

Background: Traditional approaches to reducing adolescents' socially inappropriate behaviour typically target individuals rather than groups. This case study investigates whether positive outcomes might accrue in social behaviours among a group of extraordinarily behaviourally-challenging youth resulting from a peer-mediated service-learning…

This study is a longitudinal analysis of the early career decisions made by graduates of an urban-focused secondary teacher preparation program. By matching graduates' self-reported commitment to teaching in urban schools at the end of the training program to the demographic data of the schools where they subsequently teach, the authors explore…

The 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Survey highlighted how attitudes to mathematics had declined sharply for students in many of the high attaining countries in the survey, England being no exception. There is a notable drop in positive attitudes to mathematics between 9 and 14, as well as a remarkable decline for 14 year olds…

The Learning Communities Demonstration is a national research project that is testing the effectiveness of learning communities in six community colleges across the United States: Merced College in California; The Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) in Baltimore, Maryland; Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Florida; Houston…

The purpose of this dissertation is to better understand scientific training within clinical and counseling psychology doctoral programs. A primary goal is to extend previous research by expanding the scientific training outcome variables from research interest and productivity to include additional characteristics of scientific mindedness such as…

We use survey data from all accepted applicants to Teach for America 1993-98 to assess the longer-term effect of youth service on participants' current civic attitudes and behaviors. While TFA "graduates" score higher than the two comparison groups--"drop-outs" and "non-matriculants"--on a broad range of attitudinal items measuring civic…

As chief admissions officer at two small colleges, the author has been responsible, in part, for ensuring that entry-level admissions counselors are trained properly. He learned through trial and error, and has adapted his methods to be increasingly sensitive to the learning curve of new employees. His thoughts about training new admissions…

Class-size reduction (CSR) initiatives have demonstrated positive short- and long-term effects in elementary grades. Less is known about CSR influence on achievement in middle grades. Thus, we conducted a non-experimental, longitudinal, explanatory study of CSR influence on writing achievement of 3 independent cohorts of students (n = 123) in…

Despite the broad recognition in social work that services are more effective when they are tailored to individual client needs, we have only limited evidence of the impact that services matched to client needs have on treatment outcomes. This study examines gender differences in the impact of matched services, access services, and…

This report describes a small study that analysed module marks of one cohort of science undergraduates from one academic year. It explored how group summative assessment marking affected the overall marks in comparison with individual assessment. A tutor allocated students to mixed ability project groups. Individual marks for the group work…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to compare the self-reported health-promoting behaviours of music and non-music performance students in higher education. It also seeks to determine the extent to which perceived health and self-reported symptoms are associated with lifestyle, emotional affect state, self-regulation and self-efficacy.…

A long-term study of two faculty development programs on sustainability and the environment reveals enduring changes in teaching, research, interdisciplinary collaboration, and engaged action. Participants in cohorts of Tufts University's Environmental Literacy Institute (12-16 years ago) and Emory University's Piedmont Project (1-5 years ago)…