In this paper, a framework for developing first-year students' learning is proposed. Its aim is to increase university managers' and teachers' awareness of two issues: (1) that the currently predominant "skills" approaches to the enhancement of student learning are based on a deficiency model and achieve little more than remedying the overt…

In developing a Library Orientation Tour, it is important to be perceptive about the needs of a college population. At Queensborough Community College the student population is a mix of traditional and non-traditional students from diversified backgrounds. The initial contact with the Library, and its resources, may be overwhelming for students…

Bitter experience has shown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that if students are going to leave school, they are most likely to do it between the 8th and 9th grades. To combat that problem, the school district has launched a full-on campaign to get its rising freshmen into high school and keep them there. Two weeks before school opened, the district…

Minnesota's Intervention for College Attendance Program (ICAP) is a program of competitive grants awarded to postsecondary institutions, professional organizations and community-based organizations. Funded programs focus on increasing the access and success of groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education by strengthening their…

A quasi-experiment using quantitative methods was conducted to examine the effects on academic student outcomes when a cohort of employed low-SES community college commuter students (the treatment group, N=198) participated in a comprehensive support and access intervention program, compared with similar students (the matched comparison group,…

Although any new undertaking is exciting because of the opportunities it may bring, the transition to college life also brings new pressures and uncertainties. From the shelter of home, young people emerge into a new culture, with a new environment for success. Here they are their own masters, often far from the vigilance of parents and the…

The present study examined the effects of interracial social comfort on college adjustment for 45 Black and 82 White students at a predominantly-White university. Black students reporting more comfort with Whites, regardless of level of comfort with Blacks, experienced better college adjustment. Furthermore, more social comfort with Blacks…

This study examined transitional experiences of first-year college students who were homeschooled in high school. It sought to determine if experiences of such students corresponded with Tinto's (1988, 1993) theory of student departure. The qualitative study found that there was little distinction between the transitional experiences of…

Each year, 700,000 students from around the world come to the United States and Canada to study. For many, the experience is as challenging as it is exciting. Far from home, they must adapt to a new culture, new university system, and in many cases, a new language. The process can be overwhelming, but as Charles Lipson's "Succeeding as an…

The quality of output from a process, to a substantial extent, depends upon quality of the input. The performance of an educational institution badly suffers when it faces a "wear out" in the quality of its in-take. Sometimes it is a deficient induction criterion due to which inappropriate elements hold majority in admitted population of…

Suggests staging a "cookie hunt" around the school to familiarize new kindergartners with the building and the staff. (SJL)

Investigation of orientation programs and African-American student retention, particularly within the community college sector, has long been neglected. This study specifically investigates the differences between an orientation course and student retention measures, for African-American student retention. Chi-square analysis revealed significant…

This study considers academic risk and resilience in the context of economic disadvantage, examining the associations among such disadvantage, parental involvement in education, and children's academic orientation in a sample of 489 inner-city families. Neither parents' nor children's engagement in the educational system was significantly…