Compares academic achievement and persistence of General Education Development diploma (GED) recipients and traditional high school graduates enrolled in an urban, multi-cultural community college in Florida. Reports that holders of the GED generally perform as well in remedial courses as do high school graduates. Contains 43 references and five…

Examines the impact of matriculation services--counseling, orientation, and placement testing--on student persistence and success in a California community college. Reports that the receipt of matriculation services had a large and positive impact on student persistence. Adds that students who received no services, but then received an…

Investigation of the predictive ability of motivational and attitudinal factors in high school students' continuation of foreign language study revealed that both factors, as well as grade level, course grade, interest in culture, and interest in fulfilling college entrance requirements, distinguished continuing from discontinuing students. (29…

Students' decisions to complete high school or to drop out are interpreted as rational in terms of their perceptions of the relative payoffs and costs of educational attainment. High school completion rates relate positively to comparative post-high school economic and educational opportunities and negatively to the costs of schooling. (AF)

Investigated the differences in persistence and graduation rates after seven years, resulting from participation in a freshman seminar course at the University of South Carolina. Findings confirmed strongly positive association between successful completion of University 101 and increased retention, persistence, and graduation rates for freshman…

Based on a labor market analysis and studies of prospective faculty retirement trends in the absence of mandatory retirement, two different considerations are seen as influencing academic staffing: an acceleration of faculty leaving the professions, and the refusal of ineffective faculty to retire. (MSE)

The survey of University of Bergen (Norway) teaching staff (N=601) found the leading reason for intending to leave the institution was collegial relations. Other reasons predicting intention to leave were in the area of general job satisfaction with staff who found their work less intrinsically satisfying more likely to plan on leaving.…

The validity of Tinto's model of college withdrawal was investigated with 100 4-year public college women and 165 2-year private college women. Institutional commitment was most directly affected by social integration. This commitment was seen as pivotal to retention. (IAH)

Research conducted over the last decade yields no simple solution to increasing job satisfaction among educators. Factors affecting job satisfaction include management styles, demographics, financial support, and class size, to name a few. Focused upon is the role of school administrators in developing and maintaining satisfied teachers. (seven…

A survey investigated demographic factors, work conditions, professional and career development, the effect of teacher on social and family lives, and relationships with parents, students, fellow teachers, and administrative personnel as factors in teacher resignation. Differences in male and female perceptions were also examined. (MSE)

Examines plausible personal and school-related patterns believed to contribute to changes in teachers' career patterns over a relatively long time. Results with samples of 455 current and 331 former teachers demonstrate several predictors of teacher persistence. Career patterns varied depending on subjects taught, teacher background, and other…

This study of the effects of work-related variables on 658 special educators, including 159 teachers of students with emotional disorders, found that workplace conditions, job satisfaction, and principal support had positive effects on intent to stay in teaching, whereas role-related problems had negative effects on intent to stay. (DB)

The role of metacognition in fostering or inhibiting success in introductory quantitative college courses is examined. One teacher's efforts to build student confidence in an elementary statistics course for psychology are described, and student resistance to active learning methods is discussed. (MSE)

This study reviews higher education assumptions of traditional net-price theory and an emerging approach considering a set of price and subsidies in enrollment and persistence decisions. Results suggest that within-year persistence decisions made by students from all income groups are more sensitive to tuition charges than to student aid.…

Describes a study of the relationship between student persistence in developmental mathematics programs and age, gender, parents' education, grade point average (GPA), goal commitment, institutional experience, academic integration, placement grades, and student performance. Finds no significant direct effect on persistence by age, gender, GPA, or…