This study evaluated whether the low retention rate (53 percent) between their first and second years of students at Atkinson College, the part-time evening school of York University (Ontario, Canada) is primarily due to institutional failure or to the characteristics and choices of mature students. A survey was sent to admitted students in…

In 1999, the U.S. Department of Education funded 21 state and 164 college and middle school partnership grants for Project GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs), which encourages disadvantaged youth to prepare for college. As part of its grant, Fairmont State College (West Virginia) surveyed parents and…

Parent and student surveys were conducted in nine primarily rural West Virginia counties to gather baseline information on incoming seventh-grade students' and parents' awareness of and aspirations for postsecondary education. The surveys are administered each year as part of Fairmont State College's GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness…

The GEAR UP Austin: Impacting Lives program serves a cohort of approximately 3,369 seventh graders from 10 Austin Independent School District (AISD) middle schools and 28 seventh graders from the Texas Empowerment Academy charter school. More than half of these students come from low-income households, and many are considered at risk. This…

This handbook aims to acquaint American Indian college transfer students with the transfer process and to help both high school and community college students succeed in getting a degree from the 4-year institution of their choice. Chapters 1-2 introduce the handbook; examine the important role of tribal colleges; describe the current state of…

This document is a summary of the findings of the 1997 San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) Senior Survey. The survey is a multiple-choice response questionnaire administered to all San Francisco public high school seniors. Students were asked a series of questions about their plans for work and higher education after high school…

This study investigated whether gender differences exist in the factors thought to influence a person's desire to pursue higher education. A 152-item multiple choice questionnaire, completed by 346 students enrolled at a large university during 1998, was the source of the data. The independent variable was gender; dependent variables were…

Discusses a study using data from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 to explore patterns of postsecondary education. Describes the sample, the methodology, and the findings in terms of students' educational aspirations, college attendance, academic aptitude, family background, sex, race, and academic achievement. (AYC)

Data from an annual national survey of college freshmen indicate the women's movement has had dramatic effects on educational aspirations, career plans, behavior, and values of young women entering college and equally dramatic effects on attitudes of both men and women toward women's roles. One consequence is that current male and female freshmen…

Administered an anonymous questionnaire to pregnant adolescents living at a residential facility in a southwestern city while they were in the process of deciding whether to keep their infant or place it for adoption. Found that contextual variables influenced the choice of placing for adoption, including family background and interaction…

This study used a national sample of Mexican Americans to develop structural equation models of the effects of 4 eighth- grade latent variables on educational expectations 6 years later. Findings indicated that parents' influences had a strong positive effect on educational expectations at late adolescence. Parents' influence dominated effects of…

An ethnographic study of high school seniors in a small rural midwestern high school revealed that, although there was a lack of direct parent and community involvement, the small cohesive class of 30 students constructed a school culture that promoted participation, cooperation, high expectations, and academic achievement. (LP)

The school experience of 157 talented Mexican-American immigrant high school seniors in a mathematics/science enrichment program was examined to determine the behavioral process by which they became successful. Implications of the findings of the importance of family educational values and length of U.S. residence are discussed. (SLD)

Discusses organizational changes in educational institutions needed to attract minority students to the health professions and retain them, focusing on the University of Massachusetts Medical Center program and its initiatives for high school and college students. The program is increasing enrollment and retention of minorities at the medical…

Determines which factors within the family and school environments influence adolescents' educational aspirations, examining differences among ethnic groups and between males and females using a sample of 2,896 high school seniors from the High School and Beyond Survey of 1985. Findings confirm the significant influence of both environments. (SLD)