Research findings regarding the impact of financial aid on the academic lives of college students, their grades, their academic loads, and their persistence are summarized. The five areas of financial aid studied are parental support, scholarships and grants, loans, work, and aid packages. (Author/JMD)

A survey of 799 freshmen at a residential, public research university found perceived school quality had a significant effect on intent to persist for minorities but not for non-minorities, and academic achievement had a significant effect for non-minorities but not for minorities. However, similarities between the groups were more common than…

Argues that happy separations are characterized by good relationships between teacher/caregiver and parents and ample time for parents to be in the classroom environment. Provides 10 suggestions for easing the transition for children starting or changing schools to ease the separation anxiety and to make transitions as smooth as possible. (SD)

An ethnographic study explored cultural belief systems of four-year-olds' families and school staff from Anglo and Bangladeshi families in England. Case study of one child/family illustrates how parental beliefs about childhood, the home, uses and purposes of literacy, and children's learning influence children's school experience. How data were…

A study involving 1,097 elementary and secondary students who are deaf found that degree of hearing loss, additional disability, and age at onset were negatively related to psychosocial adjustment. However, there was a positive relationship with the use of hearing aids, speech intelligibility, academic achievement, parental hearing status, and…

A survey of foreign student graduates studying at the University of Alberta from 1972-1984 provided substantive information about student outcomes, characteristics, and perceptions that are seen as useful in correcting imbalances and improving foreign student policy. Strategies for improving and maintaining communication with the research sample…

A study of 24 Hispanic and American Indian college students attempted to refine the concept of academic integration in Tinto's model of education withdrawal. Findings suggest that measurement of academic integration could be strengthened by including indicators of the substance and process of academic advising, as students experience it.…

A study investigated the cost effectiveness of a Seton Hall University (New Jersey) freshman studies program designed to improve retention, stabilize enrollments, and enrich campus life. Data were analyzed from short- and long-term perspectives. Results indicate that, despite increasing costs, the program is a cost-effective approach to student…

Guidelines are presented to assist medical, rehabilitative, and educational personnel in helping students with traumatic brain injury make the transition into a school setting. Included are a model for documentation of present level of performance and a guide for appropriate accommodations in public school programs to plan for school reentry. (SW)

Teachers must acknowledge and validate minority students' home language without using it to limit their potential. Educators who are committed to teaching all students can help such students transcend their home language, acquire a secondary discourse, and succeed in mainstream schools without losing respect for their home culture. (SM)

Study examined whether adaptive and maladaptive functioning related to academic achievement in African-American and white students. Parent interviews indicated adaptive and maladaptive behaviors predicted grade point average and achievement test scores for white students, but only maladaptive behavior predicted scores for African-American…

Despite efforts to increase graduate student diversity, recruitment and retention are difficult. Strategies include financial aid, faculty sensitivity to minority needs, minority faculty as role models and mentors, support systems, firm administrative commitment, and recruiting students in groups rather than individually. Student adjustment to the…

A qualitative study of contemporary problems and issues encountered by college students with disabilities used a nominal group process to incorporate student perspectives into the assessment. Critical issues and suggested solutions were identified in six categories: physical/sensory access; service provision; information access; social inclusion;…

Examined the empirical validity of a model of human motivation as it applies to school success and failure, assessing how indicators of context, self, and action related to measures of risk and resiliency. Subjects were 10- to 16-year-old African American youth in 3 independent samples. Found that parental engagement predicted school performance…

Two measures, perceived academic control and action control (i.e., preoccupation with failure), were administered to college students. Achievement-related cognitions, emotions, motivation, and final grades were measured at the end of the course. Of note, high-control, high-failure-preoccupied students outperformed the other groups by one to two…