Examines the special needs fomented by sexual orientation when considering graduate education and access to the academic job market. Offers information on terms and definitions regarding sexual orientation, cultural influences, the relationship between one's personal and professional life, institutional policy, coming out, faculty-student…

Reviews the literature on the reasons that students drop out of college. Offers a plan for freshman retention that asks students about their goals at registration, provides them with a six-hour orientation emphasizing academic excellence, teams them with a faculty mentor, and includes a mandatory for-credit seminar on attending college. (DMM)

Reviews changes in biopsychosocial development during adolescence. Addresses aspects of individual change during the adolescent decade as well as effects of context on normal development and responses to challenges. Predispositions or vulnerabilities present prior to a developmental transition may be exacerbated. Provides advice on encouraging a…

This review examines the impact of future goals on motivation and learning in multicultural classrooms. Across cultures, schooling is a future-oriented investment. Studies of minority students' school achievement have advanced future goals as a crucial protective factor in the face of frequent school failure. At the same time, cultural…

This document, which is part of a series of training materials explaining the benefits and use of performance-focused learning, examines the goal-based learning approach to education and training as a means of accelerating performance change. Each page of the document consists of a graphic and bulleted list of information pertaining to one of the…

Many of the reasons offered for the difference between boys and girls in certain kinds of cognitive tasks have been attributed to biology. However, other factors need to be considered, and so the role that motivation and learning play in gender differences is addressed in this paper. The focus rests on gender differences, both in the individual…

This document consists of three papers presented at a symposium on expertise in organizations moderated by Ross Azevedo at the 1996 conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD). "How Individual Expertise May Be Socially Constructed: A Literature Review" (Abney V. Gleespen) looks at the research to determine the…

The literature shows clearly that rural administrators find it extremely difficult to locate and hire qualified teachers who fit in with the school and community and will stay in the job. The "ideal" rural teacher is certified to teach more than one subject or grade level, can teach students with a wide range of abilities in the same classroom, is…

This report presents study results from a 1988 survey of institutions of higher education (N=1,164 responses) who have instituted freshman seminar programs. Specifically, the survey sought to determine the extent to which colleges and universities were offering a freshman seminar course, defined by the survey instrument as a special course for…

This document examines the orientations or "frames" that leaders use to guide their understanding of their work. Four distinct frames that characterize ways leaders think about and respond to everyday issues and problems are examined: (1) the structural frame; (2) the human resource frame; (3) the political frame; and (4) the symbolic…

A causal model of faculty research productivity was developed through a survey of the literature. Models of organizational behavior, organizational effectiveness, and motivation were synthesized into a causal model of productivity. Two general types of variables were assumed to affect individual research productivity: institutional variables and…

Internal and external factors that influence student motivation are considered from the perspectives of the student and of the teacher. It has been found that the student brings to the learning situation characteristics that have a direct bearing on individual motivation. High self esteem and level of aspiration are present in a motivated student,…

Because of psychological barriers as well as economic and political determinants, women have difficulties in engaging in goal-setting for career structuring. Socialization, importance of goal-setting and roles, and mechanisms for change (assertive techniques, making others aware, education and self-awareness, and coping strategies) are discussed.…

This paper reports on the use of qualitative methods to determine first-year student perceptions of the Orientation program delivered by North Carolina State University. One hundred thirty freshmen were interviewed, in groups of 6 to 10, to learn about their orientation experiences, and why they felt some sessions were helpful, and where sessions…

Pertinent questions are raised which challenge the appropriateness of the student teaching experience. Research studies have shown that many beginning teachers found great difference between the more protected experience of student teaching and the real world of the beginning teacher who takes on the full responsibilities of the classroom. Future…