This report presents the results of a survey of graduate students, both U.S. and foreign, enrolled in U.S. universities who were focusing their advanced studies on a world area. The survey was designed to determine how students become interested and involved in foreign language and area studies and focussed on several questions, in particular:…

A study examined the impact of student employment on classroom knowledge. During the study, the researcher administered a branching questionnaire to 1,577 juniors and seniors from four high schools in Wisconsin, 59.6 percent of whom were working at the time of the survey and 14.1 percent of whom had worked during the past year. Despite the…

The study reported in this paper used path analysis statistical methodology and an attrition model to examine the separate and combined relationships of several different types of background, personal, and college experience variables with the attained college grade-point average (GPA) and graduation rate for 3,125 Ball State (Indiana) University…

The variables of Scholastic Aptitude Test scores, high school rank, emotional adjustment, motivation for grades, and sex were examined as they relate to the academic success of university seniors. Information from 208 members of the Class of 1988 from a Mid-Atlantic Region liberal arts college was collected through the Opinion, Attitude, and…

Based on the premise that deficiencies in student learning are inherent byproducts of the traditional school structure, this study compares the effects of an experimental curriculum program on student learning with its traditional structural counterpart. The traditional school structure is characterized by a heavy teacher workload, segmented…

In many classrooms, there are a few students who become bored and indulge in reverie. They tend to be apathetic or indifferent to course activities, and attempts to get them interested via invitational approaches are often not successful. Some of these students are not aware of how their instructors view them or that there is a problem, and the…

Two reports of student nonpersistence at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), are provided, taken from the Maryland Longitudinal Study. The first study, which examined four questions regarding students who become nonpersisters, found the following: nonpersisters had poor high school and first-semester study habits, were apt to have…

This study was conducted to explore the economic and programmatic implications of school-year program attrition in secondary vocational programs in New Hampshire. The study included students who switched to other vocational programs as well as those who switched to a general academic or a college preparatory curriculum. Interviews were conducted,…

The fine and performing arts have long been a part of the two-year college curriculum, though the organizational structures of the colleges have afforded these courses limited visibility and widely varying roles within the curriculum. In 1987, a study was conducted by the Center for the Study of Community Colleges to determine the goals and…

A longitudinal look at the entering freshman classes of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the years 1966, 1970, 1974, 1978 is presented. Comparisons are made with entering freshmen at all universities participating in the annual freshman norms surveys sponsored by the American Council on Education and the Cooperative…

Due to the different rates of learning expressed by greatly differing students, a recent educational trend has developed that responds to different learner needs through the introduction of programed or individualized instruction. The consequence of the use of instructional packets is that the learners must frequently teach themselves while…

This report, one of a series which will become chapters of a larger study entitled "A Study of Our Nation's Students" (see TM 000 145 and TM 000 182), concerns itself with total variation between students (T), within school variation (W), and among school variability (A) in the dependent variables (Expectations for Excellence, Attitude…

The Undergraduate Studies Committee in the Political Science Department at Berkeley designed this self-study for the purpose of understanding more clearly the experiences political science majors have in the department. The first part of the study was a "study in depth" which consisted of interviewing some 60 undergraduate majors in…

Explores the attitudes and motivation of American and foreign students who have unrealistic academic or career aspirations. Discusses counselors' and advisors' sterotypes and biases that may contribute to difficulties with such cases. Offers practical suggestions for working with students and adjustments counselors can make within themselves. (JAC)

Explores students' attitudes towards their enjoyment of school, enjoyment of subjects, and their attribution of academic success. Girls reported liking friends, teachers, outings, and lessons, while boys reported liking sports and school clubs. Attributions concerning academic success varied more with age than gender. Includes statistical tables…