This paper reviews the research literature on new teacher mentoring, focusing on issues of definition, why teachers quit, and the effects of mentoring on retention. Conclusions call for more scientific studies on the relationship between mentoring and retention, more research on the relation between mentoring and other educational outcomes, and a…

The purpose of this study was to explore levels of academic attainment and performance among students whose course placement test scores identified them as underprepared. It was expected that students who developed college-level reading skills (i.e., remediated) before attempting college-level work would ultimately perform at higher levels and…

While many aspects of educational careers have been examined in the literature on ethnic minorities, such as truancy, turnover and grades, downward mobility has rarely been studied. Using data on more than 10,000 students who entered secondary school in The Netherlands in 1989, we develop an event-history model for secondary school careers and we…

This study examined the effectiveness of different topics/activities included in a freshman orientation course in enhancing the students' perception of their successful adjustment to college life and the impact of these subjects on the student level of persistence. The results support the Tinto stage model of persistence since the elements of the…

Student service programs act as key resources to help students persist in school until graduation. However, some critics question whether service programs aimed at specific ethnic populations contribute sufficiently toward their persistence. Tinto (1975) argues that the stronger one is integrated into the institution, the more likely he/she will…

This article describes the long view toward music teacher preparation and the rationale of a dual-degree program. Taking a longer, more thoughtful approach to new teacher preparation that is concentrated on developing highly qualified and caring teachers will positively affect teachers and students. Furthermore, this article presents some…

"Lumina Foundation Lessons" is an occasional publication in which the foundation shares the results of its grantees' work on strategies to improve the persistence rates among Indiana's underserved college freshman and sophomore populations. This issue, the first in the series, contains the following articles: (1) Summer Transition…

This report focuses on the role of the college-preparatory curriculum in improving the academic achievement and college readiness of students from high schools in the member districts of the Council of the Great City Schools. Specifically, the report addresses the following questions: (1) Is taking a core college-preparatory curriculum and…

This study examined the influence of individual attributes, high school experience, and college experience upon persistence for remedial and non-remedial students. The subjects were 438 first-time true freshmen who graduated from a large private university on the West Coast. In addition to finding that remedial and non-remedial students did not…

Trends dating from the 1970s show that males are significantly less likely than females to attend college and to remain in higher education once enrolled. Although this gender imbalance is undisputed, there is little agreement about the causes of the disparity and even less solid research to guide policy. Educators nowadays still wonder why young…

Researchers have called attention to the racism and stereotypes experienced by black undergraduates on predominantly white campuses; provided evidence of how race-specific organizations and programs help neutralize the oppressive ethos of these institutions; and proven empirically that historically black colleges and universities foster more…

In this article, the authors review, critique, and synthesize the emerging research literature from 1994 to 2005 on women's enrollment and persistence in computer-related majors. A thorough examination of 44 empirical studies in scholarly journals reveals that this literature primarily relies on exploratory and descriptive analyses, individualized…

The purpose of the study was to investigate the associations between first-time full-time freshmen's attributes and fall-to-fall retention at Northeast State Technical Community College. The 15 attributes included age, first-generation student status, gender, high school classification, race, the student's application date to the institution…

The English as a Second Language (ESL) department is City College of San Francisco's (CCSF's) (California) largest department, offering both credit and non-credit classes and accounting for 3,993 credit students and 21,025 noncredit students in fall 1993. To gather data on Department success, a study was conducted to determine successful course…

This paper, based on a questionnaire and interview study of 118 married and single mothers who had interrupted their studies at one of three New South Wales universities, explores the question of what factors prevent successful completion of study. A cluster analysis was performed on the responses to an item that listed 21 reasons for dropout. A…