This paper focuses on the scholastic achievement of five cohorts of white, middle-class children as they progressed through their first grade year of an elementary school. Multiwave data on several hundred children were gathered, from just before they entered first grade to the end of that grade in an attempt to clarify the process of early…

The results of two student surveys were analyzed to assess the educational aspirations and occupational plans of the students. Comparison of the two surveys, one given to the 1978 freshman class at North Carolina Central University (NCCU), a predominantly black, state-supported university, and the other to the 1978 freshman class at Appalachian…

This project investigated the determinants of one's decision to take or not to take mathematics. Conclusions of the study include: (1) parents do have sex-differentiated perceptions of their children's mathematics aptitude despite the similarity in actual performance of boys and girls; and (2) parents as role models of sex-differentiated…

On June 26, 1976, the California State Supreme Court affirmed a 1970 lower court decision that the Los Angeles City Unified School District was segregated and school desegregation was ordered. The Supreme Court decision was of great importance to the large population of black residents in the district. However, unlike other desegregation efforts,…

This research examines the interaction between college students' control orientation and a discrepancy score of GPA minus expected grade in course, on the dependent measure of 13 student rating items. It was hypothesized that students with an external locus of control who also showed a discrepancy between expected and actual grades would distort…

A study to test the effects of learner control of the sequencing of instructional tasks when using computer-assisted instruction (CAI) systems is described. Using a series of CAI modules to teach the COBOL programing language to military personnel, students were able to control various aspects of their learning environment. Among the research…

Research objectives were to determine the extent to which ethnic variability existed in reference to male and female: occupational aspirations (type, level, and intensity); occupational expectations (type, level, and certainty); and anticipatory goal deflection. Data were derived from surveys of the following rural youth (high school sophomores)…

The study assessed the stability or change in the residential orientations of rural Mexican American youth living near the Texas-Mexico border, examined changes in the local social and economic environment, and made some predictions as to their effects on the students' dispositions. In the springs of 1967 and 1973, questionnaires were administered…

Final course grade expectations of students in two models of instruction (mastery and nonmastery) were investigated. The intent of the study was to examine expectations between groups and to analyze within-mastery effects on self-perception of performance. Using preinstruction grade expectation, postinstruction grade expectation, Grade Point…

This study examined: (1) the expectations of black and white lower class first graders for their own performance in reading, arithmetic, and conduct; (2) racial differences in the relationship between parental expectations and IQ; (3) correlation between the absences and lateness of first graders with reading and arithmetic marks and with parental…

Information collected on the 1,312 freshmen who entered the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in the fall of 1975 indicates that the average freshman is 18 years of age and that 78 percent are female, 96 percent are single, and 74 percent reside in dormitories. Other items of information include their academic potential and financial…

In an effort to determine the effect of sex-role expectations and low economic return on the number of men teaching at the preschool level, this study surveyed 116 women and 10 men involved in early childhood education. A questionnaire sent to participants raised questions about either an imaginary young man or woman who had recently received a…

As part of a larger effort to determine marital and procreative trends in the South, an historical comparison was made of two samples of Northeast Alabama high school seniors. Similar questionnaires were group administered to all seniors present on the prescribed contact day in 19 randomly selected high schools in 1966 and again in 1972. The study…

Change in place of residence projections among rural Louisiana high school seniors was analyzed for the years 1968 and 1972. A proportionate, stratified random cluster sampling technique was employed for sample selection. A total of 20 schools (13 white and 7 black) constituted sample selection for 1968. In 1972 public school integration and…

The study surveyed the educational and occupational status orientations of 914 Anglo, Black, and Mexican American high school sophomores and seniors in Galveston, Texas. Responses were compared by sex, age, ethnicity, grade level, and school program in which enrolled (general, academic, or vocational). A 4-way analysis of variance procedure using…