This book provides both new and experienced music educators with much-needed advice drawn from credible research and established approaches, but also includes practical application for the incredible variety of music classrooms that teachers face today. Kevin Mixon adapts research-based theories to fit typical situations that are not always ideal.…

While the positive effects generated by student-faculty interaction associated with multiple student outcomes are well-documented, little is known about how various student subgroups experience student-faculty interaction differently. Among studies that have investigated this issue, some demonstrate that the levels and effects of student-faculty…

The Haiti Scholarship Program is a USAID-funded effort managed by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and implemented by local Haitian non-profit organization Le Fonds de Parrainage National (FPN) to provide scholarship support to more than 15,000 students in the five Haitian cities of Petit-Goave, Port-au-Prince, Saint-Marc, Gonaives, and…

This brief summarizes a Community College Research Center (CCRC) study on the extent to which community college students' educational goals and reasons for enrolling influence their outcomes. Based on the findings, the brief presents suggestions for how colleges should approach student goals and aspirations in seeking to improve student success.…

This report looks at whether pre-apprenticeships increase the potential supply of tradespeople, with a special focus on electrotechnology, automotive and engineering students. It found that pre-apprenticeships have been used in Australia for many years and are widely regarded as a valuable strategy for increasing the supply and quality of…

This paper considers the influence of e-tuition using an asynchronous written conferencing package, "FirstClass," upon retention and success rates for Masters-level courses in a distance learning programme as compared with similar courses that were supported in a traditional manner using face-to-face tuition. The paper investigates the common…

This study examines the impact of state-level educational reform in Kentucky on college student retention. By tracking the educational progress of students who graduated from high school in a large school district and who subsequently enrolled in a research university in the same metropolitan area, the study reveals that the accountability…

A qualitative study using grounded theory was conducted to examine the reasons that a sample of undergraduate baccalaureate nursing students withdrew from their nursing programs. The sample consisted of 11 nursing students who left generic baccalaureate nursing programs located in an urban area of a southeastern state. A semi-structured interview…

With an inadequate supply of qualified teachers, education stakeholders continue to investigate teacher attrition issues and induction/mentoring practices to improve retention rates, especially in the critical first years of teaching. What types of support do beginning teachers value, and what do they actually receive? What types of support do…

An innovative, technology-enabled elementary school literacy program was implemented in a large urban school district. The program revolved around having student-adult pen pals read the same books and correspond about them. Statistical comparisons showed that program classrooms outperformed students in comparison classrooms on the SAT-9…

The purposes of this study were to present a conceptual model for selection into the early childhood profession and to test the model using contemporaneous assessments. A stratified random sample of center-based child care providers in 4 Midwestern states (n=964) participated in a telephone interview, and 223 were also assessed with the Early…

Programs that serve underrepresented minority students have long faced many challenges. Prior to the late 1970s, higher education institutions reserved academic program slots for underrepresented minority students because these students had limited access to opportunities that afforded them credentials that their white counterparts could more…

The effectiveness of motivational enhancement therapy (MET) in comparison with counseling as usual (CAU) for increasing retention and reducing substance use was evaluated in a multisite randomized clinical trial. Participants were 461 outpatients treated by 31 therapists within 1 of 5 outpatient substance abuse programs. There were no retention…

The high school completion rate for the U.S. has increased only slightly over the last quarter of a century. A promising area of focus for dropout prevention efforts may be found in research that assesses how messages about educational attainment may affect school completion rates. The supportive communication framework is used to address how…

Adolescents' understandings of their social identities and related personal experiences influence their adaptations and responses within domains in which those identities are salient. The authors explore associations of racial identity beliefs regarding how Blacks should act, think, and behave (racial ideologies) and racial discrimination…