The logic of using a gain score approach versus longitudinal causal models is studied in this secondary analysis of a complex data base. The gain score model used by the Federal Reserve Bank and the School District of Philadelphia in their "What Works in Reading?" study is successively refined using the LISREL structural equation…

Academic, personal, and attitudinal/behavioral predictors of black and white students' college performance were studied, along with the effect of differences in the quality of college experiences. The sample of 4,094 students and 706 faculty from 30 southern and eastern colleges completed the Student Opinion Survey/Faculty Opinion Survey, the…

Data from the Gallup Polls of Public Attitudes Toward Education, administered in 1974, 1977, 1980, and 1983, were re-analyzed using multivariate analysis methods. An attempt was made to determine what segments of the public demonstrated support or non-support for the public schools. Survey responses were available for over 1500 people for each…

Systematic classroom observation instruments were used to study the relationship between observed classroom behaviors--specifically student coping style and teacher control--and student growth in reading. Classroom behaviors were recorded in the fall and the following spring with the use of the Coping Analysis Schedule for Educational Settings for…

Data on student retention at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, are analyzed. The retention rate of full-time freshmen for each of the past five years is presented versus the projected effects of achieving the institutional enrollment goal each year until 1986. Retention increased by only .1 of 1 percent in 1980 as compared to just over 2…

A study was conducted at the City University of New York (CUNY) to identify the variables that distinguish students who persist through their first and into their second year of college from those who drop out along the way. Retention survey forms were sent to 2,063 students admitted to career programs in fall 1979 and to 3,291 students admitted…

Using school records, questionnaires, interviews, and psychological tests, researchers studied the factors affecting academic achievement in a large, urban, technical high school. For 20 high-achieving and 20 low-achieving seniors, data were gathered on sex, ethnicity, personality factors, high school and college entrance test scores, grade point…

A longitudinal study was conducted at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) to compare the academic progress of 768 students who transferred to UIUC in Fall 1977 from public community colleges in Illinois; 676 students who transferred to UIUC in Fall 1977 from four-year colleges; and 4,220 native UIUC students who were enrolled as…

Piagetian levels of 126 volunteers (60 males and 66 females) were measured using the Burney Logical Reasoning Test. Findings demonstrated that the six predictor variables succeeded in explaining 58% (pooled male/female sample), 53% (female sample), and 59% (male sample) of the variance in Piagetian cognitive levels. In addition, since prediction…

In this review of research findings, the authors identify ten categories of variables that may influence student learning and schools' instructional effectiveness. All the studies reviewed define effectiveness in terms of basic skills achievement, and all limit their research primarily to elementary schools and students with low socioeconomic…

Income predictions that provide some indication of the potential value of attending college are considered. Standard multiple regression analysis of data describing the income experiences of men 25 years old and older were used to determine differences in incomes of high school and college graduates. Information on the gross national product was…

Predictor variables that could be used effectively to place entering freshmen methematics students into courses of instruction in mathematics were investigated at West Virginia University. Multiple discriminant analysis was used with nearly 6,000 student records collected over a three-year period, and a series of predictive equations were…

A study was conducted to identify the variables that are relevant to the admission of foreign students by institutional decision-makers. A profile of foreign students at North Carolina State University (NCSU) is provided. All academic departments at NCSU at Raleigh with enrollments of 10 or more foreign graduate students were contacted to…

The development and validation of the Multidimensional-Multiattributional Causality Scales (MMCS) are described. The scales are distinctive because they measure locus of control specific to two goals--achievement and affiliation. Half of the items concern success, and half concern failure experiences. Results of four validity studies with under…

Undergraduates in two experiments learned ten mathematical rules under different strategies of adapting instruction to individual needs. An adaptive model developed by Hansen was structured to use multiple predictors for two purposes: (1) to classify students into four independent learning style groups, thus allowing for group-based adaptation;…