Little is known about how students become involved in the various dimensions of student change and development as they make the transition from work or high school to college. This paper describes the results of a series of focus-group interviews with 132 diverse, new students entering either a community college; a liberal arts college; an urban,…

The summer "bridge" part of the Special Transitional Enrichment Program (STEP) at the University of California (UC), Davis, was evaluated with attention to first-year academic performance and retention. STEP, part of the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), is an orientation and academic program to help low-income and minority students…

This booklet presents questions that can be used by a college or university task force looking at the freshman year experience and/or the broader undergraduate experience. It can also be utilized to aid the process of campus self-study or assessment. The questions are arranged under three major headings: (1) Campus Policies, Processes, and…

This guide presents suggestions to minimize adjustment problems for young children with delays and disabilities as they begin preschool. Strategies to ease the transition from early intervention programs to the preschool focus on: beginning early, talking about the new setting in positive ways, encouraging the child to ask questions and express…

This report is a product of a 3-year federally funded project examining model education programs for postsecondary students with disabilities funded since 1980 by the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. The study sought to identify and share information about strategies of successful projects and exemplary products. Chapter 1…

This practicum paper sets out a leadership development action plan (LDAP) at Mount Vernon Nazarene College (MVNC) in Ohio intended to help the director of retention and academic services in efforts to improve preparedness and readiness levels of prospective students at the school, a church-related coeducational college of arts and science. The…

This practicum was designed to assist 62 incoming, at-risk, ninth-grade students to acquire the knowledge, motivation, interest, and skills necessary to make a successful transition to high school. Primary objectives were to reduce the number of disciplinary infractions; decrease school absences; involve more of the students in school-related…

The Transition Class is an alternative model to the traditional college sequence of developmental courses. Offered as an option to prospective students before they complete the college application and financial aid procedures, the 12-week Transition Class is nongraded and free of charge. By taking the class before they fully matriculate in the…

This monograph contains 14 papers on all aspects of college and university student and family orientation programs. The papers are: (1) "Orienting Today's Students" by M. Lee Upcraft; (2) "Theoretical Perspectives on Orientation" by Michael Dannells; (3) "Trends and Issues in Orientation Programs" by Gerry Strumpf and…

Results of participation in a Summer Bridge Program at the University of California, San Diego, in 1978 for 30 high-risk, minority group, and low-income students are discussed. The program is based on Tinto's (1975) theoretical synthesis of research on dropouts from higher education and is designed to increase a student's integration and…

Children's orientation to school and various aspects related to children's transition to first and fourth grades are examined in this study. The primary strategy for gathering information was use of questionnaires administered to teachers, principals, and a stratified random sample of parents. Results are reported in terms of seven topics: the…