This document examines the status of 1995-96 Ivy Tech State College (Indiana) graduates and non-graduates who did not re-enroll in 1996-97. Report highlights for the Ivy Tech graduates include: (1) 23% of the graduates who transferred to a public institution enrolled in baccalaureate programs at junior and senior levels; (2) these students had…

This report examines the performance of students transferring from Austin Community College (ACC) (Texas) to one of three four-year institutions: the University of Texas (UT) at Austin, Southwest Texas State University (SWTSU), and Texas A&M University (TAMU) in College Station. The majority of ACC students (63%) transfer to UT. On average,…

This study compared the academic achievement and retention of transfer students and native students at one university on a class-by-class basis for: (1) returning native and returning transfer students and (2) returning native and new transfer students. These comparisons are intended to take into account expected lower freshman retention rates and…

The effectiveness of a mentoring program for 53 at-risk college students was investigated. The results indicated that the mentoring intervention had a positive impact on retention and grade point averages for this student cohort. (EV)

A study of students formerly enrolled (n=198) and currently enrolled (n=282) in an undergraduate engineering program found that students' present characteristics and situations were more predictive of persistence than past or future factors; and few differences between men and women emerged. The best overall predictor of persistence was grade…

Compared decliners (n=102), students who exhibited 20% decline during sophomore year from first-year grade point average (GPA) and maintainers (n=94), students who maintained or improved their first-year GPA. During sophomore year, lack of commitment to school, absenteeism, educational goals, extracurricular activities, and perceptions of…

There is increasing divergence in the academic outcomes of African American males and females. By most accounts, males are falling behind their female peers educationally as African American females are graduating from high schools at higher rates and are going on to college and graduate school in greater numbers. Some have suggested that school…

This study was part of a program evaluation that examined academic performance and retention differences between first-term students who completed a subject-based first-year experience (FYE) course (n = 381) and comparable first-term students (n = 332) who did not enroll in an FYE course. Actual grade point averages and re-enrollment rates across…

While there exist many examples of institutional use of the results of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), there is a relative paucity of research explicitly linking student outcomes to responses on the survey. A major Doctoral-Extensive institution in the Southeast recently conducted a large-scale implementation of the National…

Inconsistent performance by gifted students has been a source of frustration for both parents and educators for decades. Several studies on gifted under achievement point to a connection between student learning styles and classroom performance.This study examined the learning styles of gifted middle school students, student perceptions of the…

Significant progress has been made over the past four decades in enrolling more students from historically underrepresented groups in U.S. colleges and universities. While total enrollment increased by about 40% overall, minority student enrollment increased by 146%, with Hispanic undergraduate enrollment greatly outpacing other racial/ethnic…

This study evaluated the stated and real goals of the freshman seminar course at Mount Vernon Nazarene College in Mount Vernon, Ohio. The stated goals for the course, as presented to parents and prospective students, were the enhancement of study skills, strategies for improving grades, and students' overall survival of the college experience,…

This project identified statistically significant predictors of first-year retention among 1991-92 freshmen who were enrolled in a rural midwestern comprehensive college. Results of a step-wise discriminant analysis indicated that college grade point average (GPA) was the best overall predictor of retention of first-year students (n=376). Results…

The validity of students' first-quarter academic performance in predicting attrition at Central State University, Ohio, was investigated. It was hypothesized that freshmen who performed satisfactorily during the first quarter were more likely to complete their baccalaureate programs than were those who performed less well. Data on 287 students…

This study examined the quality of students who continue in teacher education programs after completing the introductory courses. The purpose was to compare their academic proficiency with a group of students who had completed the same courses but did not continue on to teacher certification. Subjects were 74 graduates who went on to complete…