Building on Shulruf, Hattie and Tumen (2008), this work examines the capacity of various National Certificate in Educational Achievement (NCEA)-derived models to predict first-year performance in Biological Sciences at a New Zealand university. We compared three models: (1) the "best-80" indicator as used by several New Zealand…

This paper presents findings from five separate investigations undertaken as part of the Texas College and Career Readiness Initiative, a legislatively mandated program to increase the number of students attending and succeeding in college. It highlights activities designed to improve alignment between high school and college. These activities…

This study explores the deployment of electronic portfolios to a university-wide cohort of freshman undergraduates that included a subgroup of at-risk and lower academically prepared learners. Five evaluative dimensions based on persistence and engagement theory were included in the development of four assessment rubrics exploring goal clarity,…

Noting the positive relationships between reading skills and academic performance, a study investigated the relationship between the reading skills of 172 freshmen in developmental reading courses and the number of college preparatory courses completed in high school. It was hypothesized that there would be a significantly positive relationship…

First-year students taking developmental courses need the kind of guidance a freshman seminar can provide when the advice is directly relevant to their progress. An alternative to assigning a heterogeneous group of students to an academic advisor is to offer a course which enriches the key elements of a freshman seminar while applying the standard…

This study investigated three aspects of the study skills and academic performances of at-risk college freshmen. The following questions were examined: (1) Can groups of at-risk freshmen who have different levels of academic performance be identified through pre-existing differences in study skills? (2) Do significant changes in study skills, as…

Perceptions of 530 freshman students concerning their academic preparation for college was studied. Respondents indicated (1) the adequacy of their high school preparation and (2) the skills they believed needed more emphasis in high school. Two-thirds of the predominantly white sample completed a college preparatory curriculum, and 84 percent had…

The level of preparation for college entrance tests, university mathematics placement tests, and beginning college mathematics courses was studied for students who completed the Standards-oriented curriculum "Contemporary Mathematics in Context" (A. Coxford, J. Fey, C. Hirsch, H. Schoen, E. Hart, B. Keller, and A. Watkins, 2001), the…

Because relatively few black males successfully complete college, this study sought to determine how black male freshmen at a predominantly white university differed from other freshmen in their values, aspirations, and assumptions about college life. In the fall of 1989, the ACT Entering Student Survey, plus 30 locally developed questions, was…

When the English-placement examination essays of college freshmen who had passed the examination were compared with essays of students who had failed, it was found that the most-important differences between the two groups of essays occurred in the area of content development and organization rather than in spelling, grammar, or punctuation. A…

This study compared critical thinking skills of 98 college freshmen as measured by the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal instrument during their first week in the course with their final grades in a freshman course. Results indicated that there were significant differences among the three groups on the three subtests of Inference,…

This paper reports on research that examined longitudinal data on students entering Tennessee Board of Regents institutions of higher education after the implementation of a state-mandated developmental studies program. The program identifies and helps at-risk students to persist in college to graduation. Data analysis is presented from a 1986…

This study investigated home school graduates' potential for success in college by comparing their performance with that of students who had graduated from conventional public and private schools. The basis for comparison was student aptitude for college English as measured by the American College Testing (ACT) English sub-score and the ACT…

This study attempted to identify indicators of success for developmental education students, particularly underprepared African American students enrolled at a predominantly Black university. The sample for the study included 922 students who responded to an 8-item questionnaire, which consisted of both traditional and non-traditional variables.…

Seventeen adolescents from four rural high schools in upstate New York were interviewed while in the 12th grade and again a year later. Interviews focused on student perceptions of their community, school, and social life; values; and future plans. All participants graduated from high school, and most went on to college or moved to another…