Inasmuch as research has held the increase in youth gang activities responsible for the escalating level of crime and delinquency in Chinese societies, ascertaining risk or protective factors of gang involvement among Chinese youths is crucial. The factors include those associated with social control, social learning, and cognitive development. To…

Using an integration of social control theory and the routine activity perspective, adolescent time use was examined for effects on problem behaviors. We examined a wide variety of time use categories, including homework, extracurricular activities, sports time, alone time, paid work, housework, television watching, as well as indices of family…

In this article, the author discusses AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination), a program that enrolls the students who are most frequently marginalized in rigorous classes to prepare them for postsecondary education. The best predictor of success or failure in postsecondary education is the intensity and quality of secondary school…

In winter semester 1995, Schoolcraft College, in Michigan, experienced a 7% drop in enrollment and an 8% drop in credit hours, including 461 students who applied but did not enroll. To determine the reasons that the no shows had for not enrolling and how many planned to enroll in the future, demographic data were collected from application…

This paper compares freshmen who enrolled in the College Seminar at Ramapo College (a 4-year liberal arts college in New Jersey) with freshmen who have not taken the seminar. The seminar course includes units on higher education in America; study skills (e.g., writing papers, research skills, taking notes, time management, computer skills);…

This paper presents the latest in a series of studies examining school district report cards. The purpose was to study the relationships among factors reported on school district report cards from Nevada high schools. The 44 categories reported on Nevada's 1993-94 report card represent the study's independent variables, grouped into the areas of…

This study examined whether the educational practice of retaining students in junior first grade for a year between kindergarten and first grade enhanced their academic achievement and self-concept of academic ability. Subjects were 120 students randomly selected from a midwestern school district and divided equally into 4 groups: (1) recommended…

Education professionals have long known that family background is a stronger predictor of academic success than are school or teacher characteristics. The past 30 years have seen a series of drastic alterations in patterns of family living in the United States, and these changes mean that a substantial number of youngsters are being born or are…

For individuals to use computer tools for learning effectively, they must feel self-efficacious in using them. For this reason, it is important to examine attitudes and perceptions of competence that are encouraged by undergraduate educational programs. The factor validation of two affective measures related to computer technologies is reported.…

In response to concerns about the academic and discipline problems of young black male students in a small southern town, the Positive Impact Program (PIP) was developed for at-risk black males. Two possible at-risk factors, locus of control and the quality of parental verbal interaction, were studied for participants in the PIP. Locus of control…

The relatively large number of students who perform poorly in freshman chemistry courses signals the need for the identification of criteria that will result in correct placement decisions for incoming college students. Research findings have generally reported placement criteria that correlate significantly with performance in college chemistry…

This paper reports the results of a study of changes in the social distribution of mathematics achievement for a cohort of public high school students. Using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) the study sought to identify school characteristics which were significantly correlated with changes in achievement differences from grade 9 to grade 11…

This report examines whether educationally disadvantaged or at-risk preschool children have access to center-based early childhood programs similar to the access enjoyed by advantaged children, and whether the programs are of comparable quality. Eight risk factors that represent gross indications of educational disadvantage are examined, including…

In this predictive study, the variables of College Basic Academic Subjects Examination (C-BASE) Science score, American College Test (ACT) Science score, Group Assessment of Logical Thinking (GALT) score, and total number of college science courses completed were investigated as predictors of science process skills and physical science…

This study was conducted to investigate the relative importance of social and academic factors in influencing the probability of transfer from a community college to a four-year college. The structural model used in the study was composed of the following constructs: the effect of social class, race, and gender on students' academically related…