THE PREDICTION OF GRADES FOR BLACK AND WHITE STUDENTS AT MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

The regression equations of sophomore year cumulative grade point averages on five ability and achievement test scores for blacks and whites at Michigan State University showed a significant difference. However, use of these separate regression equations would not be in favor of black students. The variance accounted for by the predictors was similar for both groups.     

COLLEGE CHOICE INFLUENCES: URBAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS RESPOND

There is an increasing need to know and understand the patterns of minority high school students' choices regarding postsecondary education. The literature contains very limited information on current high school students. The information from the study discussed in this article will help guide community colleges' recruitment of traditional college-age students. An immediate outcome of participation for students in this study was heightened awareness concerning postsecondary education. Schools participating in the study included 5 magnet schools housed in one complex and 15 traditional highschools located in a major urban metropolitan area in the southwest. Study results indicated that higher education was not a tradition in students' families but was strongly encouraged. Financial aid was an important consideration for many students. A small percentage reported planning on attending a 2-year institution. Several reported planning to attend both a 2-year institution and a 4-year institution. A smaller percentage did not respond to the question, possibly indicating that they were unsure of what they planned to do after high school.     

PREFERRED INFORMATION SOURCES OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

To effectively communicate with potential students, it is important to utilize their preferred information sources. Survey data were gathered from 716 high school students who planned to attend college. There were communication source differences based on race and intent to attend two-year vs. four-year institutions. Important information sources for potential community college and university students include media, social normative, and direct sources. Recruiting and marketing strategies are discussed.     

ACADEMIC LEADERSHIPS VIEWS OF SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY AND BLACK STUDENTS: THE CASE OF HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

The purpose of this study was to understand academic leadership's views of the field of school psychology. This is the first study that has attempted to incorporate the views of historically Black college and university (HBCU) Psychology Department Chairs' regarding the field of school psychology and the potential development of school psychology programs at HBCUs. The results indicated that Department Chairs at HBCUs are not recommending the field of school psychology to their students based on a variety of reasons related to their views of the field (e.g., lack of focus on Black research issues). Despite the shortage of school psychologists and ample career opportunities, Department chairs in our sample do not recommend the field of school psychology as a first option graduate school choice. Implications are discussed in terms of increasing the number of African Americans in the field of school psychology.     

SCHOOL ADJUSTMENT OF HIGH ABILITY STUDENTS

This article investigates interpersonal relations of high ability children with peers in the same class. Subjects were eighth grade students who, eight years earlier, had started school at the age of 6 (Le., one year in advance of agemates), because they had demonstrated outstanding abilities while in nursery school Of the 51 students from 40 elementary schools in the industrial town of Lodz, 27 were girls and 24 boys. Research instruments included the Chart of Students’ Behaviour, Raven's Matrices, Choynowski's TZT, the sociometric technique of j. L. Moreno and school records including marks. The majority of the students tested displayed high or very high achievement and appropriate interpersonal relations with peers. However, a small group of about one quarter of the total group displayed low achievement and low social acceptance, although they were of high ability. This finding is of considerable interest in view of conflicting conclusions in the relevant literature.

     

LINKING MINORITY AND DISADVANTAGED HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WITH HEALTH PROFESSIONS TRAINING: A WIN-WIN SITUATION FOR STUDENTS AND OLDER ADULTS

This article describes a pilot project designed to encourage career interest by minority high school students in health professions in geriatrics and gerontology. This multifaceted educational program used a contextual training approach and was conducted over a five-week period. Program components included classroom sessions, group as well as independent activities and research, guided field trips, faculty lectures, and the development of a final report directed at health careers in gerontology. The majority of the students were planning or considering a career in geriatrics or gerontology at the completion of the program. Students' evaluative comments revealed a more positive attitude toward the elderly, significant interest in gerontology careers, and strong support for the program. A strategy for longterm follow-up of participants is presented, as well as lessons learned and plans for future programming. This program was implemented by the Rhode Island Geriatric Education Center, in collaboration with the University of Rhode Island Urban Field Center, in response to the "Kids Into Health Careers" initiative established by the U.S. Bureau of Health Professions.     

TWO-YEAR COLLEGE TRANSFER RATES OF BLACK AMERICAN STUDENTS

This pilot study examined the effects of school and county characteristics on the transfer rate of Black American students . A total of 53 schools in one state with a comprehensive two - year system provided information about Black transfers. The study reveals the negative effects of Black concentration in programs, the positive effects of a day - care facility, and suggests that counties with a large percent of Black residents and a high mean income accompany high rates of Black transfers.     

IMPACTS OF TRADITIONAL BULLYING AND CYBERBULLYING ON THE MENTAL HEALTH OF MIDDLE SCHOOL AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

A critical debate within the field of school psychology has centered on the relationship between bullying and cyberbullying in terms of prevalence, overlap, and impact. The current study sought to address the following questions: (1) Does cyberbullying create new victims or merely a new means of victimization? (2) Does cyberbullying uniquely contribute to negative outcomes above and beyond those of traditional bullying? Utilizing an anonymous survey to examine students’ experiences with cyberbullying, traditional bullying, and negative psychological symptoms, it was found that the vast majority of students who were bullied online were also victims of in‐person bullying. Both forms of victimization were independently associated with negative outcomes. However, when controlling for traditional bullying, cyberbullying did not remain a predictor of negative mental health outcomes. In contrast, when controlling for cyberbullying, traditional bullying remained a significant predictor of negative mental health outcomes. These results suggest that although traditional and cyber forms of bullying tend to target the same victims, traditional bullying is more uniquely associated with negative psychological outcomes.     

SCHOOL RACIAL CLIMATE AND THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF SCHOOL ENGAGEMENT

This investigation utilized an integrative model of development for ethnic minority children and a process model of engagement to explore whether three dimensions of school engagement (behavioral, emotional, and cognitive) mediated relationships between school racial climate, academic performance, and educational aspirations. A total of 139 African American students were recruited from a high school in the southeastern United States. Findings revealed an indirect association between perceptions of racial fairness and academic achievement indicators through behavioral and cognitive engagement. Behavioral and cognitive engagement also mediated relationships between youths’ perceived peer discrimination and academic achievement indicators. No significant indirect associations between teacher discrimination and academic achievement through school engagement dimensions were found. Study limitations, future directions, and implications are discussed.     

CRITERIA FOR STUDENT ENGINEERING CREATIVITY AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO COLLEGE GRADES1

The creativity of engineering students was assessed through divergent problems relevant to engineering content. These problems were constructed, administered and scored by faculty members from the mechanical (ME), civil (CE), and electrical (EE) engineering departments at a large university. The problems, administered to 60 MEs, 81 CEs, and 173 EEs, were scored on the basis of the number of solutions (fluency), the number of categories of solutions (flexibility), the originality of the solutions (novelty), and the appropriateness of the solutions (appropriateness). Interrater reliabilities indicated that the fluency and flexibility scores were sufficiently reliable; the novelty and appropriateness scores were less so. The adequacy of substituting the fluency score in lieu of the novelty score was discussed. No significant relationships were found between creativity and grade point average (GPA).     

DEVIATIONS FROM PREDICTED GROWTH OF ABILITIES FOR MALE AND FEMALE COLLEGE STUDENTS1

126 university seniors were retested with the same battery of precollege aptitude measures administered four years earlier. To evaluate the effect of different educational experiences and orientations, college test performance, corrected for level of high school performance, was correlated with amount of work taken in specific course areas, grades awarded in these areas, and inventory items relating to background and educational philosophy. The results support the notion of greater differentiation in the residual intellectual growth of males. Deviations from predicted growth on the college test performance indices were relatively uncorrelated with each other and more correlated with specific experiences for males than for females.     

THE VALIDITY OF ACADEMIC PREDICTORS FOR BLACK AND WHITE STUDENTS AT A PREDOMINANTLY WHITE UNIVERSITY1

High school grades and both the verbal and mathematical scales of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT-V and SAT-M, respectively) were examined as predictors of college grade point average in groups divided by race and sex. Results indicated that high school grades were not correlated as highly with college grades for black males as for the other three groups, although there were no significant differences in the correlation of either SAT-V or SAT-M with college grades. Moreover, the multiple regression equation for the black male group differed from the equations for the other groups in that SAT-V is the predictor of primary importance rather than high school grades. Weights derived on a random sample of the student body caused substantial shrinkage of the multiple R only in the black male sample. Both black males and black females were significantly overpredicted by such weights. The importance of separate prediction equations for race-sex groupings was emphasized.     

EFFECTS OF A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM ON BEHAVIORAL ENGAGEMENT OF STUDENTS IN MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL

Student behavioral engagement is a key condition supporting academic achievement, yet student disengagement in middle and high schools is all too common. The current study used a randomized controlled design to test the efficacy of the My Teaching Partner‐Secondary program to increase behavioral engagement. The program offers teachers personalized coaching and systematic feedback on teachers’ interactions with students, based on systematic observation of videorecordings of teacher‐student interactions in the classroom. The study found that intervention teachers had significantly higher increases, albeit to a modest degree, in student behavioral engagement in their classrooms after 1 year of involvement with the program compared to the teachers in the control group (explaining 4% of variance). In exploratory analyses, two dimensions of teachers’ interactions with students—their focus on analysis and problem solving during instruction and their use of diverse instructional learning formats—acted as mediators of increased student engagement. The findings offer implications for new directions in teacher professional development and for understanding the classroom as a setting for adolescent development.