This 3-year study examined how 10 Chinese-American families from various socioeconomic and educational backgrounds fostered their children's success in school through personal, family, ethnic community, and mainstream community resources, focusing on the experiences of two particular families. The study grouped the families into three types: (1)…

As part of the program review process at William Rainey Harper College (WRHC) in Palatine, Illinois, surveys were administered to three groups of students and to all WRHC employees to provide a partial evaluation of student activities. The three samples of students surveyed included 100 Caucasian students, 100 minority students, and 100 disabled…

Findings from five main projects in the National Center on Effective Secondary Schools, which operated from December 1, 1985 to February 28, 1991, are presented. Projects investigated different aspects of engagement and achievement problems through literature reviews, analyses of existing data sets, and new studies of students and staff in 32…

A report compares 30 small/rural K-12 school districts (900 students or fewer) in Illinois to 642 similar districts nationwide, using data from 1982-83. Qualifying districts were identified as 4,125 nationwide (26.4% of all public school districts) and 221 in Illinois (22.4%, enrolling 121,570 students). A questionnaire was mailed to…

Data gathered during 1982-83 are used to compare 41 small/rural K-12 Iowa school districts (900 students or fewer) to 642 similar districts nationwide. In Iowa, 307 qualifying districts (70.7% of all public school districts), enrolling 154,130 students, were identified; 4,125 districts nationwide qualified. A questionnaire mailed to…

This report examines the role of schools and "outside" social and economic influences in young people's lives, focusing particularly on the impact that participation in extracurricular activities has on racial tensions and students' self-images. It is based on data collected from a national sample of tenth graders in the 1980 "High…

At the request of the Future Farmers of America (FFA), an analysis was conducted of reasons for a decline in membership in 1977-79 after a 40-year period of steady growth. Factors such as the vocational-agriculture teacher shortage, number of chartered FFA chapters, certification status of teachers, FFA membership costs, and contract length of…

The Americam College Test (ACT) assessment results for 441 freshmen who entered Grand Valley State Colleges (GVSC) in fall 1973, and who were still enrolled in fall 1974 were compared to the results for 324 freshmen who entered GVSC in fall 1973 and who were not enrolled in fall 1974. Comparisons were made of ACT test scores, self-reported high…

Employing basic and interpretive data derived from five sample high schools in remote areas of Ontario, Canada, an examination was made of the psychological and sociological factors affecting the educational progress of secondary students. Using field study methods, objective data from school records and offices were collected (N=497), along with…

This study used data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 and follow-up data collected in 1990, 1992, and 1994, to examine the characteristics and personal/educational factors related to gifted high school dropouts (n=3,520). Results indicate: (1) many gifted students left school because they were failing school, did not like…

Examined the importance of students' academic performance levels and extracurricular activities as predictors of drug involvement relative to peer influence. Data were obtained from 2,229 randomly selected students in the 8th, 10th, and 12th grades from school districts in northeastern Ohio. At all grade levels, involvement in extracurricular…

The aim of this paper is to determine the level and the factors for university students' satisfaction with the institutions they are attending. Firstly, the concept of satisfaction will be defined. Secondly, a conceptual framework to demonstrate the relationship between the factors which lie behind university student satisfaction will be…

This study, built upon prior work by E. Pascarella, C. Ethington, and J. Smart (1988), examined the influence of college upon the civic values held by students. Data were obtained from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program, a national longitudinal study of college students. Four sets of variables were used: civic values of students in…

This study examined how eight rural, high-impact Minnesota school districts (defined as those losing or gaining a high percentage of student population due to school-choice implementation in fiscal year 1995) responded to school choice policy. Data from semistructured interviews with each district's superintendent were sorted and analyzed. In each…

Statistics indicate that 15 percent of beginning teachers leave the profession after the first year of teaching, and more than 50 percent leave within 6 years. This study was conducted to identify the problems and concerns faced by neophyte teachers at the middle and high school levels, and to distinguish between the concerns of first-year,…