This is the fifth in a series of articles describing an attrition prediction and intervention project at the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa. The project was originally presented in the 83(2) issue (Miller 2007). The statistical model for predicting attrition was described in the 83(3) issue (Miller and Herreid 2008). The methods and…

This study investigated differences between attributional style and student adaptation to college for students with and without disabilities. In terms of attributional style, the students with disabilities demonstrated a more internal, stable, and global attributional style for both positive events and negative events. In terms of student…

This article outlines a framework for evaluating the decision of undergraduate students to engage in term-time employment as a method of financing higher education. We then examine the impact of work on academic achievement and find that employment has modest negative effects on student grades, with a grade point average (GPA) falling by 0.007…

Postsecondary schools have traditionally relied on admissions tests such as the SAT and ACT to select students. With high school achievement assessments in place in many states, it is important to ascertain whether scores from those exams can either supplement or supplant conventional admissions tests. In this study we examined whether the Arizona…

This study examined whether Muslim students' college experiences, GPA, and satisfaction were different from their non-Muslim peers. Muslim students were more engaged in diversity-related activities, but were less satisfied with their college experience than Jewish students. The implications suggest extending the scope of campus diversity beyond…

Studies of student risk of school dropout have shown that present predictors of at-risk status do not accurately identify a large percentage of students who eventually drop out. Through the analysis of the entire Grade 1-12 longitudinal cohort-based grading histories of the class of 2006 for two school districts in the United States, the author…

This study compares the college freshman grade point averages of public and private high school graduates attending a "more selective" private university. Though graduates of public high schools had slightly lower SAT scores than graduates of private high schools, their end-of-freshman-year grade point averages were somewhat higher…

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study examines the relationship between school-year employment and academic performance of young adolescents under age 16. Ordinary least squares estimates show a significant positive relationship between modest hours of school-year employment and grade point average.…

This report discusses factors that contribute to lower college success rates among underrepresented racial/ethnic minority students and students from lower-income families. The report also shows that "racial/ethnic and family income gaps in college success rates narrow substantially among students who are ready for college." Everyone needs to…

The college choice process can be reduced to three questions: (1) Where does a student apply?; (2) Which schools accept the students?; and (3) Which offer of admission does the student accept? This paper addresses question three. Specifically, we offer an econometric analysis of the matriculation decisions made by students accepted to Williams…

According to Arthur Powell "Advanced Placement courses have probably brought more challenging academic experiences to more students than any other single reform in recent American high school history" ("Lessons from Privilege: The American Prep School Tradition", p. 243). To this end, there has been a significant increase in…

Financial aid to students in tertiary education can contribute to human capital accumulation through two channels: increased enrollment and improved student performance. We pay particular attention to the latter channel, and study its quantitative importance in the context of a student support program from the Sociedad de Fomento a la Educacion…

Action research was conducted for two consecutive semesters comparing beginning level Spanish courses taught in the traditional classroom and the same class taught exclusively in the language lab. A subsequent semester compared an intermediate class taught in the traditional classroom compared to the same class conducted online. Assessment scores…

Throughout the past year, the Division of Health Sciences has tackled several issues unique to West Virginia, ranging from conducting focus groups with medical students to improvements in the Health Sciences scholarship program. The progress made over the past year has ushered in new projects and developments for the Division of Health Sciences…

While there exist many examples of institutional use of the results of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), there is a relative paucity of research explicitly linking student outcomes to responses on the survey. A major Doctoral-Extensive institution in the Southeast recently conducted a large-scale implementation of the National…