Prior to their attendance at a summer orientation program, 339 students were mailed their own student profile, materials for its interpretation, and information on factors important in academic choices. A control group of 321 students received no mailed materials. Both groups subsequently participated in a standard orientation program, in which…

Categorizes for college orientation staff a social and academic diversity of developmentally oriented programs and activities offered in terms of their time frameworks: summer or precollege programs, freshman week activities, short-term seminars and workshops, term or semester courses, and year-long and ongoing programs. (ABL)

Followed the progress of eight cohorts of first-year college students taking an orientation course between 1986 and 1993. Found that, compared to students who did not take the course, they fared significantly better in retention, graduation rate, grade point average, and other satisfaction, participation, and skills measures. (EV)

THE USE OF THE COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMINATION BOARD TEST FOR PLACEMENT IN FRENCH AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN IS OUTLINED. A GENERAL STATEMENT ON CUT-OFF SCORES IS FOLLOWED BY PLACEMENT STATISTICS FOR OVER 1,200 STUDENTS WHO TOOK THE TEST DURING SPRING AND SUMMER OF 1966. TEST PERFORMANCE, COURSE SELECTION, AND NUMBER OF YEARS OF HIGH SCHOOL FRENCH…

The purpose of this report is to gauge the short-term impact of assessment, counseling, and orientation services upon entering students in fall and spring semesters of the 1997-98 academic year. Specific research questions relate to the following topics: (1) demographic characteristics of the entering matriculants; (2) patterns of participation in…

Exposes and analyzes the damage done to school effectiveness by erroneous reasoning that arises from contamination by the fallacy of bifurcation, a fallacy that insists that educators must choose between an academic-achievement orientation and an expressive, social, and cultural orientation. Concern for both areas will generate a synergistic…

A group of high-risk transfer students in third through fifth grades participated in a school orientation program and received tutoring at school. A second group received additional tutoring at home. Both groups showed modest improvements in academic and social behavior. Combined tutoring at home and school was more effective for third graders…

The Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) regularly evaluates the experience of international students in Canada through a benchmarking survey. Canada First 2009 represents the fourth time CBIE has conducted this research. Previous editions appeared in 1988, 1999 and 2004. This year's survey used a revised questionnaire similar to…

A study was conducted at Sacramento City College to determine the effect of "College Success" (CS), an extended orientation class, on students' academic performance and persistence. The study included three groups of students: 116 students enrolled in CS, 104 students who attended a 4-hour New Student Orientation (NSO), and 84 students who…

The structural relations of the seven non-cognitive dimensions proposed by W. E. Sedlacek and G. C. Brooks (1976) and traditional definitions of academic ability, as indicated by Statistical Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, to first semester grade point average (GPA) and persistence after three and five semesters were examined. Random samples of…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between motivation and academic success for community college freshmen orientation students. Moreover, the study compared the relationship among specific motivational factors of students classified as either academically prepared or underprepared, as determined by ACT/ASSET scores.…

Two studies evaluated outcomes of a University Experience (freshman seminar) course to ease the transition to college and enhance student retention at the University of South Florida. In the first study, course evaluations of "typical" USF students (N=540) who completed the course in fall 1998 were overwhelmingly positive in support of…

This paper describes the impact of one college's Freshman Orientation Week (FOW) just prior to the fall semester as the first component of an academic achievement and retention enhancement program for at-risk students, The Learning Circle (TLC). TLC provided cognitive, metacognitive, affective, and behavioral skills and literacy training in five…

The goal of Queensborough Community College's College Discovery Pre-Freshman Summer Program (PFSP) is to ease the transition from high school into college for entering College Discovery freshmen, and thereby improve their academic performance and increase their chances for retention at the college. An evaluation of the PFSP was conducted in 1987…

The effect of a 6-week summer prematriculation program on the cognitive performance of educationally disadvantaged minority students in their first year of medical school was studied. A second objective was to determine if participation in the program strengthened the sources of social support available to minority students within the medical…