For the future, college and university administrators face the problem of maintaining a satisfactory enrollment level. They recognize that reducing attrition may be a useful approach to their enrollment problems, but remedies for attrition are not readily developed. There is a consensus that campus administrators can use the available research to…

In this descriptive followup study, which was designed to determine the relationship of test scores and training-related variables to occupational persistence, questionnaires were mailed to 80 former students and personnel folders from the training program were examined. A multiple regression and correlation analysis was used to analyze the…

Examines the relation of race, sex, financial aid, grades, and American College Test composite scores to college freshman attrition/persistence (dropping out vs continued enrollment). (RL)

Using Super's Career Pattern Study data, this study investigated the high-school age correlates of occupational stability and change among 148 men between the ages of 25 to 35. Only high-school grades were positively, though weakly, associated with both occupational stability and the degree of vocational progress. (Author)

Colleges and universities are joining a growing number of philanthropists in guaranteeing middle-school students tuition for college and all the tutoring and assistance they'll need to make it there. (MSE)

Discusses five ways to make goal setting effective: set difficult and specific goals, monitor results, reward performance, participate in goal setting, and challenge individual self-confidence and goal dissatisfaction. A model showing internal and environmental factors related to performance and a list of management strategies for enhancing…

This study compared the causal attribution by sex for academic failures of 38 learning disabled and 38 nondisabled elementary school students. The relationship between different attributional tendencies and a reading persistence task were also examined. (BS)

This review and critique of the literature on aging and faculty performance identifies major theoretical perspectives that run through studies on aging. Four types of aging theories are considered: biological, psychological, sociological, and social psychological. Aging effects are examined in relation to cohort and historical effects. (Author/LMO)

The structural relation of the seven noncognitive dimensions proposed by Sedlacek and Brooks in 1976 and traditional definitions of academic ability, as indicated by Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, to first semester grade-point average and persistence after three and five semesters was examined. (Author/MLW)

A meta-analysis of 31 studies found financial aid to have a small, but significant, positive effect on student persistence, enabling lower-income students to persist at a rate roughly equal to that of middle- and upper-income students. (Author/MLW)

Explores, in two independent replications one year apart, the possiblility that (a) the actions of three-year-old children are guided and accompanied by self-evaluations and withdrawal, (b) that self-evaluations and withdrawal have a motivational function for persistence, and (c) that they are influenced by the mother's behavior when interacting…

From among factors theoretically considered relevant to preventing school dropouts, empirical procedures identified five variables that predicted most of the variance among marginal youth: (1) extent of misbehavior in school; (2) belief in school's relevance to employment; (3) feelings of success in school; (4) parental monitoring of behavior; (5)…

Higher education's principal reason for being is seen as that of developing student talents. This premise suggests that a high-quality institution is one that maximizes the intellectual and personal development of its students. Student involvement is seen as the cornerstone of academic excellence. (MLW)

Effects of individualized and structured curricula on academic performance and follow-up satisfaction of students in an individualized university degree program were compared. Results indicated no differences in persistence, graduation rate, academic success, and course selection patterns. The groups differed significantly in their evaluation of…

Academic advisors have increasingly been referred to as "resource people" and "change agents." Advisors are now in the business of helping their students reach their full potential. This shift in emphasis is discussed and the future role of advisors is described. (MLW)