Preparation for university study and integration into the workforce is the academic goal in the final years of secondary education. This preparedness can only be achieved through the motivation and involvement of students in secondary education programs which will lead to successful outcomes. "Engaging Adolescent Students in Contemporary…

Understanding the factors that encourage young people to become active agents in their own learning is critical. Positive psychology is one lens that can be used to investigate the factors that facilitate a student's sense of agency and active school engagement. In the second edition of this groundbreaking handbook, the editors draw together the…

Student retention has become a difficult issue within higher education. As such, it is imperative to examine the causes, as well as provide educators with strategies to implement to improve retention rates. "Critical Assessment and Strategies for Increased Student Retention" is a pivotal reference source for the latest progressive…

Although there are an increasing number of youth development programs that aim to empower young people, there is a dearth of psychometrically sound measures that can be used to assess flexible youth-led organizing and participatory research approaches that tackle a wide range of social and community problems. This study developed and tested…

For more than two decades, the concept of student engagement has grown from simple attention in class to a construct comprised of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components that embody and further develop motivation for learning. Similarly, the goals of student engagement have evolved from dropout prevention to improved outcomes for lifelong…

Presents questionnaire results concerning self-handicapping, course-related expectancies, and study habits. Reports that self-handicappers were more likely than others to make external and unstable attributions. Concludes that the underlying cognitive mechanism of self-handicapping strategies is a defensive attributional pattern that protects an…

This booklet synthesizes principles of motivation that have emerged from research examining the effect of motivational practices on school learning. It addresses achievement motivation, intrinsic motivation, goal orientation, and the effect of teacher practices on the promotion of motivational beliefs, motivation strategies, and willpower. It also…

The use of cognitive behavior modification is suggested to remediate problems of illiteracy with deaf students. The discussion focuses on the costs of illiteracy among deaf youth; intervention to improve academic performance; self-efficacy and academic achievement; Vygotsky's zone of proximal development and the concept of scaffolded instruction;…

Evaluation of career self-efficacy perceptions of 286 ninth- and eleventh-grade students (about 40% in classes for gifted students) found that the overall influence of gender on career self-efficacy was small, with achievement a more powerful predictor than gender. Gender did not account for variance in interest in particular occupations. (DB)

Recommendations are offered for enhancing the achievement motivation of elementary students with mild disabilities. Recommendations address five areas: learner control, rewards, student interest, classroom structure, and self-efficacy and attributions. A process for implementing these recommendations in the classroom is also provided. (JDD)

A discussion of the transition from high school to college outlines three principles of program planning for this group: helping first-year students see college as the beginning of a discovery process; exposing them to intellectual issues and experiences; and helping them accept responsibility for their own future. (MSE)

Documents and evaluates effects of inservice teacher education on rural-school teachers' behaviors and beliefs about microcomputers in science teaching. Describes the ENLIST Micros training program and the beliefs, behavior, and evaluation instruments utilized. Results indicated significant changes in teachers' beliefs toward and use of…

This report presents an overview of the most current data on the overall well-being of Connecticut's youth, offered to promote a shared sense of accountability in the state, to guide current funding and programmatic decisions, and to set a baseline against which to measure the impact of those decisions. This statistical portrait is based on widely…