This study examined how campus peer culture influences the ways in which multiracial students make meaning of their racial identity, and applies Urie Bronfenbrenner's ecological model of cognitive development to analyze elements in the college environment that stimulate or inhibit identity development. Discussion of the situation of multiracial…

Academic Development Program students face a special challenge. Within a few short weeks, they must hone their reading, writing, and speaking skills while scrambling to adjust to life in college. Usually, pre-freshmen enrolled in the Academic Development Program are not familiar with the demands of academic reading, writing, and oral response. For…

A study investigated college students' (n=207) attitudes toward foreign students. Subjects read a job summary of a student applicant and evaluated the candidate for job success potential, likability, and likelihood of personal adjustment. They were then given an opportunity to volunteer or decline to offer various degrees of hospitality to the…

Researchers have begun to analyze community college retention data in terms of students' stated objectives upon entry. By categorizing students based upon their most important reason for attending college, meaningful follow-up and assessment of students' goal attainment can be conducted. Program evaluation studies have produced evidence that…

Child care in New Zealand and Australia has become a crucial part of the child-rearing system, and most preschool children spend a prolonged period in at least one away-from-home environment for a substantial part of the day. Because so many preschool children are exposed to a child care environment before entering school, the transition from…

Most research on success in first-semester retention of college freshmen has looked either at performance in specific courses or at performance in a given course across all colleges. In the fall of 1997, Virginia Tech (Blacksburg) implemented a new academic eligibility policy, which defined success as earning an average grade of C or better. This…

This paper discusses two types of adjustments that foreign students face when they encounter university culture in the United States. The central section lists and describes four key groups of underlying principles, values, and practices in American education and discusses the reasons why these may be difficult for foreign students to understand.…

Ten University of Montevallo (Alabama) students diagnosed as having learning disabilities were interviewed concerning their feelings about being labeled learning disabled, their strategies for coping with the disability, their outlook for the future, advice for other learning-disabled students, and services offered by the university. Eight of the…

The influences of academic and social integration on academic skills development of male and female freshmen and sophomores at a large, selective, public research university were studied. Questionnaires were completed by 277 female and 186 male students after summer 1980 freshman orientation and in the spring of the next two academic years.…

Suggestions for students preparing for foreign study in Asia and Africa are presented. It is noted that cooperation and peace may be linked to developing successful programs in the non-Western world. The brief time that students spend in the host country enables the student to describe what the foreign values seem to be, but probably without…

Perspectives on the roles of academic advisors are considered. It is suggested that academic advisors are often "boundary spanners," those who participate in two or more aspects of the activities of the institution. Academic advisors' functions cut across multidisciplinary lines, affecting curricular decisions and curriculum development,…

The concept of student-institution fit in higher education is clarified, and an approach that can be applied to different types of campuses is described. Also considered is the theoretical framework, including the concept of "person-environment interaction." Three sets of factors are important: student characteristics, institutional…

Noting that low-income children are at risk for early school difficulties and that social and emotional competencies are hypothesized to be crucial for early school success, this study used naturalistic observations to provide descriptive information about low-income children's emotional and social competence in school settings. The specific goals…

Children today come to school with problems that are markedly different from those of only a generation ago. Because school is such a large part of a child's life, the school experience is a highly significant factor in the child's life-stress situation. Unfortunately, many of the current practices in the school, far from helping children to cope,…

This paper reports on a study to investigate the psychometric properties of the Japanese version of the academic self-concept scale of the Dimensions of Self Concept (DOSC). The original version was designed to assess the six dimensions of academic self-concept levels of aspiration; anxiety; academic interest and satisfaction; leadership and…