A study investigated the relative importance of 31 institutional characteristics in 1,068 graduate students' decisions to enroll or not enroll in the institution. Factors having the greatest influence included residency status, quality and other academic environment characteristics, work-related concerns, spouse considerations, financial aid, and…

Using case study data from a teacher education project, the paper documents changing relationships between Britain's higher education institutions and schools in providing preservice teacher education, explaining how programs achieved integration before a 1992 government mandate to develop partnerships and why so many programs had not adopted more…

Describes the British government's Technical and Vocational Education Initiative, explaining how it has been managed in schools and local education authorities, outlining management mechanisms, comparing rationale and rhetoric with the reality of management, and interpreting empirical evidence to evaluate its effectiveness in managing curriculum…

Reports a study that examined headteachers' perspectives on England's 1993 teacher boycott of government-imposed standard assessment tasks (SATs) for elementary students together with teachers' attitudes toward the tasks, their management, and the boycott. Findings confirmed that, by 1993, resistance to national testing at that age was firmly…

In a study of the construct validity of goal commitment in college student persistence, goal commitment was decomposed into multiple indicators of the same latent construct. Predictive validity of each subcomponent on different outcomes related to persistence was established. Only one factor was found to have a significant direct effect on student…

This article suggests that the choice by institutional researchers to use qualitative or quantitative research is often dictated by time, money, resources, and staff and not necessarily with an understanding of the underlying philosophical assumptions structuring beliefs about methodology, knowledge, and reality. These underlying assumptions are…

Five research principles are proposed to increase the utility of studies of college student culture: attempting to discover how group membership mediates member behavior and contributes to valued outcomes of college; using best practices of qualitative research; using flexible cognitive frameworks when collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data;…

This study investigated the relative importance of 9 instructional factors (amount learned, exam fairness, enthusiasm, individual rapport, organization, assignments, group interaction, breadth of materials, course difficulty) in 229 college students' global evaluations of faculty effectiveness in 3 disciplines (accounting, education, geology).…

A multi-institutional study of 263 first-time college freshmen investigated the effects on students' social and academic integration of having expectations for college remain unmet. Results are discussed in terms of implications for enrollment management and the linkage of theories concerning college choice and student departure. (Author/MSE)

A study of 8,997 women and 6,053 men investigated factors associated with development of mathematical self-concept during college. Results showed that some student background characteristics, college characteristics (including selectivity), and student experiences contribute to an overall decline in mathematics self-concept during college and that…

This study sought to develop a correlate model of 3-year scholarly performance of 296 clinical pharmacy faculty. Participants were surveyed concerning refereed research, grants/books research, and nonresearch scholarship. Eight correlates, including two related to the departmental workplace, emerged as significant factors in scholarly performance.…

Regressing adjusted grade point averages (GPAs) on freshman Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores and high school GPAs increases the SAT's predictive validity. However, these adjusted SATs change only a small proportion of admissions decisions, do not increase freshman grades, but do change freshman class composition in some majors and limit…

A study of limited-English-proficient (LEP) community college students examined the independent and interactive effects of key demographic and academic variables on academic outcomes. Results indicated that the LEP students did not differ significantly in academic achievement from the total student population suggesting that LEP students should…

A study of student evaluation of college instruction looked at how students weigh various teacher and course attributes. Student enjoyment of the learning process and student learning explained most of the variation in ratings. It was found that students apply weightings consistently across courses and teachers. (Author/MSE)

A model of college teaching effectiveness and two related questionnaires developed in the United States were studied for validity in six culturally varied countries (India, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines, Hong Kong, New Zealand). Results generally supported the cross-cultural validity of the measures and their underlying model of teaching. (MSE)