There is a large body of well-conducted research that supports the value of freshmen orientation seminars in promoting the success of first-year students at community colleges. Orientation programs have been shown to improve retention, program completion, and the level of academic performance of these students. In addition to improving student…

American Indian students are among the most underrepresented groups in academe, and few of those who enter college finish. This book attempts to provide greater understanding of Native American experiences in higher education through analysis based on critical theory, focusing particularly on the recruitment and retention of Native Americans by…

Research findings regarding the impact of financial aid on the academic lives of college students, their grades, their academic loads, and their persistence are summarized. The five areas of financial aid studied are parental support, scholarships and grants, loans, work, and aid packages. (Author/JMD)

The United States is now experiencing a new wave of immigrants, which is expected to increase as a result of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Schools, particularly those in five states, are facing great challenges in their efforts to meet the educational needs of immigrant students, most of whom speak different languages and are poor. When…

The educational and social requirements of gifted females in rural areas are not only different from those of gifted females in urban settings but are significantly different from the educational and social requirements of their male peers. On the one hand, girls are encouraged to pursue academic and/or professional opportunities usually available…

A literature review of barriers to women who re-enter higher education studies is presented. Several factors are thought to influence the experience of re-entry women: the type of institution she attends, the type of program that she finds there, and her personal and social situation. Re-entry women are discussed in terms of inner city women, low…

This paper reviews research reported in the last 10 years on the effects of day care on children and their families. The review is organized around the following areas: attachment and emotional development; psycho-social development; intellectual and cognitive development; health and nutritional effects; the effect of caregiver stability; the…

Little is known about how students become involved in the various dimensions of student change and development as they make the transition from work or high school to college. This paper describes the results of a series of focus-group interviews with 132 diverse, new students entering either a community college; a liberal arts college; an urban,…

While demographic diversity among the student body has increased substantially over the past several decades, the academic, economic, and social diversity of students will play a greater part in upcoming staffing and faculty requirements at community colleges. Data from Tallahassee Community College (TCC), in Florida, from 1980 to 1994 indicate…

This book reviews the contemporary state of knowledge on developmental transitions between 5 and 7 years. Contributions are: (1) "Interpreting Developmental Transitions" (Arnold Sameroff; Marshall Haith); (2) "The Child's Entry into the 'Age of Reason'" (Sheldon White); (3) "Is There a Neural Basis for Cognitive…

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…

Despite dramatic increases in the percentage of 5-year-olds enrolled in full-day kindergarten, initial discussions about whether to offer public full-day kindergarten are still controversial in many communities. This report examines claims about benefits and detriments of full-day kindergarten, presents research findings, and describes reasonable…

Although hypotheses about the consequences of peer relationships for children's development have served as the foundation for much of the research into children and adolescent peer relationships, direct assessment of the impact of such relationships on children's personality, social behavior, or cognition has rarely been done. This book discusses…

This chapter discusses the development of achievement motivation during adolescence from the perspective of expectancy-value theory, and explains how adolescents' expectancies for success and achievement values change during adolescence, particularly during educational transitions such as that from elementary to middle school and from middle to…

Although most American adolescents are psychologically, socially, and physically healthy, adolescence remains a time of considerable change and risk. To examine what works to promote well-being among America's adolescents, Child Trends reviewed contributing influences and programs that lead to positive behavior in seven areas: mental health,…