This meta-analytic path analysis presents evidence that first-year academic performance (FYAP), measured by first-year grade point average (FYGPA) plays the major role in determining second-year student retention and that socioeconomic status (SES), measured by parental income, plays a negligible role. Based on large sample data used in a previous…

Researchers express growing concern over the increasing higher education achievement gap between subgroups of Black American students (e.g., Massey, Mooney, Torres, & Charles, 2007). Whereas the number of degrees awarded to Black females has consistently grown for each of the past twenty years, the number of degrees awarded to Black males during…

Using a longitudinal national database, the authors conducted a path analysis of girls' school delinquency to determine the indirect and direct effects of socioeconomic status, parental involvement, bonding to school, and girls' self-perception of reputation on school delinquency during middle school and high school. Self-perception of reputation…

A longitudinal study of political attitudes and behavior of high school students reveals varying results when two different methods of data analysis are applied. A sample of 293 students was questioned (during their sophomore year in 1974 and again in 1976 when they were seniors) about political orientation, number of social studies classes taken,…

Three models of multiple regression analysis (MRA): single equation, commonality analysis, and path analysis, were applied to longitudinal data from the Pennsylvania Vocational Development Study. Variables influencing weekly income of vocational education students one year after high school graduation were examined: grade point averages (grades…

Causal path analysis was used to determine the direct and indirect influences of intellectual ability, quality of instruction, achievement motivation, quantity of academic coursework, and time spent on homework on high school students' learning, as measured by their grade point averages (GPAs). Other relevant influences on grades were controlled.…

The followup study of 1974 graduates of two Pennsylvania high school districts (Hazleton and Williamsport) is phase 4 of the vocational development study, a 10-year longitudinal study begun in 1968. Phase 4 evaluates the effectiveness of the school programs in preparing students for the world of work or for postsecondary education and examines the…

Since the mean score for a sample composed of several subgroups can be viewed as the sum of the mean of each subgroup weighted by the proportional size of the subgroup, then the mean change in a time period--in this case, from 1972 to 1980--is the sum of the differences between the means for each subgroup, with each mean weighted by its…

Marsh and Parker (1984) described the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) whereby equally able students have lower academic self-concepts in high-ability schools than in low-ability schools. The present investigation, a reanalysis of the Youth in Transition data, supported the generality of the earlier findings and demonstrated new theoretical…