This chapter presents findings from a national research study with a sample of nearly twenty thousand first-year students on how students' experiences and campus programs affect key academic outcomes of the first year. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)

Nationwide, school district administrators are puzzling about how to increase the number of high quality principal candidates. Some districts have started programs to grow their own administrators. These districts, sometimes in conjunction with university programs, are providing training and mentoring for future school leaders. Some districts are…

Increasingly, researchers, teacher educators and governmental agencies underline the need for early childhood professionals to be able to conduct and use relevant research in their practice. In contrast, early childhood teachers tend to draw exclusively on practical advice rather than research evidence to evaluate and develop their teaching. To…

Place of death was determined for all 58,689 seniors (age greater than or equal to 66 years) in Ontario who died during fiscal year 2001/2002. The relationship of place of death to medical and socio-demographic characteristics was examined using a multinomial logit model. Half (49.2 %) of these individuals died in hospital, 30.5 per cent died in a…

The circumscription process developed by Gottfredson (1981, 1996) has shown much promise in understanding the development of the vocational self-concept in U.S. samples. Little is known about the application of this process to cross national samples. This investigation studied the circumscription process with a large sample of 733 South Korean…

The magnitude of student mobility was examined in the Texas public schools by reporting how many students are moving, when and where they are moving, and who is moving, and by clarifying the relationships between mobility and academic performance at the individual student, campus, and district levels. While the study's primary focus was on…

Using retrieved historical data, the Toronto Board of Education's Research and Assessment Department undertook to examine long-term tracking outcomes of the 1981 cohort of Grade 1 students. These 4,195 students, who had entered the Toronto (Canada) schools in 1981, were followed for over 14 years. Students who followed the traditional schedule of…

The suggestions offered in this paper are based on the experiences of two scientific researchers of how evaluations undertaken in a competitive arena, in which true experimental designs are not viable, can be designed in such a way that meaningful comparative data can be examined. Case studies of the Science and Engineering Research Semester and…

The present study investigated the relationship among middle school students' self-perceived locus of control, their school achievement, and their school attendance. A cohort of 265 seventh-grade students was administered the children's version of the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC-C) scales, which measure health locus of control…

This paper summarizes evidence from the Scottish Young People's Survey (SYPS) on the labor market problems of young people in Scotland. The discussion focuses largely on youth unemployment. Other indicators of disadvantage, such as quality of employment and wages, are either difficult to measure or are of doubtful validity for this age group.…

This report is a description of the findings related to 5-year graduation rates of student athletes who entered National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I institutions in the fall semester of either 1984 or 1985. The study is based on data collected in the NCAA Study of Academic Performance of Student Athletes. Overall graduations…

In 1986, the New York City Public Schools adopted a cohort methodology for determining dropout and graduation rates. The Class of 1990 was the primary cohort studied in this report; it was the fifth cohort to be studied for at least 4 years using this methodology. Follow-ups are reported for three preceding classes. The 1990 cohort, who entered…

The High School and Beyond Senior Cohort Second Follow-Up (SCSF) data file (1984) is presented. The file consists of 11,995 records. The SCSF data tape contains five related files: (1) the raw data file (including the randomized identification number; first follow-up flags and composites; base-year questionnaire data; first follow-up questionnaire…

The Office of Research and Evaluation of the Austin Independent School District (AISD) in Austin, Texas has reported yearly high school dropout counts since the 1983-1984 school year. This report presents data from three cohorts of high school students--those enrolled in 1983-1984, 1984-1985, and 1985-1986. The method used to assign dropout status…

A study was conducted at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the University of Victoria (UV) to assess the academic performance of community college and technical institute transfer students in terms of baccalaureate degree attainment, time taken to complete the degree, rate of withdrawal, and final academic standing at the time the…