Persistence and withdrawal have been issues throughout the 368 years of higher education in the United States. As higher education shifted from a privilege of the elite to an expectation of the masses, conversations surrounding persistence and withdrawal have become more prevalent (Trow, 1979 as cited in Somers, 1995). Approximately 60% of entering college students leave higher education without obtaining a degree, and most do so during the first two years of college (Porter, 1990 as cited in Hickman, Bartholomae, & McKenry, 2000). Research illustrates that reasons leading to withdrawal in the early stages of the college experience are very different from those that influence withdrawal in the later years (Daubman, Williams, Johnson, & Crump; 1985; Pickering, Calliotte, & McAuliffe, 1992; St. John, 1990; Tinto, 1987). Models have emerged to explain attrition (Hossler & Galligher, 1987; Bean, 1980; 1985; Tinto, 1975; 1982; 1987; 1993). These models examine the relationship between persistence and background characteristics (Milville & Sedlacek, 1992; Pascarella, Terenzini, & Wolfle, 1986; Pickering et. al 1992), high school profile (Pickering et. al 1992; Richardson & Sullivan, 1994), and the college decision process (Brower, 1997). These factors, however, have been studied in isolation. The purpose of this study was to examine factors influencing Year 1 to Year 2 (Y1Y2) retention among students. Specific factors included demographic characteristics, high school profile, and the college decision process. Sex, ethnicity, parents' educational level, and concern regarding financial capability were included in demographic characteristics. High school profile encompassed high school GPA, standardized test scores, and time spent during senior year in selected activities. Reasons to attend college and reasons to attend the particular institution at which the study was conducted defined the college decision process factor. The sample consisted of students at a large public, land-grant institution in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Data from 2,214 first-year students who completed the Annual Freshman Survey (AFS) sponsored by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) were analyzed. All participants completed the AFS in the summer of 2003 at the institution's orientation program. The participants were assigned to one of two groups: those who returned for their second year of college in the fall of 2004 and those who did not. Results revealed statistically significant differences on 15 out of 51 total chi-square tests conducted on responses to 10 items on the AFS. Those who did not return were more likely to be males and students with B or C averages in high school. In addition, Non-Returners were more likely to have some or major concern regarding their ability to finance their education and felt that low tuition was a very important factor in deciding to attend a particular institution. Non-Returners were more likely to spend five or fewer hours per week studying; six or less, or more than 15 hours per week socializing; and less than an hour or more than 15 hours per week on household and childcare duties during their senior year of high school. Non-Returners were more likely to feel that gaining a general education and preparing for graduate or professional school were not important reasons to attend higher education. This group felt that graduates getting good jobs, being admitted through early action/decision, and a visit to campus were also not important reasons to attend a particular institution. / Master of Arts

The purpose of this study was to identify any changes in attainment, self-esteem, self-motivation and attitudes to physical education between the end of year 6 and the beginning of year 8 (during the transfer from primary to secondary school), and to establish the extent of any differences between gender, age of transfer and school attended. Consideration was also given to the ways in which continuity and promotion was promoted between schools involved in the study. Data was collected on four occasions over a 20-month period. Data pertaining to attainment was collected using observation techniques and teacher assessment, whilst self-esteem and self-motivation was collected using questionnaires. Attitudinal data, information relating to physical education, and continuity and progression data were collected using questionnaires and interviews. Results showed significant increases in attainment, self-esteem and self-motivation between the end of year 6 and the beginning of year 8. Significant differences were evident in relation to gender, age of transfer and secondary school attended. Significant positive relationships were found between attainment and self-esteem, attainment and self-motivation, and self-esteem and self-motivation, allowing a tentative relationship model to be proposed. Changes in attitudes towards physical education were also found. Whilst teachers acknowledged the importance of continuity and progression, links between schools focused on social / pastoral rather than curricular issues. Time, staffing issues and finance were identified as the main constraints to the establishment of links. What emerges is a complicated picture of inter-related factors, with no universal solution. Each teacher must consider this broad range of factors within the context they teach. In order to do this there is perhaps a need to raise awareness amongst teachers of the impact of the transfer between primary and secondary phases of education on pupils across curriculum subjects, and that this should be explicitly considered and planned for.

This study investigated the development of curiosity in young children. A previous study by Kreitler, Zigler, and Kreitler had identified five specific types of curiosity, manipulatory curiosity, perceptual curiosity, conceptual curiosity, curiosity about the complex, and adjustive-reactive curiosity. The basic problem was to describe the development of these five types of curiosity in three-, four-, and five-year-old children. A secondary problem was to determine if children follow a predictable pattern in their development of the five types of curiosity. Five tasks, measuring nineteen variables of curiosity, were administered individually to thirty three-year-olds, thirty four-year-olds, and thirty five-year-olds by a trained rater. Mean scores for each variable and each type of curiosity were calculated for each group.

The purpose of this study is to (1) identify some of the major problems confronting first-year secondary science teachers; (2) list supportive practices supplied by the school-based administration and district-wide programs for first-year secondary science teachers; and (3) describe problems of socialization confronting first-year secondary science teachers. The study analyzes perceptions of eight first-year secondary science teachers under contract at the start of the 1996-1997 school year. The study viewed these teachers as novice by definition and perceptions of specific support activities which assisted them in moving from initially licensed to career tenure status. The literature review examines research on teacher based on self-reporting data. Although several of the cited research studies consider first-year teachers in general, few qualitative studies contain specific information on first-year secondary science teachers, e. g., what is involved in the new environment or what developmental skills are needed to survive the year. The research procedure used in this study is the individual case study method. Data were collected primarily through ethnographic interviews and surveys of eight first-year secondary science teachers and six administrators responsible for evaluation of these teachers.(Two administrators did not respond to the survey.) A thematic conceptual matrix was used to display the problems and issues faced by and support offered to these teachers. The findings clearly reveal the top two problems of first-year secondary science teachers to be discipline and classroom/time management exacerbated by a perceived lack of administrative support and assistance. / Ed. D.

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The practice of making international dedications (of days, weeks or years) proliferated in the second half of the twentieth century with the rise of international institutions like the United Nations. The practice contrasts alternative dealings with time i.e. sacred time or dedication as commemoration. International dedications celebrate a concept of social or environmental importance, with a particular emphasis on awareness raising and inculcating change on a practical level. 1995 was the ‘United Nations International Year for Tolerance’. To the study of tolerance, the ‘Year’ marks the apex of tolerance as an object of modern international concern. This thesis is divided into two halves. The former undertakes a close analysis of the build-up to the UN ‘Year of Tolerance’ (Chapter One), the ‘Year’ itself and the subsequent follow-up (Chapter Two). It likewise provides a more general account of the rise and practice of international dedication making. The second half of this thesis addresses the broader theoretical debate on tolerance, 1945-2010. This thesis understands the UN ‘Year of Tolerance’ as a particular institutionalised expression of a specific theoretical mode of tolerance, taken from the theoretical debate on tolerance, and masked by the veneer of cultural universality. It uses 1995 as an artificial marker to gauge continuity and change in the debate on tolerance and to demarcate between Chapter Three-Chapter Four (pre-1995) and Chapter Five-Chapter Six (post-1995). The conclusion summarises the principal points of continuity and discontinuity and finally contextualises the UN ‘Year of Tolerance’ in the theoretical debate on tolerance i.e. as the institutional embodiment of a particular liberal-‘political’ mode of tolerance and an international attempt at final foreclosure of the controversy around tolerance. In seeking to critically account for the UN ‘Year of Tolerance’, and likewise to provide a general overview of continuity and change in the modern theoretical debate of tolerance, this thesis seeks to redress ‘a gap’ in current academic research.

My thesis analyzes China’s most famous commercial film director, Feng Xiaogang, and his New Year Films against the background of infrastructure reform in the Chinese movie industry. The past three decades have witnessed dramatic changes in the Chinese film industry and phenomenal growth in commercial film production due to the movie industry reform that was launched by the Chinese government in order to commercialize the film industry. Feng Xiaogang is both a beneficiary and a contributor to the commercialization of the movie industry, and his unprecedented success in the movie industry also reflected the cultural changes within the film industry. This thesis first examines the transformation of the film industry due to the movie reform that allowed Feng Xiaogang to cross over from the television industry to the film industry, and the emergence of independent film companies also provided Feng with the opportunity to make commercial films. Next, I particularly analyze Feng’s first New Year film, The Dream Factory, which shows Feng’s approach of combining entertainment and social criticism in the film. Finally, I will analyze the popularity of his New Year films from an ‘auteur’ perspective. / text

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M. Ed. / Many higher education institutions face the loss of subsidy due to the high attrition rate of students. Despite the many advantages of alternate access programmes documented in literature, numerous Engineering Faculty members and members of the management of the University of Johannesburg believed that first time applicants with A and B symbols on their senior certificate were stronger students than those students who had completed an alternate access programme. Furthermore, they felt that the alternate access students took up the places which should have been given to those students with excellent senior certificate results. While many studies have been conducted on alternate access programmes there appears to be no evidence of the academic benefits that students derive from them. This generic qualitative study focused on what students perceive to be the academic benefits of alternate access programmes for their mainstream study. Purposeful sampling was used to select Engineering students from the 2005 and 2006 cohort to participate in focus group interviews and the data gathered during the interviews were analysed and interpreted using an Interpretivist lens. The themes that emerged from the study confirmed that students found the programmes to be beneficial but that they became aware of most of the academic benefits only once they joined the mainstream students in their second year of study. This study revealed the alternate access students were of the opinion that there are a number of academic benefits that they had derived from the alternate access programmes. They were in agreement that these benefits had helped to prepare them for mainstream study and they concluded that the benefits had contributed to their academic success in their mainstream studies. The findings of this study suggest that alternate access programmes have an important role to play in providing students with access, support and success in mainstream studies which in turn leads to the increased throughput of students and higher education institutions retaining subsidy.