Anyone who has ever taught developmental mathematics knows there is a problem in course placement. Some students test well and place clearly above their level, while other students place below their real capability because they either have been away from math for a number of years, or did not prepare for the assessment test. In either case, they…

This document comprises the proceesings of the second national conference on the retention of black college students. The conference was comprised of 5 general sessions, 8 special activity sessions, and 25 concurrent sessions. A total of 114 presenters from 29 states and 81 institutions and agencies delivered 112 scholarly papers. The following…

This document for participants comprises the agenda and abstracts of papers to be presented at the third national conference on the retention of black college students. The conference will offer 4 general sessions, 6 special sessions, 31 concurrent sessions, and several special activities. A total of 130 presenters will present abstracts of select…

This document for participants comprises the proceedings of a fifth national conference on the retention of black college students. The conference consisted of 2 preconference workshops, 7 general sessions, and 21 concurrent sessions. A total of 68 selected papers were presented. Preconference workshops focused on the freshman year experience and…

Twenty-one local education agency teacher incentive programs from seven north central states--Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin--are described in this report. Methodology involved mail surveys of certified staff (which yielded an overall response rate of 78 percent), telephone interviews with program leaders and…

Proceedings of a conference on policy issues pertinent to the design and implementation of teacher incentive plans are highlighted in this report. Seven papers and pursuant responses are presented, which include discussions on the definition and importance of teacher incentives, job redesign and its organizational impacts, constraint and variety…

A study was undertaken to investigate the degree completion rates and the retention rates of cooperative education (co-op) students in eight colleges in Washington and Oregon. Four were community colleges and four were four-year institutions. The subjects in the study included 400 randomly selected community college co-op students, 400 four-year…

Information on various forms of teacher incentive plans and the relationships between specific types of plans and local conditions, such as school district size, student-teacher ratio, and teacher salaries, is provided in this report. A secondary focus is the development of a conceptual framework for creating local incentive programs. A survey of…

Developed to help instructors prevent their students from dropping out, this paper presents findings from the psychological literature that pertain to persistence. The paper focuses on research concerning: (1) goals, sub-goals, and feedback, which asserts that persistence at a task is influenced by goals, by whether or not a series of subgoals…

Issues concerning the collection and uses of data about college student retention are considered. Some of the documented findings about student retention in U.S. colleges is summarized, with attention to both national data and data for colleges belonging to the United Negro College Fund. Difficulties in obtaining useful retention data are…

The impact of financial assistance on students' decisions on whether to discontinue college studies was investigated. Students enrolled in either two- or four-year institutions were included. Grants, loans, and college work-study funds were considered as financial aid. A casual model was used to illustrate how withdrawal was affected by…

A study attempted to determine the stability of the occupational aspirations of young adults, using data from the High School and Beyond study. (Data for that study had been gathered from seniors who graduated from high school in 1980 and were followed up in 1982, 1984, and 1986). About 9,400 subjects were used in the descriptive research.…

In a study of mothers' assessment of their infant's temperament during the first 3 months, a total of 116 mothers completed 23 scaled items assessing the 9 New York Longitudinal Study temperament dimensions, and cuddliness and soothability, at 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months after delivery. Although nearly half of the mothers could not rate approach…

This handbook is intended as a practical guide for adult basic education (ABE) directors, counselors, and faculty in an effort to increase ABE student retention. Following a literature review and description of the research problem, part I contains data obtained from the four major surveys administered during a project that investigated the causes…

In response to the need to draw academically able students into the teaching profession, the College of Education and Human Services at Wright State University (Ohio) has initiated several new programs and policies that form part of a comprehensive plan to recruit, select, and retain potentially talented teachers. The special programs include: (1)…