Previous research strongly suggests that beliefs regarding the nature of ability and the payoff to effort (academic mindsets) and the related actions (academic behaviors) play an important role in supporting student success. Not much is known about the distribution of these beliefs among teachers and students in different academic contexts. This…

Describes an intervention program (Understanding the University Experience) at Arizona State University for eighth grade Hispanic girls and their mothers with the long range goal of increasing the number of Hispanic women who attend college and complete baccalaureate degree programs and a shorter-term goal of preventing high school dropouts. (ABL)

The primary objective of a pilot study was to investigate the educational motivation of rural native Appalachian eighth grade females in terms of educational attitudes, educational decisions, and educational self-concept. Results from the study (sample size: 27) indicate strongly that female Appalachian adolescents, about to enter womanhood, do…