The literature review attempted to identify: 1) what we know and don't know about post-secondary aspirations, expectations, and access; and 2) where and how it is possible for us to embark on solutions or further investigation. The research in this area has been heavily sociological. Socio-economic background, family size, community origins,…

Studied the relationship between academic motivation and occupational aspiration in 560 Nigerian secondary school students. Data from the Academic Motivation Questionnaire and the Employment Aspiration Questionnaire suggested that academic motivation and occupational aspiration seemed to complement each other. Both motivation and aspiration were…

Used path analysis to study the educational aspirations of secondary school students in Costa Rica (N=346) and a second combined sample of students and dropouts (N=202). Results showed that preference for the Educational Mobility Channel mainly affects academic aspirations for males. Females' aspirations appear related to sex role socialization.…

A study of the relationship between student perceptions and learning behaviors attempted to answer the questions: (1) What are the perceptions of academic responsibility of the students? (2) How different are their perceptions when school, class, level of performance, and gender are different? and (3) To what extent is their perception of…

Examines the reasons why many young black males choose not to pursue a college education, and why black females do. Utilizes results of a survey of 127 students attending a historically black college. (FMW)

A study examining Mexican-born parents' influence on their children's academic outcomes surveyed 273 Mexican American students attending three Los Angeles high schools. Girls reported higher academic motivation and educational aspirations than boys. Parent behaviors of helping, monitoring, and supporting positively affected academic motivation.…

This paper examines a broad set of beliefs about achievement and the relationship of those beliefs to performance and future plans in mathematics and English. The two main purposes of the analysis are (1) to assess gender and grade-level differences in children's achievement beliefs as they proceed through junior and senior high school, and (2) to…

ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION WAS STUDIED BETWEEN OVER- AND UNDER-ACHIEVING STUDENTS IN THE ELEVENTH-GRADE TO DEVELOP AN OBJECTIVE MEASURE OF MOTIVATION FOR USE IN PREDICTING ACADEMIC SUCCESS OR FAILURE. APPROXIMATELY 800 STUDENTS IN PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS WERE SELECTED FOR VALIDATION AND CROSS-VALIDATION SAMPLES. THEY WERE DIVIDED BY SEX AND ACHIEVEMENT.…

One reason proposed for the persistent school underachievement of Navajo students is that school culture is based largely on individualism, interpersonal competition, and other Western norms and values that may be an anathema to Native Americans. Hence, school culture may predispose them to failure. Drawing on Western concepts of achievement…

This study examined academic success, intrinsic motivation, and student perceptions as indicators of engagement in a multi-ethnic sample of secondary school students. A particular interest was in examining differences in student perceptions across middle and high school, and another focus was examining students' perceptions of the school's concern…

This report addresses the underrepresentation of Mexican-Americans in the faculties of U.S. universities. During the 11-year period from 1980 to 1990, a total of 91,837 women received doctorates from U.S. universities, and of these, 751 (0.7 percent) were Mexican-Americans. Of the 148,352 men who received doctorates during this period, 1,189 (also…

To examine the relationship between expectancies and values and their contributions to achievement, 153 seventh graders (54 males and 99 females) completed multiple measures of expectancy and value. Expectancies and values contributed to achievement, and the constructs for both were positively correlated. Differences between males and females are…

This study investigated whether gender differences exist in the factors thought to influence a person's desire to pursue higher education. A 152-item multiple choice questionnaire, completed by 346 students enrolled at a large university during 1998, was the source of the data. The independent variable was gender; dependent variables were…

Examines relationships between schooling, the economy, and employment for Maltese girls and women. Despite their abilities, girls lower their aspirations to match available jobs or do not enter the labor market. Rising educational standards and social awareness have led to Maltese females' reluctance to participate in the work force. (RLC)

Effects of aspirations, homework, and scores on standardized tests (endogenous variables) on teachers' grades and effects of exogenous variables of socioeconomic status and gender on endogenous variables were studied for 753 Israeli elementary school students. Complex effects are discussed. Teachers tended to grade students properly, according to…