Evaluated an intervention program for women in the first year of a computing degree at La Trobe University (Australia). Found a sustained increase in female retention after the program was introduced. Identified the best predictors of success in the first programming course to be age and having studied mathematics in the final years of secondary…

During the 1997-1998 academic year, 255 students at a four-year college required emergency medical or institutional intervention related to substance abuse. Of these, 42 percent were freshmen. Results suggest the importance of assisting social adjustment of freshmen through cognitive/behavioral counseling and peer education to decrease the…

Finds that, in contrast to American children, Indian children (between the ages of 6 and 12) attributed a successful performance to effort rather than to ability, and referred to external attributions (teacher bias and copying) rather than internal attributions (ability) when asked to explain why two children might obtain the same score with…

Students with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) not diagnosed until the postsecondary level share some important characteristics. A good assessment should include recommendations for accommodation; compensatory strategies; and needs for counseling, psychotherapy, and/or referral to other professionals. A trained staff physician is essential to the…

This literature review focuses on the outcome of childhood learning disabilities, adult symptomatology, and the educational and vocational status of adults with learning disabilities. It concludes that learning disabilities are life-long disabilities and that childhood deficiencies in reading, language, memory, attention, visual perception, and…

Graduation rates of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I scholarship athletes have shown the first across-the-board decline since the Association began publishing rates in 1990. Much attention this year has focused on male basketball players; only 41% of those who entered college in 1991 graduated within six years. Many leave…

A survey of teachers of students with visual impairments in Ohio (n=59), Iowa (n=19), Alabama (n=29), and Texas (n=212) found the majority of respondents wanted to remain in their current positions for at least three years, and believed that there was a need for more personnel to provide appropriate services. (Contains three references.) (CR)

Reviews programs developed by the District of Columbia Public Schools to recruit, prepare and retain teachers. Though the programs mirrored national reforms, they were not institutionalized within the school system and thus faded after several years. The District's experience illustrates the often too-short lifespan of such reforms and the…

Examines the influence of student perceptions of faculty teaching skills on social integration, subsequent institutional commitment, and student departure decisions. Using path analysis to consider this link, the findings demonstrate a significant influence of faculty teaching skills on student persistence. Theoretical and practical implications…

A study assessed the validity of the Tinto model of student attrition for community college students, and extended and refined the model by examining the mediational influences of a comprehensive set of psychological measures on the model's constructs. Results confirm the model's generalizability to this population, and show psychological measures…

Examined performance funding, specifically one common performance measure--student persistence--at three institutions within a single state: a flagship university, a historically black university, and a regional, comprehensive institution. Sought to determine if the outcomes were those intended by policy makers. Uncovered variables that affected…

Surveyed university personnel and undergraduate students using a newly constructed Retention Questionnaire designed to assess the relative levels of student and university responsibility for retention which they attribute to each other. Found that students and university personnel frequently differ in their perceptions of responsibility--and for…

Analysis of data on 1,600 University of North Carolina (Greensboro) students who were enrolled for eight to ten semesters found that less academically talented students were more likely to make changes (in majors, place of residence, and course loads), and experience delayed graduation than more talented students, for whom such changes were fewer…

Examined relationships between perceived workplace conditions and morale, career choice commitment, and planned retention among first-year teachers. Data from the U.S. Department of Education's School and Staffing Survey indicated that a school culture which supported collaboration and participative decision making most strongly related to higher…

This study refined and applied an integrated model of undergraduate persistence (accounting for both behavioral and perceptual components) to examine first-year retention at a private, highly selective research university. Results suggest that including behaviorally based measures of involvement improves the model's explanatory power concerning…