Two theoretical approaches underlie this investigation of the determinants of early study success among first-year university students. Specifically, to extend Walberg's educational productivity model, this study draws on the expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation in a contemporary university context. The survey data came from 407…

Individual aptitude, attitudes, and behavior in inquiry-based learning (IBL) settings may affect work and learning performance outcomes during activities using different technologies. To encourage multifaceted learning, factors in IBL settings must be statistically significant and effective, and not cognitively or psychomotor intensive. We…

Four approaches to prediction of learning success are described and discussed: the two-point model and the technique of multiple regression; the learning test model; the contingency model and the technique of time-series analysis; and the causally defined multipoint model and the technique of path analysis. (BW)

A model was proposed to examine the effects of mathematical aptitude and academic orientation on performance. The calculated path coefficients did not strongly support the model. Mathematical aptitude has a direct effect on college performance, whereas the effect of academic orientation was mediated by high school performance and mathematical…

A path analytic model is hypothesized and tested to explain the effect of a series of intellective and nonintellective student attributes on high school achievement and college achievement. Patterns of predictability for male and female students are compared. (Author/GK)

The structural relations among viewing behaviors, viewing conditions, background characteristics, and intellectual ability to preschoolers' learning from instructional television were investigated. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups who viewed tapes designed to teach seriation concepts. A School Aptitude factor made…

Characteristics and attendance patterns of persisters and dropouts from college and vocational/technical schools were studied, and a model of the persistence process was tested using data from the National Longitudinal Study (NLS), which surveyed high school seniors in 1972, with followup surveys in 1973 and 1974. Student persistence was defined…

A hypothetical model was formulated to explore factors that influenced academic and clinical achievement for graduate-entry medical students completing their third year of university studies. Nine latent variables were considered including the students' background, previous successes with their undergraduate and postgraduate studies and their…