Ten historically black colleges and universities in a Pew Charitable Trusts program share their campus-wide efforts to increase student retention and progression through a program emphasizing ongoing evaluation. Each institution developed evaluation plans, comprehensive databases for monitoring progress, instruments for assessing factors that…

Meta-analysis of the A-not-B error was conducted, using logistic regression, on studies conducted before September 1997. Results replicated earlier findings, with exception that the number of trials at the A location was a significant predictor, and the number of locations was a significant predictor of the proportion of infants who searched…

Describes how Trinity Law School (California) achieves high student retention rates despite obstacles such as the First Year Law Students' Exam, predominantly minority community students, and students who attend while maintaining jobs and families. Emphasis is on the role of the religious model in promoting a sense of community, and on academic…

Reports on a longitudinal study of public-library borrowing that shows that high-volume borrowers are both consistent and persistent in their borrowing. Topics include identification of high-intensity borrowers; exploration of behavioral consistency; persistence of use; and personal and behavioral characteristics. (Author/LRW)

This article argues that despite such large-scale international programmes as Education for All, backed by UNESCO and the World Bank among others, enrolment and retention rates in Africa will continue to decline as pupils, parents and employers realise that formal schooling does not deliver what it has promised. Although much attention has been…

The current perspective of autonomous learning defines it as the agentive exhibition of resourcefulness, initiative, and persistence in self-directed learning. As a form of human agency, it has been argued in the literature that this perspective should be consistent with Bandura's (1986) Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). The purpose of this article…

In this study I explored the reported effects of Literacy Collaborative, a whole-school literacy reform model, on teacher turnover through in-depth telephone interviews with 16 randomly sampled teachers. Although 8 of the teachers said Literacy Collaborative would have no effect on whether they stayed at or left their respective schools, the…

Integration of new students into the university has been widely studied from both psychological and academic perspectives. Much less, if anything, is heard from the other party in the integration process--the teachers. At the heart of this study is the voice of university teachers. Staff from 12 departments in three faculties (n = 52) in one…

The freshman year represents a stressful transition for college students. Despite a multitude of social, academic, and emotional stressors, most college students successfully cope with a complex new life role and achieve academic success. Other students are less able to successfully manage this transition and decide to leave higher education…

Working with students who manifest learning difficulties there are many questions which have to be asked. One of these question is--how they explain their failure and success. Answers to these questions can help in understanding the cause of their problems as well as finding the method to improve effectiveness, success and personal satisfaction.…

This paper reports an investigation of the impact of students cognitive style on their effective use of educational text-based computer-mediated conferences. The research centres on an empirical study involving students from three courses run by the British Open University. Statistical analysis of the data does not suggest that cognitive style has…

This paper presents an exploratory study that investigates the effects of online learning on distance education students in an open university context. Two hypotheses are posited: (1) a direct relationship exists between students involvement in online learning and distance learning outcomes, and (2) an indirect relationship exists between these…

Accrediting agencies step up requirements for evidence of institutions' efforts to improve student learning. Congressional leaders call for increased accountability and transparency in higher education. Business leaders worry about the growing gaps between their workforce needs and the numbers of Americans actually prepared for the available jobs.…

Beginning teachers are often given teaching assignments that would challenge even the most skillful veteran teachers. Such assignments can take several forms: teaching in a subject area for which the teacher is not certified; having too many class preparations; "floating" from classroom to classroom; working with low-ability, unmotivated, or…

The two-year college often represents Black men's first experience with postsecondary education, and for many, their last opportunity for obtaining a degree beyond a high-school diploma. Yet a review of student performance data provided by the California chancellor's office for community colleges indicates that African-American men are the…