This report examines how indicators of academic and nonacademic competencies are related to postsecondary educational and labor market outcomes. Drawing on the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS) surveys of students and teachers, the authors analyze how postsecondary earnings and the likelihood of attending and completing a postsecondary…

The Girls' Circle is a support group for adolescent girls developed by Beth Hossfeld and Giovanna Taormina as a unique program that addresses the needs of girls by focusing on increasing connections, building empathic skills, and developing resiliency. The present study evaluates the effectiveness of the Girls' Circle intervention on improving…

Rapid development of computer-based instructional methods, combined with the rapid evolution of the Internet and the World Wide Web, have made it technologically possible to develop fully interactive self-study materials. While programmed instruction methods were developed in the 1960s and early 1970s, they were not widely used and, although…

This study, conducted at a major western Canadian university, examined the relation between the academic growth and development of dental students and perceived control, a personalogical variable; and academic and social institutional integration variables. Two questionnaires with an academic focus were administered to 67 students. The theoretical…

The direct effects of locus of control and self-esteem on standardized test scores were studied. The relationships among the standardized test scores and measures of locus of control and self-esteem for 12,260 students from the National Education Longitudinal Study 1994 database were examined, using the same definition of locus of control and…

This evaluation of the 1989-90 BRIDGE Project, a dropout prevention program in Hartford (Connecticut), found that grade 9 students felt a heightened sense of control over their lives after one year in the program. BRIDGE is a multifaceted program that focuses on reducing the disengagement of at-risk students facing the critical transition from…

Many studies have addressed the relationship of locus of control to gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and achievement. One area which has not received as much attention is the correlation of locus of control to the condition of being at-risk. Most research involving at-risk students has focused on identifying this group with in-school…

Statistics show that the improvement in the U.S. infant mortality rate began slowing down in 1981 and completely ended in 1985; this has been reflected in a significant increase in the percentage of infants born prematurely and with low birth weight. Increased attention is being given to the effects of maternal behavior during pregnancy, and…

Individuals who are stigmatized are people for whom others hold negative beliefs. In these three 1989 studies members of a stigmatized group were 7th- and 8th-grade adolescents, aged 14 and 15 years old, from a large urban midwestern African-American population. In the first study the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale was administered to…

This study was conducted to examine reflective thinking in 12 preservice teachers as it relates to locus of control and creative thinking. Subjects completed the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (Verbal Form A) and The Locus of Control Scale for Teachers. Measures of the dependent variable, reflective thinking, were determined through analyses…

The structure of a concept generally labeled "teacher efficacy" is examined. A sample of 342 prospective and experienced teachers was administered an efficacy questionnaire adapted from the research of S. Gibson and M. H. Dembo (1984). Factor analytic procedures with varimax rotation were used to generate a 2-factor solution that accounted for 32…

The importance of using computers in a science education class is not limited to computer-assisted instruction (CAI). Computers may also be used as an educational strategy to improve overall learning and computer literacy in students. Research has shown an improvement in academic achievement in students using computers, as well as an increase in…

The purpose of this paper is to consider different kinds of actions learners may take during computer assisted instruction (CAI), and to examine the kind of information they need in order to exercise control over the instruction, i.e., information about their performance level, the organization of the content, the choices available to them and the…

Reality Therapy was adopted as the treatment modality to be used with youths at the Maine Youth Center, the only juvenile correctional facility in the state. To evaluate the effectiveness of the program, staff members completed a series of self-report instruments and gathered demographic and attitude data three times during a 2-year period in…

The study examined correlates of self-esteem in 54 adolescents and young adults (ages 12-22) with spina bifida. Core issues identified were the relationships of global self-esteem and perceived competencies in specific areas, perceptions of control, and identification with the physically handicapped. Relationships of self-esteem to age, gender,…