The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) documents dimensions of quality in undergraduate education and provides information and assistance to colleges, universities, and other organizations to improve student learning. Its primary activity is annually surveying college students to assess the extent to which they engage in educational…

The Higher Education -- Students Speak II survey was developed by the New England Association of Schools & Colleges (NEASC) and the Educational Policy Institute to identify the types and breadth of work-based learning activities that four-year college students experienced during high school, and to determine the correlation of these activities on…

In the second half of a two-part study conducted by the Illinois Community College System, a fall 1990 cohort of first-time freshmen was examined for 6 years to determine the effectiveness of remedial/developmental instruction. Student characteristics of age, ethnicity, and gender for the entire cohort were compared with the cohort group of…

Researchers used cross-sectional survey research to reexamine the problem of adult persistence within undergraduate degree programs. They identified a variable--perceived stress--that permitted a richer explanation of the process of student persistence. A model was presented that examined the attitudinal and behavioral impacts of unmet need,…

In 2004, the Lumina Foundation for Education approved a generous grant to support validation research to explore and document the validity of the Community College Student Report (CCSR), add to the higher education field's understanding of student engagement, and help to identify research or institutional practices that require further attention.…

This study analyzed student characteristics that impact persistence among first-year students attending a large, metropolitan community college. The Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) Freshmen Survey was administered to first-time students during orientation. Factor analysis was used to classify students' personality and behavioral…

School psychologists are generally not provided with the knowledge and skills to address both educational and psychosocial issues of Asian American and Pacific Islander students. The present study is the first of its kind in examining 36 independent (i.e., demographic, social, cultural, psychological) variables in association with four school…

This paper looks at the relationship between the study behavior and academic engagement of individual students, the norms and attitudes of close friends, and the peer culture of school. The authors are particularly interested in how the academic orientation of a student and his or her close friends invites or protects him or her from harassment by…

In 1989, a study was conducted at Columbia College (CC) in California to determine the effects of CC's "College Success" course (Guidance 7) on student attitudes, performance, and retention; and to determine ways in which the course could be improved. College Success, which focuses on techniques for effective reading, studying, memorizing, test…

Beginning in 1985, freshmen enrolled on a part-time basis in associate degree programs in Indiana postsecondary institutions were tracked for eight semesters to determine rates of retention and attrition. In 1985, associate degree-seeking freshmen with a declared major constituted 12% of the total undergraduate population in the state, and 74% of…

Results of an evaluation of the Individualized Study Program (ISP), a 2-year pilot program at the Learning Skills Center (LSC) of the University of California, Davis, are presented. The program target group were disadvantaged students who had not met the university's entrance requirements. The ISP, which is designed to improve retention of…

In this study 222 urban and rural Hispanic students from Colorado in grades 10 and 12 were classified into the following catagories: (1) dropouts; (2) strugglers, whose attendance levels and grade point averages (GPAs) were below the class median; and (3) achievers, whose GPAs were in the top tertile of their class. The students and their families…

The TRIO/Special Services program at the University of Minnesota's General College (GC) is described, and 1981-1982 program evaluation results are examined. Federally-supported TRIO programs (also including Education Opportunity Centers, Talent Search, and Upward Bound programs) provide support services for disadvantaged college students. The GC's…

Information is presented to demonstrate that Bowie State College could benefit from support to the Special Services for Disadvantaged Students Project (Special Services). In spring 1983, 73.7 percent of the 1,619 undergraduates were black. The mean Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) verbal score for 1982 incoming female freshmen was 287, compared to…

This study was undertaken to predict the relationship between English proficiency and subsequent academic success. Forty-two Cuban American students enrolled in a bilingual teacher education program were administered the Michigan Test of English Language Proficiency and a questionnaire. The results of the study indicate that: (1) the younger one…