After studying national literature and local needs, Kutztown University (Pennsylvania) created the Student Support Services Freshman Year Program to help at-risk freshmen acclimate to the campus environment and succeed in college. The program consists of five components: academic advising/counseling; a freshman colloquium; a student-mentor…

This study assessed student perceptions of service at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane (Australia). Data were based on open-ended discussions with 48 undergraduate focus groups during which participants were asked what they perceived to be the good and bad aspects of university life, what they did to cope with obstacles, and how…

Graduate programs were developed cooperatively by several U.S. universities and the Iranian Ministry of Education in response to the critical shortage of Iranian teachers and educational administrators. A variety of administrative, logistical, academic, and cultural problems were encountered in bringing mid-career educators to the United States to…

A 2-year ethnographic study of the intake process involving preschool-age Hispanic children at a school for the deaf formed the basis for this paper, which focuses on strategies that Hispanic hearing-impaired children develop in response to the sociocultural world of the classroom. The struggle for "ownership" of the child, which begins when the…

In an inter-institutional action research project, seven teachers from three high schools and two colleges in Canada interviewed 88 students as they looked forward to college, experienced the first semester, and looked back after the second semester. The purpose was to discover what student perceptions and what institutional policies and practices…

This guide contains a minicourse based upon the content of "About the Middle School Years, Book 3" of the Educational Opportunities in Virginia publications. The minicourse has been designed to help students, with the involvement of their parents, to begin planning for their middle school education. Included in this guide is a sequential…

A study of 185 undergraduate students withdrawing from a publicly-funded Canadian university compared student characteristics and experiences (demography, academic performance, employment, financial support, social integration, personal circumstances, and perception of university learning experience) for three discipline areas (arts, education,…

This book presents a collection of essays that reflect the experiences of educators who have responded to the challenges of cultural diversity on their campuses or within their educational regions. Essays examine instructional strategies, curriculum issues, and creating the climate for change. Essay titles and their authors are as follows:…

This paper examines research findings on adult international students and their adjustment problems while attending U.S. schools of higher education. Specific areas related to the adult student, some of which may also involve related issues of gender and country of origin, are discussed, as well as problem areas and hurdles unique to foreign…

This booklet presents questions that can be used by a college or university task force looking at the freshman year experience and/or the broader undergraduate experience. It can also be utilized to aid the process of campus self-study or assessment. The questions are arranged under three major headings: (1) Campus Policies, Processes, and…

The adjustment difficulties of Japanese high school students studying in the United States were examined in order to create a framework for the construction of orientation materials for exchange students. A total of 106 Japanese students enrolled in U.S. senior high schools as participants in the AFS Year Program to the United States completed a…

A strategy to improve retention and graduation rates of culturally-diverse students in postsecondary settings is described, along with a framework for counselors and educators working with these students. A guided studies seminar in psychological education utilizes a highly-structured educational program and emphasizes the Deliberate Psychological…

This document is comprised of the one issue in volume 7 of "Bridges," a publication produced by the California Head Start-State Collaboration Office to detail the activities of the educational partnership and to provide relevant information to programs participating in the partnership. The Summer 2002 issue focuses on several topics of…

This book, formulated by the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) Committee on the College Student, describes the complexity of graduate student lives and advocates providing students with mental health services and other support to help them cope more successfully with the challenges of graduate school. It provides a view of students…

This guide presents suggestions to minimize adjustment problems for young children with delays and disabilities as they begin preschool. Strategies to ease the transition from early intervention programs to the preschool focus on: beginning early, talking about the new setting in positive ways, encouraging the child to ask questions and express…