This study sought to evaluate the effectiveness of a two-quarter, extended orientation program for new, undecided students at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). The course was designed to assist students with the transition from high school to college and acquaint them with strategies to maximize their success at UCI. Of the 690 new,…

The focus on parent participation in the Australian school community has intensified over the last few years, but both parents and teachers still hold many erroneous notions with regard to their shared responsibilities. Rather than viewing parents and teachers as two separate camps with children in the middle, it must be recognized that…

During recent years, colleges and universities have developed first-year seminars for students entering as freshmen, and some of these seminars are linked with disciplinary courses in a learning community. For 2 years, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) has had a one-credit-hour university orientation course entitled…

A model that includes three distinct syllabi for orientation courses for different subgroups of the college or university freshman population is presented. Among the groups with special needs are underprepared students who may be motivated but need skill development, and underachieving students characterized by untapped potential. One means of…

One part of the foreign student orientation program at Georgetown University is a videotape production written and acted by students of English as a second language (ESL). The production's two-year development began as a class project in an advanced ESL oral language class. Students discussed the problems of foreign students, organized their ideas…

Trends in the enrollment of adult students in higher education are examined, and some inappropriate policies and procedures presently in effect at colleges and universities that are obstacles to adult learners are discussed. The demographic picture of the adult student population is presented as are projections for the general population and…

A Memphis State University Program to familiarize prospective students and other college-bound students with academic and service information regarding college attendance is described. The program is designed to ease the transition from high school to college, to identify resources available at the university, to improve the university's public…

Proper student recruitment and retention programs can bring about sustained institutional holding power and subsequently greater financial solvency. In establishing such a program, the following premises should be accepted: (1) retention begins with recruitment of prospective graduates; (2) a high quality educational advisement program leads to…

This paper describes the Buddy Program for international teaching assistants (ITAs) at Michigan State University (MSU) in East Lansing and presents brief case studies of the program in action. The Buddy Program pairs new ITAs with undergraduates at MSU to help familiarize ITAs with student life at the school and help them assimilate into their new…

Using data from a larger intervention study of youth at risk for substance abuse, this study examined the impact of school transition on middle school and high school youth at high risk for alcohol and other drug abuse. Subjects for the larger study were 279 students from 30 secondary schools; approximately 10 students from each school were…

Entering college students commonly complain of being inundated with confusing information about attending a college or university, while student services personnel complain that regardless of the efforts placed on making the information "user friendly," students never seem to assimilate what they receive. This paper analyzes the literature and…

The University of Arizona's Precollege Program for academically talented secondary school students, which enrolls qualified students in selected university summer courses, is described. The majority of the students are between their junior and senior year in high school and have a grade point average of at least 3.25 on a 4.0 scale. In addition to…

It is estimated that, on average, three out of ten school (or as high as seven out of ten) children experience some type of school adjustment problem. This paper outlines a program designed for children who have mild school adjustment difficulties in the early grades (K-3) and who are at risk of more serious difficulties as they become older. This…

The Student Affirmative Action Program at California State University, Long Beach was designed to serve the needs of Latino students, an underrepresented population in higher education, and to help eliminate identified institutional barriers to their participation. Barriers include inadequate orientation and information, poor planning and academic…

Strategies and techniques appropriate for providing vocational education and employment to learning-disabled adolescents and adults at both the secondary and postsecondary levels now exist. The first step involves formal and informal activities to appropriately identify learning disabled students. Formal assessments should be conducted by…