Research has focused on four groups of factors and the achievement gap: (1) student characteristics (high school GPA, attendance patterns, courses taken in high school, participation in extra-curricular activities, etc.); (2) family characteristics (family structure, in home, parents' level of education, mobility, etc.); (3) school-based…

Increasing frequency of marijuana use was found to be significantly related to increased creativity, adventuresomeness, internal sensation novelty seeking and impulsivity, and decreased authoritarianism. No differences were noted in manifest anxiety among user groups, but heavier marijuana users earned lower grades in school. (Author)

Surveyed African American high school students to determine psychosocial factors associated with high school achievement (e.g., community support, academic motivation, social support, and students' methods of handling unfair treatment). After controlling for gender and absenteeism, only the method of handling unfair treatment positively related to…

From the 3rd grade to the 11th grade, Jorge Martinez walked out of his front door each day hating the prospect of going to school. For most of those days, Martinez, now 17, was a target of bullies. But that was only half of it. There was discord at home. He says he was lazy and unmotivated, preferring to spend his time in front of the television,…

The current study examined the fit of a 2 x 2 achievement goal model among a diverse sample of nearly 700 10th-grade students, distinguishing between both mastery and performance goals and approach and avoidance orientations. Additionally, relationships between achievement goals and GPA and intrinsic value of school were examined, and adolescents'…

SAT I: Reasoning Test scores, combined with high school grades, result in more accurate predictions of college success than either measure alone or any other combination of two measures. Overall, there is a strong positive relationship between high school grades and SAT. In 1990, ETS conducted a study of the characteristics of different students…

Examined two independent sophomore cohorts from a midwestern high school (332 students and 318 students) that had implemented a multischedule system (traditional block, block, hybrid). Results show a significant difference among schedule types for only one cohort, and only for one mathematics computation test. Results also indicate that schedule…

This study assesses the impact of parent practices and knowledge of school on school success for a sample of 240 immigrant and nonimmigrant high school students and their parents. Immigrant parents from the former Soviet Union were less knowledgeable about and had less contact with the school, and allowed less autonomy than U.S.-born parents. Some…

The purpose of the study is to examine the differential validity and prediction of the SAT using a nationally representative sample of first-year college students admitted with the revised version of the SAT. The findings demonstrate that there are similar patterns of differential validity and prediction by gender, race/ethnicity, and best…

A four year panel study at an ethnically diverse commuter university examines the relationships among assessments of professor performance, GPA, academic program satisfaction, and perceptions of equal treatment of students of varying ethno-racial origins. Repeated analyses of variance indicate that although the first three of these variables do…

Examined failure to graduate from high school as a function of grade point average and substance abuse among Phildelphia high school students (N=427). Results of multiple regression analyses indicated that the gradepoint averages are more powerful predictors to eventual failure to graduate than are "Drug Severity Index" scores. (BL)

The study reported here is an attempt to improve on past precedures by using a developmental approach that involves repeated predictor measures over four years, together with GPA criteria including not only level of performance, but also consistency or change throughout undergraduate study. The methods used, however, did not lead to improved…

Locus of Control (LOC) deals with an individual's personal attribution of successful or failure. Those with internal LOC believe that events in their lives are under their personal control while individuals with external LOC feel that their lives are dominated by the environment. The theory has been applied to achievement and health-related issues…

This paper summarizes the findings of a twenty year old pre-engineering program that is aimed at improving both the recruitment and retention of under-represented students pursuing careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The Wright Science Technology and Engineering Preparatory Program (STEPP) was initiated in 1988 for…