Temporal Stability in the Effects of College Attendance on Locus of Control, 1972–1992

Locus of control is fairly stable over time but does change as a result of natural events, such as the acquisition of college education. Previous research found this to be so in a study of the high school class of 1972. This investigation asked whether a model of stability and change in locus of control had changed since the benchmark study of the 1972 high school class. Using a carefully designed structural equation model comparing high school classes of 1972 and 1992, we concluded that the influence of college on locus of control, although small to begin with, has not changed in 20 years.     

大学“自组专业”模式价值探微

所谓大学教育“自组专业”模式，就是学生自主地自由地选取自己所喜爱的学习课程并自主地自由地组成自己所喜爱的学习专业。“自组专业”模式能促进大学的主体性教育，能促进教育主体能动性的充分发挥，能促进大学教育实现为社会培养人才的根本宗旨，代表着大学教育发展的方向。     

当代大学生婚恋观教育析论

大学生恋爱出现低龄化和普遍化的发展趋势,而大学生婚恋观教育一直被忽视和回避,导致大学生对婚恋行为认识不足,因恋爱而引发的极端事件时有发生,严重影响了学生的身心健康。高校教育者应提高对大学生恋爱问题的认识,转换传统的教育观念,引导大学生树立正确的婚恋观。     

对师范生实习叙事的分析与反思

通过对186篇师范生实习叙事分析发现,师范生在教育实习期间体验最深刻、情感最震撼、内心最矛盾的事在于实习期间的首次教学、课堂纪律管理、组织学校文化活动、处理人际关系、问题学生教育等方面的问题。聆听实习叙事中学生的声音,使我们理解实习教师的专业发展困境,从而对教师教育课程的适合性、课程实施的效果等进行主动的批判和分析,提出对改进职前教师教育课程与教学的几点建议。     

FUTURE AGENDAS FOR WOMEN COMMUNITY COLLEGE LEADERS AND CHANGE AGENTS

This paper describes results of a five‐year statewide follow‐up study of first‐time, full‐time community college students and documents the academic and career progress of these students from first entry into college to subsequent experiences after leaving the community college. Results detail students’ success in reaching their personal, academic, and career objectives and describe the variables affecting progress in achieving those objectives. Over 75% had achieved their original educational objective and, if starting again, 80% would attend the same community college. Lack of funds, change in life‐style, or a change in goals were most often cited as the reasons for not achieving educational objectives. One surprising finding was that 27% of respondents transferred from one Kansas community college to another during the course of the study. Additional studies are indicated to identify continuing educational pursuits of students who formerly may have been assumed to be community college dropouts.     

Educational renewal in an alternative teacher education program: Evolution of a school-university partnership

Can the discontinuities inherent in school university partnerships become generative sources of educational change? The purpose of this study was to analyze how participants viewed an evolving collaboration and the ways in which discontinuities between school and university agendas were negotiated. Findings over the 3-year period from interview, questionnaire, and journal data indicate patterns of changing roles and relationships between and among university faculty, cooperating teachers, and student interns. The findings indicate that as participants negotiated a common agenda for teaching and curricular improvement, a spiralling process of educational renewal in schools and university emerged.     

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Among Inner City Commuter College Students

Inner city commuter college students differ from their more traditional college student peers in terms of age, backgrounds and life experiences. Embarking on a liberal arts education, however, requires a journey through self discovery which is similar to the experience of traditional students. Because many of our students present histories of traumatic events, and because the inner city campus itself is often surrounded by violence prone city streets, our students represent a population who are particularly likely to have had to deal with traumatic stress. The educational process, which calls into question prior ways of handling and understanding life, may make the emergence of post-traumatic stress disorder more prevalent among these students. Treatment for this disorder by college student counselors, within the context of the college campus, offers a unique opportunity to help our students master past events within the framework of their new college student identity.     

Digital literacy practices and their layered multiplicity

Success in educational programmes often depends on learners being able to negotiate and manage a variety of digital literacy practices commensurate with the literacy demands of their course. This paper reports on preliminary findings of a multi-method PhD study which examines the digital literacy practices arising when an adult learner in a UK college completes writing assignments for her course. It explores whether she uses digital tools agentively and decisively in her personal life, in order to transform her classroom practice. Data show that mobilising personal digital literacy practices into classroom-based literacy events allows learners to successfully make the link between their own everyday digital literacy practices and the requirements of their course. It is argued that a “social practice” approach to digital literacies, along with actor-network theory sensibilities, allows researchers to observe the sensitivity of classroom-based digital literacy events to the layered multiplicity of their contexts.     

FACTORS INFLUENCING HISPANIC STUDENT RETENTION WITHIN THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

This study is a correlative predictive study focusing on the identification of factors impacting on the ability of Hispanic students to achieve their educational objectives within the community college environment. The study sample of 698 students was selected from a community college in Southwest Texas with a student enrollment that was 61% Hispanic. Through regression analysis, factors that were significantly related to the completion of the students’ educational objectives were identified. These relationships were identified for the total sample and for each of four subgroups, Hispanics, white nonHispanics, males, and females. The results indicated that positive or negative reasons for withdrawal and the students’ positive perceptions of their educational experiences were significantly related to the ability of all students to complete their objectives. However, there were sufficient differences between the groupings of factors retained for the total sample and the four subgroups to warrant the conclusion that the community college needs to consider each subgroup as a unique population and to develop policies and programs specifically oriented to each subgroup's needs. This specificity of approach was seen as being particularly important for the improved retention of high‐risk subgroups, such as the Hispanic students.     

Developmental Students: The Challenge of Peer Relationships

Despite increased program offerings at many community colleges, the retention and success of developmental students are often extremely low. Research has indicated that a complex set of challenges complicates developmental student success, but students' experiences with these variables are not well understood. In this paper, I report findings from a qualitative study that was conducted at a community college in New York City to explore the ways in which developmental students describe and understand their experiences with education. Findings indicated that students viewed their decision to attend college as a separation from high school peers whom they associated with academic failure; they continued to differentiate themselves from their peers when they entered college and were wary of developing college friendships because they viewed peers as a hindrance to educational success. However, relationships with like-minded college peers might prove to be a necessary source of support that is essential to their retention and success. These results indicate that students may need great assistance to develop the peer support networks that could assist them in pursuit of their educational goals. I offer recommendations for future research as well as specific suggestions to address developmental students' possible resistance to peer interaction including tutoring and learning community designs and collaborative/cooperative learning approaches.     

The reliability and validity of the cultural congruity and university environment scales with Chicana/o community college students

Following the calls for increased research on the educational experiences of Chicana/o community college students, and the development of culturally applicable measures for communities of color, this study examined the utility and the applicability of the Cultural Congruity Scale (CCS) and University Environment Scale (UES) for use with Chicana/o community college students. Applying a psychosociocultural framework, the reliability, construct, and criterion-related validity of the scales for use with a sample of 110 Chicana/o community college students was examined. Results demonstrated adequate reliability and construct validity, with indication of applicability of these scales for the study’s sample. Overall, the study challenges normative practices in educational research that students—despite their race/ethnicity, backgrounds, and histories—face similar educational experiences. Implications are discussed.     

Family Structure Changes During High School and College Selectivity

Research has shown that family structure changes negatively influence educational attainment, but they overlook qualitative distinctions in college choice, such as college selectivity. Yet, college choice research has largely focused on static measures of family structure, failing to account for year-to-year family structure changes that occur during high school. We merge literature in family and college choice to investigate the role of family-life events on college choice. We found family structure changes that occur early and late in high school influence the selectivity of the college where a student applies, and this relation persists in spite of controls for race, gender, family background, and pre-high school family structures. Including educational expectations, parent–student discussions, and coursework rigor account for the negative association between family structure changes during high school and the selectivity of the college where a student applies. However, late family structure changes during high school continue to correlate negatively with a student’s college enrollment, potentially reflecting realities and financial burdens of attending college, especially selective colleges.     

College aspirations and expectations among new African-American mothers in late adolescence

It is a generally accepted finding in the sociological literature as well as in public discourse that adolescent mothers are less likely than their non-parenting counterparts to graduate high school and to attend college. For several decades, however, researchers have pointed out that the implied causal process from teen motherhood to academic failure has been largely unsupported by empirical research. In fact, scholars have recently argued that motherhood may actually serve as a positive turning point in the lives of young women. Using a sample of young African-American women, this study assesses the degree to which teen motherhood not only affects college aspirations but also expectations. Further, it tests the ability of these effects to explain the well-known educational attainment gap between teen mothers and their non-childbearing peers. Results indicate that, in general, young mothers’ college aspirations are similar to those of non-mothers, but that their generally high aspirations for academic success appear to be effectively countered by their decreased educational expectations.     

A Retrospective Study of South Asian Further Education College Students and their Experiences of Secondary School

This paper evaluates the results from a survey of further education college students and the processes of their secondary schooling. Postal survey responses from 109 randomly sampled college students (aged 16-19) from three colleges in the city of Birmingham provide the empirical base for the current research. The objectives of the study are to retrospectively analyse the secondary school experiences of South Asian college students currently in further education, probing key educational processes by ethnicity and gender. Respondents revealed their approaches towards education in general, teachers, religion and culture and parents. The broad conclusion suggests that respondents had managed to develop mixed 'educational identities', encompassing elements of the home as well as the school, aimed at permitting the effective transition from further into higher education. Differences were found between Hindu, Sikh and Muslim respondents and between genders.     

Butterfly Power in the Art of Mentoring Deaf and Hard of Hearing College Students

This article describes the ways in which critical events in the lives of college students may contribute to their career development and personal well being. These critical events are referred to as 'butterflies', adopting as a metaphor that concept from chaos theory which states that relatively small events can have large effects. The study analyzes these events and their effects from the perspective of the students' mentors. Results of the study are related to other concepts from chaos theory including bifurcation points, autopoiesis and emergence. The study explores both the different kinds of critical events students experience as well as how mentoring may help students to deal with them. The role of the mentor as interpreter of events, as change agent and as intervener are identified. The article argues that mentors need to be aware of the potential power of critical events in the career development of college students.     

COLLEGE STUDIES AFTER 50 YEARS OF AGE: A QUEBEC EXPERIENCE

This article presents an examination of an academic program for older adults, offered at a junior‐college level educational institution in Montreal, Quebec. The authors recount the main events of the history of this francophone program and explain its underlying principles. They trace the evolution of the program within the college structure and examine its pedagogy. As well, they offer several results of the program and consider its future prospects. The authors conclude that the program, seen as a social practice, bears a significance for educational gerontology, for education, and for the larger context of contemporary society.     

Göttingen in retrospect

Participant assessment is one of the processes which can be used to evaluate the success of educational exchange programs. This study was conducted in 1972 with University of California students who attended the University of Göttingen, Federal Republic of Germany, during the 1965–66 academic year. Participants were asked about their subsequent use of language, as well as their assessment of the academic, intellectual, personal, social and cultural dimensions of the program. This paper reports the results of the Göttingen questionnaire and, hopefully, contributes to a better understanding of the kinds of enduring student benefits that can result from an educational experience abroad.     

Familial Capital,Narratives of Agency,and the College Transition Process for Refugee-Background Youth

This study examines the role of family in the college transition process for students with refugee backgrounds in New England (United States). Extant research finds that the investments immigrant and refugee families make in their children’s education are often overlooked, and that the family is sometimes seen an educational obstacle, rather than an asset. Using the framework of familial capital, with a focus on narratives of agency, this study offers a counter-story to such discourse, highlighting numerous ways that families have contributed to their children’s educational goals, decisions, and achievements. Analysis of student interviews reveals how families cultivate aspiration and resilience, remove barriers to educational success, and empower their children to serve as agents of change. These strategies and decisions represent a sustained commitment to educational access and achievement—one which must be acknowledged as part of a culturally relevant curriculum. Findings from this study have relevance for practitioners in both secondary and postsecondary settings and suggest possibilities for future research into the role of family and community in students’ educational decision-making processes.     

Student access and the collegiate function in community colleges

An analysis is presented of the position of American community colleges in the nation's educational system. First, background is provided on the historical development of the community colleges. This section examines: (1) the forces contributing to the rise of higher education and the emergence of junior colleges; (2) the expansion of the two-year college role to include community services and remedial education, as well as transfer, occupational, and postsecondary terminal programs; and (3) influences on community college growth over the past four decades, including increased educational access, the student consumerism movement, the increasing enrollment of part-time students, and the absorption by community colleges of the educational functions of other agencies. The next section provides information on community college faculty, focusing on their educational background and professional involvement in contrast to that of their four-year college counterparts; the faculty union movement; and factors, such as long working hours and underprepared students, which erode faculty job satisfaction. Curriculum and instruction in the community college are discussed next, with particular focus on transfer, occupational, and community service curricula. The article concludes with an examination of the dilemma faced by college leaders attempting to maintain their institution's place in graded education, while providing a variety of educative services to their constituents on an open-door basis.An extended version of this paper was prepared for the National Commission on the Condition of Excellence in Higher Education.     

Centering indigenous college student voices and perspectives through photovoice and photo-elicitation

Using arts-based inquiry and drawing on photovoice, photo-elicitation and visual narrative, in this study we explore how Native American college students experience space and place at the University of New Mexico, a large, research-extensive university in the Southwestern United States. The objective of this study is to more clearly understand how Native American students view their educational environment. Student perspectives will be framed through an artistic inquiry coming directly from the students and their interpretations of space, place, and community. This study is designed to ultimately inform the institution, local tribal communities, and the existing body of research on how participants viewed their college-going experience in relation to space and place, and how we might more adequately serve Native American college students. Initial findings indicate the critical importance of cultural centers, houses, and designated cultural spaces for Native American students, as indicated in the literature. Though Native students may experience struggles and successes similar to other student groups within the context of higher education, it is critical that student affairs professionals, administrators, faculty, and other educational leaders acknowledge how discourses of colonialism and genocide inform higher educational spaces, as well as the experience of Native American college students.