General intelligence, Big Five personality traits, and the construct Work Drive were studied in relation to two measures of collegiate academic performance: a single course grade received by undergraduate students in an introductory psychology course, and self-reported GPA. General intelligence and Work Drive were found to be significantly…

The main goal of this paper is to investigate cross-cultural factors that predict academic ability among mathematically gifted Olympians in Finland and the United States. The following two research problems are formulated: (1) What factors contribute to or impede the development of the Olympians' mathematic talent? and (2) Do the Olympians fulfill…

When students enter college, they experience a series of equally exhilarating and challenging events. Those who experience more of the latter may in fact leave. For a variety of reasons--some personal, some academic--many students dropout or transfer from their first institution. Colleges are committed to providing a quality education for all…

This study examines the relationship between psychosocial and study skill factors (PSFs) and college outcomes by meta-analyzing 109 studies. On the basis of educational persistence and motivational theory models, the PSFs were categorized into 9 broad constructs: achievement motivation, academic goals, institutional commitment, perceived social…

A qualitative case study in 15 community colleges across the country found that learning assistance centers and specialized skills labs are an important means of increasing students' academic preparedness for postsecondary study. Since these facilities provide instruction or support in reading, writing, and math skills, it appears that they play a…

This correlation study assessed whether the psychological variables of college students' locus of control, self-efficacy, and achievement expectations strengthen the prediction of academic achievement beyond that of traditional cognitive measures of high school grade point average and scores on the ACT or SAT examination. The study used earned…

This study examined the transfer trends for, and significant differences between, transfer students who graduated from community college career-oriented programs and students who graduated from liberal arts programs and looked at possible factors which affect these trends and differences. The results indicated students who made better grades in…

A longitudinal design was used to test the hypotheses that career development indices account for significant amounts of variance in the prediction of high school success, and account for unique variance beyond that of academic predictors of high school success. The participants included 188 11th-grade students who were followed-up in the 12th…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among students' self-perception, attitudes toward school, study and organizational skills, achievement motivation, attributional style, gender, parental involvement and style, parental income and parental level of education, and students' academic performance or achievement. Using…

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…

It is generally accepted that the undergraduate cumulative point average (UCPA) is associated with graduate performance of the same discipline. Less known, however, is how good the UCPA at predicting graduate performance in a different discipline. This paper discusses a study on the relationship between UCPA, undergraduate program of study, and…

A study of 215 inactive students (1973 to the end of the summer semester 1977) of the School of Technical Careers (STC) Baccalaureate Program was conducted to answer three questions: (1) How do inactive students differ from graduates?; (2) Why did they leave the Baccalaureate Program?; and (3) What have they done since leaving the program? Major…

A structured academic support group for 21 high ability but underachieving undergraduate students resulted in improved study and self management skills, peer support, improvements in student grade point averages, and improved self concept scores. (Author/DB)

Performance of senior medical students on an objectively scored examination of clinical competence based on standardized-patient cases was used to assess the predictive validity of the two most commonly used admission measures. The measures were found useful for selecting students successful in both clinical and basic science settings. (Author/MSE)

Analysis of a two-way sample of means is considered when corresponding population means are believed a priori to satisfy a partial order restriction. Simulation and the Gibbs sampler are used to summarize posterior distributions, and the posterior distribution is used to predict GPAs of first-year students at University of Iowa. (SLD)