A study used a latent variable model with various factors to examine the relationship between college student grades and satisfaction. Results suggest satisfaction is a stronger influence on grades than vice versa. It is recommended that popular recursive models be reevaluated because nonrecursive models may more accurately represent effects.…

Factors influencing individuals with firm job offers to join the faculty at two research universities, urban and rural, are examined, focusing on the relative importance of tangible, intangible, and non-work-related benefits in the decision-making process. Comparisons are drawn to previous faculty recruitment studies and a complementary retention…

A survey sought information on the administrative factors contributing to high-quality funded research activity in 33 high-ranked but changing research universities. Influential environmental factors, faculty participation, research visibility, and key success strategies were considered. Results were linked to patterns in decline, rise, and…

Higher education institutions embarking on an assessment program are encouraged to identify current assessment activities on campus. One method of doing so uses a simple survey to help educate the campus about outcomes assessment while identifying assessment activities in progress. Methodology and results of one application of this method are…

The data collection matrix makes possible the integration of functional area data from numerous assessment sources and presentation of the information in a unified composite report. This model is discussed in relation to the various assessment instruments and the evaluation of functional areas and programs in colleges and universities. (Author/MSE)

Conceptual and methodological recommendations for enhancing research on the influences of college on students are offered, including isolating net college effects, studying the timing of change, estimating college effect sizes, examining direct and conditional effects, and the potential benefits of qualitative approaches. Areas for future inquiry…

Characteristics of enrollees in the Michigan Education Trust, an advance tuition payment plan, during its 1988 and 1989 open enrollment periods are examined and compared with those of the state's general population and the 1988 entering class of freshmen in its public universities. (Author/MSE)

Study explored Welch teachers' (n=14) opinions regarding a 1-year, full-time inservice course (Diploma in the Education of the 14-19 Age Group). According to interviews, teachers felt the effectiveness of inservice training hinged on subsequent professional development, which depended on responses from the institutions they left and to which they…

A study of the relationship between a midwestern church-affiliated college and its supporting congregations confirmed that local congregational leaders' cultural orientation is related to the degree to which the congregation supports the university by enrolling its youth, and that cultural localism-cosmopolitanism is a useful framework for…

A study examined work and family variables that differentiate college faculty (n=97) in English and engineering who are more and less current with regard to their discipline's knowledge base. Factors examined include amount and flexibility of work- and family-related responsibilities, work standards, and time spent on research and professional…

A study identified factors affecting college attendance by minority students in two groups: all high school seniors in 1982 and the subgroup that applied to college. Consistent with prior research, three factors of potential influence were identified: improved academic preparation; higher educational aspirations; and financial aid. (Author/MSE)

A study examined the differential impacts on college persistence of preentry attributes, initial goal and institutional commitments, academic and social integration, and subsequent goal and institutional commitments for younger (17-24 years) and older (25+ years) students. Significant age-related differences were found on some factors. (Author/MSE)

A study investigated whether determinants of college students' decisions to withdraw from an institution are similar to those affecting decisions to transfer to other institutions. Subjects (n=2,954) were entering freshmen at a state university. Results indicated different factors discriminated between persisters and dropouts and between…

Two experiments with a total of 163 college students found (1) student ratings of college faculty were directly affected by grading practices (strict/lenient) and of the time ratings were completed (after lecture, examination, or feedback on exam); and (2) student learning and faculty ratings were positively correlated, and grading practices had…

A study examined the level of public funding for universities and its relationship to quality in 8 U.S. and 52 British universities. Data on productivity of science faculty in the American institutions were also examined and compared with efforts to fund British universities based on scholarship and scientific achievement. (Author/MSE)