Examined the hypothesis that personality dimensions associated with aspiration level and negative affect would serve as the anchoring constructs for a circumplex-like model that would describe the psychological dynamics of these performance-related variables. Results from 263 college women who completed various personality measures show…

Metanalysis of 27 studies dealing with psychology students and the Graduate Record Examinations' (GRE) validity in predicting graduate school success was conducted. Overall, results do not indicate that the verbal and advanced psychology portions are valid predictors of grades, although the quantitative section predicts grades in quantitative…

A factual account of a 10-minute conversation between a husband and wife about their daughter's application to college depicts marital problems. Closer examination reveals the tensions facing the middle class family and the significance to them of academic competition, higher education, comparative generational success, and social acceptance.…

A study of 71 individuals with specific learning disabilities and moderate to high vocational success revealed commonalities in the ways they were able to achieve, including a strong desire for success, goal orientation, ability to interpret the disability experience, persistence, selection of an appropriate work environment, learned creativity,…

Describes research on the intellectual impacts of education programs at a public two-year college and a four-year research university. Finds no significant differences in skill gains between the two- and four-year samples after controlling for precollege cognitive skills, age, and work obligations. (18 citations). (MAB)

Argues that a process orientation, rather than a focus on inputs and outputs, offers performance technologists a more direct way of contributing to the realization of key business goals and more effectively focuses training and development on performance issues. Process redesign is a key strategy in the realization of these two goals. (Contains 15…

This memoir and appreciation of the author's father highlights the invisibility of the African American family man. Hope and the struggle to avoid disappointment in one's own life are qualities that sustain such men. (SLD)

Although African-American students' high school graduation rates has increased during this decade, their enrollment and retention in mainstream higher education institutions has steadily declined, with no national plan to reverse the trend. Study of selected social, economic, and political factors critical to academic success gives some insight…

Data from survey of 872 African-American students at predominantly white colleges and 928 at historically black colleges suggest that academic achievement is highest for students who have higher educational aspirations, positive faculty relationships, confidence in their college choice. Beyond individual characteristics, academic performance is…

This study of 10 gifted students (ages 14-20), who moved from chronic underachievement to academic success, identified 6 factors that students felt had a positive impact on their academic performance: out-of-school interests, parents, academic goals, classroom instruction and curriculum, the teacher, and changes in self. (Author/JDD)

Four short-term British Council Key English Language Teaching (KELT) tertiary education projects in South India were evaluated. The resulting evaluation model incorporated four outcome criteria for success and four input indicators. Recommendations for future policy are offered. (three references) (Author/LB)

Many language teachers experience frustrations about their lack of success in developing fluency in their students. Reasons for the difficulties are discussed, and the avoidance of short-cuts is advocated. (LB)

A study of the relationship of high school academic and vocational education courses to success in college for 224 freshmen found that courses taken in high school are not significantly related to college grade point average or college graduation. (JOW)

A self-regulated learning inventory was developed for the study and was administered to 160 college students. Factor analysis found that self-regulated learning and self-efficacy account for the majority of the variance. The importance of self-regulated learning in college academic achievement is supported by these results. (SLD)

Creating a school as a humane business involves hard work, hard thinking, and degree of risk-taking. All too often finances and inadequate resources are used as excuse for maintaining the status quo. Educators are advised to eliminate bells, PA systems, detention, study halls, tracking, and lock-step scheduling patterns and to institute…