Currently, the same criteria are being used for admissions into nursing programs in one school of nursing in the Northeastern United States. To date there are no statistically significant data to correlate these criteria with successfully entering the nursing profession. Due to the nursing shortage, limited number of seats available in nursing…

This two-article dissertation examined the impact of enhanced educational dialogue, in terms of periodic email feedback on course progress and an invitation to participate in a discussion board, on student achievement and course satisfaction in an introductory statistics course offered in an independent study setting. Participants in the study…

In 2015, the University of Southern California (USC) began a longitudinal, mixed-methods evaluation of the Thompson Scholars Learning Communities (TSLC), a comprehensive college transition program that provides students with multiple, integrated types of support. The evaluation as a whole examined whether, how, and why TSLC, as implemented at the…

Using data from the nationally representative Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, this study examined how journalism participation in high school relates to subsequent academic outcomes. The analysis statistically controlled for a host of correlates of academic achievement, isolating the associations between journalism participation and…

This longitudinal study investigated development in expectancy for success (perceived competence), 3 types of task value (utility, interest, attainment), and 3 types of perceived cost (opportunity, effort, psychological) for engineering students during their first 2 years of college. Latent growth curve models indicated declines in expectancy and…

The need for cognition and motivation are related to performance in school and standardized tests. In this study, 422 students completed a battery of individual difference measures and reported their scores on the American College Testing (ACT) exam, Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), high school grade point average (GPA), major GPA, and overall…

Elementary education teacher candidates who studied under two delivery methods--online and face to face--were compared to determine if there was a significant difference in professional knowledge and skills using Praxis II test scores. The participants included 60 teaching assistant program (TAP) online candidates and 564 face-to-face candidates.…

Improving student persistence, especially in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, continues to be at the forefront of national educational policy discussions. Living in university housing, with its focus specifically on assisting students in transition, has consistently been positively related to student persistence.…

This mixed-methods study approach investigated the impact of standardized tests on student achievement from the STEM program and the traditional program in a suburban high school. Qualitative data were collected from interviews, focus groups, and questionnaires to get perceptual data from teachers. Quantitative data were collected from different…

We surveyed 237 first-time college students to examine the extent to which social-cognitive factors--self-efficacy, perceptions of mentorship, high school GPA, ACT scores, first-semester college GPA, and demographic characteristics-- influence freshmen's intent to persist. Standard multiple regression and MANOVA were conducted to determine the…

The researchers examined the effect of a course, Introduction to Life Calling (LDR150), on retention and persistence to graduation at a private, Midwestern university. The course emphasizes self-assessment, student-faculty engagement, personal values, and the student's developing sense of Life Calling. The subjects consisted of 3338 students who…

School-based agricultural education programs provide contextualized learning environments for the teaching of core academic subject matter. This study sought to examine the mathematics efficacy and professional development needs of Wyoming agricultural education teachers related to teaching contextualized mathematics. Wyoming agricultural…

Career planning courses are one of the most effective ways to improve career development, and the benefits to career decision-making are well documented. The research base regarding whether career courses contribute to academic outcomes is less well-developed. Although recent findings suggest that career courses may improve retention in the first-…

A review of 13 years of research into antecedents of university students' grade point average (GPA) scores generated the following: a comprehensive, conceptual map of known correlates of tertiary GPA; assessment of the magnitude of average, weighted correlations with GPA; and tests of multivariate models of GPA correlates within and across…

The authors interviewed Black and Latino students from five high-poverty high schools as they attempted to make the transition into college. Their ability to exert individual agency with regard to their entrance exams and their college transition was circumscribed by the messages and behavioral norms that dominated their low-performing high school…