Chris Pipho has identified five factors contributing to teacher shortages: changing demographics, higher enrollment, dwindling teacher supply, competition from industry, and cumbersome certification requirements. Recruiting minority teachers is even more essential than targeting vulnerable subject areas. Strategies for recruiting and retaining…

Offers reminders for principals as they orient first-year teachers and induct them into the profession with an eye toward retention: intervene to diminish teacher isolation; facilitate mentoring and collegial relationships; maximize potential for success through the teaching assignment; offer development opportunities; be accessible; and explain…

Reports on a study designed to assess whether mentoring experiences, or the lack thereof, influence the decision of faculty members to stay or leave. Respondents began tenured/tenure-track appointments at the University of Colorado at Denver between 1987 and 1991. Qualitative differences were found in the nature of the mentoring and the outcomes.…

A longitudinal study characterized minority student (n=2426) persistence in clinical laboratory programs and relates persistence to student characteristics and involvement in college programs. Student behaviors varied by ethnic group, with African Americans more likely to leave for academic reasons than others. (Author/JOW)

Presents a case study of continuation and completion patterns of distance-education students at the Bhopal Regional Center of Indira Gandhi National Open University. Findings revealed that the first semester of study is more crucial for distance learning and the distance-learning institute must provide more support to students during this period.…

Discusses retention in community colleges, identifying four reasons that students leave college, including attainment of goals and frustrated expectations. Lists eight intervention strategies that have proved successful, and provides suggestions for retention, such as having faculty serve as mentors to students, and providing the most appropriate…

Analyses some of the difficulties involved in implementing the recently approved Basic Education Program for primary and secondary education in Sierra Leone. Discusses issues such as funding, training, and retention of teachers, curriculum reform, language development, equipment and supplies, and evaluation. Concludes that political stability is…

A study compared the phonological abilities of 22 preschool children whose stuttering persisted and 62 who recovered. Those whose stuttering persisted had poorer mean scores on a number of phonological characteristics, including mean percentage of error, relative levels of severity of phonological impairments, and error on specific phonological…

Follow-up, using logistic regression analysis, of 371 underrepresented minority students who completed an intensive, nine-week pre-admission program prior to acceptance into medical school found performance in the program predicted whether participants would: (1) apply to medical school, (2) get accepted, and (3) graduate. Implications for…

Discussion of student achievement and persistence rates in science, engineering, and mathematics disciplines focuses on a study of college students that evaluated the joint contributions of academic background measures and other factors, including self-beliefs, toward the explanation of overall grade performance. Describes correlations between…

Reports results of a statewide survey of student intentions administered to a sample of 3,219 community college students. A positive relationship was found between the number of credits completed and the number of intention shifts, and a negative relationship was found between the number of credits completed and perceptions of goal attainment.…

Thirty-nine students in an undergraduate educational psychology course identified and organized their core goals into ten goal domains. They then identified semester subgoals and tracked their time in relation to their goals. Results suggest that courses intended to increase student retention should use activities that help students identify their…

Used Cooperative Institutional Research Program data on 262 students who began their college experience at two- year colleges to examine effects of students' backgrounds, academic and social integration, external influences, and institutional satisfaction on bachelor's degree attainment. Found college academic satisfaction, college social…

Review of the research on college student persistence summarizes findings in selected areas, including student involvement in campus life, ethnicity, gender, age, on- campus versus off-campus residence, and membership in fraternities and sororities. (Author/DB)

Examines the impact of inner-city values on the social adjustment of inner-city commuter students. Notes that inner-city commuter students can be affected by the social climate of a college by becoming part of mainstream or marginal groups or failing to develop social connections within the college. Describes methods for helping this population…