This study examined the extent to which an individual doctoral student's characteristics and involvement in the academic and social life of the department influences the student's perception of growth and development during graduate school, and thus the student's persistence in pursuing a graduate degree. The study surveyed doctoral students…

An evaluation was done of the first year of the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), which is designed not only to teach students about research and/or certain academic topics, but also to facilitate the identification of minority students with the university. This second aim is based on…

The rosy picture that Asian-American youth are academic successes by almost any gauge does not in fact hold true for many Asian-American students. These students, who make up 7.3 percent of the population of the public schools, are dropping out at a disturbing rate, and those who remain in school face an array of problems such as harassment from…

Indicators in this report assess the status of the nation's Great City Schools in relation to the National Urban Education Goals in 1992-93 and how they compare with their status in 1990-91. The National Urban Education Goals, based on the National Education Goals established in the Fall of 1989, address the unique and pressing needs of urban…

This volume contains descriptions of programs for student success and retention at 68 state colleges and universities in the United States. Each institution is a participant in the National Retention Project, a research-based project working within broader campus cultures that are committed to providing access and success to students traditionally…

Effective spring 1993, California community colleges increased enrollment fees for students with baccalaureate degrees from $6 per unit to $50 per unit, with some exemptions for economically or physically disadvantaged students. Overall credit enrollments for California's community colleges declined an estimated 8.8% from fall 1992 to spring 1993.…

This study uses data from the U.S. Census' 1980 and 1990 Current Population Survey to examine characteristics of the underclass populations in rural and urban areas. The analysis assesses changes of metropolitan and nonmetropolitan underclass populations between 1980 and 1990, with special attention to race and geographic area. Underclass…

The Positive Impact Program (PIP) is a program that involves the community through role models as mentors in striving to meet the needs of at-risk students. The program is directed by 16 black men who work every week with school-age black males (N=18) who have been identified as being "at-risk" by their teachers. The teachers identified…

This paper reports the results of an empirical study on the role of finances on college persistence. A quantitative causal model, that relied on several theoretical frameworks, was tested via structural equation modelling for categorical data that incorporated constructs from the financial aid literature as well as the persistence literature. The…

This report considers the basic skills levels of adults in Kansas, the provision of basic skills training by public and private agencies, and policy options for improving the basic skills of Kansas's workforce. Following a detailed executive report, chapter 1 reviews the workforce challenge, economic and technological changes, and shifts in…

In 1991, a study was conducted to determine perceptions regarding the deterrents to college attendance among adult learners in an isolated northern community. The study consisted of a survey of 40 students at the Fort Nelson campus of Northern Lights College (NLC) in British Columbia, and a follow-up interview of eight of the survey respondents.…

A lack of education is a major cause of poverty among many Kentucky citizens. In 1986, Kentucky's dropout rate was the second highest of the 50 states. That same year, Kentucky established the Parent and Child Education (PACE) Program in an effort to combat the problems of insufficient education and poverty that tend to be perpetuated from…

In 1990, the Native American Prevention Project of AIDS and Substance Abuse began to develop, implement, and evaluate culturally sensitive in-school prevention programs for Navajo youth and their families. This project paper combines ethnographic interviews and observations with baseline quantitative data collection. A baseline survey of 174 9th-…

Conditions that foster and hinder participatory research are examined, using examples from one such research project aimed at dropout reduction undertaken with students in a "last chance" high school. The 13 student researchers sometimes used racial, gender, and social class differences to gain power and display undemocratic behavior within the…

Information is provided on factors associated with the effectiveness of continuation high schools in California. This Phase 2 report (following a Phase 1 study of 54 schools) is based on information gathered from 10 schools that were selected as among the more effective in the state at retaining students in school and graduating them.…