Significance of the problem stated in the article is stipulated by the fact that professional self-determination of students at the stage of professional education needs pedagogical support; using resources of additional education program will let the individual make smart choices about future professional sphere. Object of the article is to work…

This qualitative study describes the experiences of 16 successful first-generation college students (FGCS) utilizing a theoretical lens, informed significantly by bioecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), which guided our qualitative analyses of interview transcripts to examine the activities, roles, and relationships of these students…

Using data from a random sample of first-year students in the 2009 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), we compared engagement in educationally purposeful activities in college, a set of educational outcomes, and the relationship between student engagement and educational outcomes for nonathletes and student-athletes participating in low-…

This study investigates the impact of The Personal Strengths Program (PSP) on seven college students with learning disabilities and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (LD/ADHD) using a multiple baseline design. Students with LD/ADHD experience increased challenges in school settings and decreased post-secondary outcomes when compared with…

Schooling can produce both cognitive and non-cognitive skills, both of which are important determinants of adult outcomes. Using very rich data from a UK birth cohort study, I estimate teacher value added (VA) models for both pupils' test scores and non-cognitive skills. I show that teachers are equally important in the determination of pupils'…

A substantial proportion of college students have always worked while pursuing their college degree. However, despite decades of research on working college students, very little consensus has emerged about the effect of work on college student development. This study analyzes Wabash National Study (WNS) data from 2,931 first-year students at 19…

For decades, institutions of higher education have provided study abroad opportunities for college students wishing to increase and expand their intellectual and social skills. While many universities around the country have supported successful international exchange and study abroad programs, there is little research on community college study…

Using longitudinal data from the Wabash National Study on Liberal Arts Education, this research explored the impact of students' interactions with student affairs professionals on socially responsible leadership development during the first year of college. Overall, students' interactions with student affairs professionals were associated…

Because of national, state, and local accountability to prepare students to be college and career-ready, secondary schools are looking for ways to maximize student academic growth while in high school. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation between academic growth as measured by the changes in performance from students' 8th…

This article reports on a public school that is succeeding in encouraging Latino high school students to select Computer Science (CS) as a major. The students attend a charter high school designed to encourage low-income Latino students to attend college and attain proficiency in English, Spanish, and computers. Using data from surveys and by…

Psychometric problems and potential design flaws must be considered as institutions attempt to document the influence of the college experience on student development. Problems related to conceptual issues, psychometric questions, or research designs are analyzed. (MLW)

A study at the University of Tennessee Knoxville used mixed-effect structural equation models incorporating latent variables as an alternative to conventional methods of analyzing college students' (n=722) first-year-to-senior academic gains. Results indicate, contrary to previous analysis, that coursework and student characteristics interact to…

A study examined whether students' perceptions of their growth are related to their college experiences (after controlling for their precollege characteristics), whether the amount of development varies over the first three years of college, and whether the influences perceived in personal development vary from one year to another. (Author/MLW)

This study intends to contribute understanding to the relevant antecedents of student development by ascertaining what were salient influences on collegians' lives, or at least what are their perceptions of such influences. Influence may be those specifically tied to the university experience or those influences on their lives in a more general…

A study compared three methods for measuring college student growth and development in the course of a college education: (1) gain scores; (2) residual scores; and (3) repeated measures. Analyses indicated that all three are seriously flawed, although repeated measures offer the greatest potential for adequately representing student change.…