In this study, I draw on Bahr's ("Research in Higher Education" 51:724-749, 2010; New Directions for Institutional Research S1:33-48, 2011) behavioral typology of first-time community college students to examine college-level variation in students' patterns of use of 105 community colleges in California. I find that students' patterns of…

Using multilevel models, this study examined "whether" and "why" the strength of association between student-faculty interaction and student cognitive skills development varies across academic majors. The study utilized data from the 2008 University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey (UCUES) and a sample of 43,014…

Based upon a national longitudinal dataset of 14,527 college students generated by the UCLA Spirituality in Higher Education Project, this study used structural equation modeling to test the applicability of a model of ecumenical worldview development for students of diverse genders, races, and worldviews. The model suggests that challenging…

Using a national longitudinal sample of 14,274 college students generated as part of the UCLA Spirituality in Higher Education Project, this study employed structural equation modeling to analyze how students develop an ecumenical worldview. The findings suggest that challenging co-curricular experiences and the salience of religion and…

This study compares the psychometric utility of Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT) for scale construction with data from higher education student surveys. Using 2008 Your First College Year (YFCY) survey data from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program at the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, two scales…

Relationships among student background, initial commitments, social integration, academic integration, and predisposition to transfer were investigated with Hispanic (N=422) and White (N=147) students enrolled in six southwestern community colleges. Ethnic background had no relationship to predisposition to transfer. (Author/MLW)