This study was an examination of the usefulness of a statistical regression approach to identify prospective Engineering and Information and Computer Science (ICS) applicants most likely to succeed at the University of California at Irvine (UCI). The specific purpose was to determine the extent to which preadmissions measures such as high school…

The factors that determine course completion and achievement in college distance education were investigated using a sample of 25 courses offered through the Independent Learning Program at the Pennsylvania State University. The main objective was to develop a multivariate model to explain and predict outcomes of distance education. Additional…

A study was conducted to examine several academic and non-academic variables in terms of their relationship to student attrition at Miami-Dade Community College (MDCC). The study sample consisted of 306 associate in arts degree-seeking students who first enrolled in fall 1981. Four groups of students, defined according to the last semester…

A method for drawing inferences from complex samples is based on Rubin's approach to missing data in survey research. Standard procedures for drawing such inferences do not apply when the variables of interest are not observed directly, but must be inferred from secondary random variables which depend on the variables of interest stochastically.…

Factors affecting 750 Wyoming public school teachers' response rates to a mail survey examined in this study were: personalization of the cover letter and of the envelope; grade level taught (elementary, junior, or senior high); sex of teacher; and regional characteristics (rural area, small town, or large town). Two experimental treatments were…

Differences in persisting and withdrawing students who entered the University of South Dakota's medical technology program during 1974-1984 were studied to provide information for career counselors. Data were collected for 200 students on high school grade point average (GPA), American College Testing (ACT) program scores, first semester college…

After outlining the 1984 activities and results of the Center for the Study of Evaluation's (CSE's) Evaluation Productivity Project, this monograph presents three reports. The first, "The Administrator's Role in Evaluation Use," by James Burry, Marvin C. Alkin, and Joan A. Ruskus, describes the factors influencing an evaluation's use…

Educational programs and evaluations which were submitted to the Department of Education's Joint Dissemination Review Panel (JDRP), in order to be named validated programs, were studied to identify program characteristics associated with large versus small effect size. Effect size was calculated for 165 out of 232 submittals reviewed by JDRP from…

A large scale study was undertaken to shed light on the question of school district efficiency, that is, the extent to which school districts are able to increase achievement beyond what would be expected from their families socioeconomic origins. Average scores on state-developed and nationally-standardized tests of third, sixth, and ninth…

A study was conducted in California to explore the extent of cheating, its relationship to personal and situational factors, and the actions of school personnel to promote academic honesty and responsibility. Questionnaires were completed by 1,037 sixth-graders, 2,265 secondary school students (mostly 11th-graders), and 109 school staff members.…

The attitudes of educators toward computers were assessed as well as their attitude change while taking an introductory microcomputer course. Sex and age differences were also investigated. Subjects included a sample who were surveyed by mail and a group of 22 teachers who were enrolled in a microcomputer course. A 44-item attitude questionnaire…

Basic background information on college student attrition research studies is provided. This paper is divided into nine components that were prominent in the existing literature: (1) higher education and the concern for attrition; (2) factors involved in college student attrition; (3) demographic factors involved in college student attrition; (4)…

Retention at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, was studied, based on the entire population of 29,372 undergraduate degree-seeking students enrolled in a semester between fall 1981 and 1987. Two measures of the retention rate are used: cohort survival, the percentage of the original cohort of entering students that is enrolled in or has…

Considered are the developmental and prognostic implications of early peer relations. Evidence concerning peer difficulties as risk factors is reviewed along with research dealing with family relations and peer relations in social development. In preference to a stepping-stone model of the development of social deviance, a conjunctive feedback…

The use of a combination of traditional cognitive admissions criteria and noncognitive variables in predicting retention of college students is discussed. The focus is on improving prediction by analyzing various subgroups separately rather than using the entire population as a sample. The subjects were freshmen in the fall semester of 1978 at a…