A study examined the role of meaning, familiarity with the task, and sex-stereotypic personality disposition in college students' success expectancy. It found no evidence for sex-related personality disposition to lower success expectancy, suggesting a need to examine how meaning and familiarity can affect college students' success. (MSE)

A study investigated quantitative and qualitative factors in the attainment of a bachelor's degree among students who began in two year colleges. More research on the nature of the community college experience among particular subgroups and efforts to strengthen the experience for those planning to transfer are recommended. (MSE)

The demographic technique of direct standardization was used to assess the selectivity of selective private colleges. Results showed selectivity rankings varied greatly according to whether crude or adjusted acceptance rates were used. Adjusted rates reduced comparison problems for colleges with variable-quality applicant pools. (MSE)

A study demonstrated the use of logistic regression in conjunction with a new structural equations modeling technique for a university attrition study. The results and their methodological implications are discussed. (MSE)

A study of the cheating behavior of students in an upper-division mass-lecture business course found that only three percent plagiarized a library research assignment. The findings indicate a need to investigate what students do rather than what they say they do with regard to academic dishonesty. (MSE)

The Sheffield Curriculum Initiative (SCI), a partnership between schools, local education authority, university and polytechnic seeks to radically change the curriculum district-wide. Central to SCI is the teacher secondment (sabbatical) program. Teachers spend half of the week in professional development activities, and half in their own schools…

This article reports results of a study investigating variations in secondary pupil-attainment associated with different types of residential communities and educational authorities within Scotland. Variations associated with school selectivity and socioeconomic background were also studied. (IAH)

Using an ethnographic-interpretive research strategy, a study of teacher-student interaction displayed in a secondary physics class suggests student-centered instructional strategies create an environment that enhances self-esteem, responsibility, behavior and academic performance. Examples of study guides, activity sheets and topic overviews are…

A LISREL analysis demonstrates the value of regressing reputational ratings on three latent variables: size, faculty research productivity, and the quality of program graduates. The model was tested using National Research Council data for each of six disciplines: English, French, philosophy, geography, political science, and sociology.…

A study to establish baseline data on the outcomes of doctoral education at a private, urban university is described. Areas examined are impact of doctoral education on career development; perceived influence of institutional values on graduates; and frequency and type of research/scholarly activities engaged in during and after graduate school.…

A longitudinal path-analytic study of influences upon education aspirations suggests that academic performance, parental supportiveness, faculty-student interaction, and major department context played significant roles in outcomes, beyond the role played by freshman-year background characteristics. (Author/MLW)

Many criticisms of the transfer function focus on the decline in numbers of students transferring from community colleges to four-year institutions. This criticism, insofar as it stems from the number or rate of students transferring in a study done in California, is unfounded. (Author/MLW)

Data on publication rates were gathered for two years from the Corporate Indexes published by the Institute for Scientific Information, and numbers of faculty by academic discipline were computed using standard reports generated annually by the participating universities. These rates can provide one measure of relative university research…

Individuals who are capable of perceiving others in complex and divergent ways may be able to communicate more effectively. This proposition represents a link between several fields of inquiry that researchers rarely interrelate: higher level thinking skills, social cognition, social competency, and communications. (Author/MLW)

A model of institutional attrition was tested by comparing undergraduate dropouts and continuing students at Washington State University based on the constructs of individual attributes, past educational experience, goal commitment, institutional commitment, social integration, and academic integration. (MSE)