A survey of 278 academic advisors from six four-year colleges and universities determined differences in advisors' attitudes toward students matriculating at their institutions, transfer community-college students, and students coming from other four-year colleges. Advisors viewed transfer students as less prepared, less motivated, less…

An annotated bibliography of 56 books and articles published in 1986 and 1987 which provide information about college and university rankings is divided into six sections: (1) ranking and rating in general; (2) preparatory school guides; (3) college guides; (4) comparative articles; (5) ranking and rating by subject areas; and (6) rankings…

To investigate whether students taking the same courses in different high schools receive comparable instruction, research was conducted in sophomore, college-preparatory classrooms in two schools (one upper middle class and suburban, the other working class and inner-city) in one California school district. At the upper middle class school, it…

Twenty highly selective colleges were surveyed to discover the effect on admissibility of a hypothetical high school senior taking a vocational course during the senior year instead of a second advanced placement course. While none would admit the vocational course participant, most would admit his dual-AP-course counterpart. (MSE)

This paper reports the results of an empirical study on the role of finances on college persistence. A quantitative causal model, that relied on several theoretical frameworks, was tested via structural equation modelling for categorical data that incorporated constructs from the financial aid literature as well as the persistence literature. The…

A study examined various characteristics of learning environments that promote or retard the development of basic skills proficiency. Data on four school programs--vocational noncooperative, vocational cooperative, general education, and college preparatory--were collected in a repeated measure design via observations, testing, and interviews. A…

This book explains how high school teachers and counselors can modify their schools' existing programs to create viable options for noncollege-bound students and help them regain control over their lives. Chapters 1-7 discuss the following topics: (1) rescuing a generation adrift; (2) recognizing the forces behind the "one way to win" mentality;…