Across the United States one would be hard pressed to find an urban center that has been unaffected by the phenomenon known as gentrification. From substantial economic growth to the displacement of long-term residents, the benefits and criticisms of the process of gentrification are wide ranging and extend over a thorough body of literature. Commonly associated with increasing levels of education and higher resident incomes, gentrification should be a boon to struggling public schools that are continually plagued by generational poverty. Unfortunately, the continued widening of the education gap and increasing racial segregation in our public schools suggest that any benefits of gentrification are not translating to equity in our public schools. By looking at the city of Portland, this paper attempts to quantitatively explore the complicated relationship among gentrifying neighborhoods, school performance on the 3rd grade standardized Math and Reading tests, and racial demographics of the students. This paper will follow the methods established by Keels et al. in their work on gentrification and school achievement in Chicago. By using 2000 Census and the 2015 ACS data and spatial analysis and mapping in GIS, gentrifying school neighborhoods in Portland will be identified and analysis of student test performance and racial demographics will be conducted to determine if any relationship exists. By exploring how these schools have changed both academically and racially we can expand educational and urban theory around the process of gentrification.

Approximately one quarter of America's students leave school prior to graduation. Teaching practices need to be examined if schools are to effectively deal with the student population. at highest risk of dropping out. The purpose of this study was to investigate the attending behaviors high school teachers directed to students at high risk of dropping out, and to students not so identified. A survey of the literature provided an overview of related studies which addressed the number of students who drop out, their reasons for doing so, and alternative programs for those who have left school. Not found in abundance were studies linking teachers' classroom behaviors with effective at risk strategies. Data regarding teachers' verbal and nonverbal attending behaviors were gathered in twenty classrooms. The resulting totals for all at risk and control groups were nearly equal. However, the types of attending behaviors directed to the two groups were qualitatively different. At risk students were praised one third as often but were criticized seven times as often as their control group counterparts. Additionally, at risk students' attention getting behaviors were ignored seven times as often, and they were physically approached half as often as control group students. Anecdotal data revealed contrasting classroom atmospheres. Some classes were greeted at the door and were praised by their teachers. Other teachers chastised classes, spoke negatively about them, or showed little or no interaction with students in them. / Graduation date: 1991

In the process of adjusting to a new institutional environment, transfer students will often experience difficulties and these difficulties may limit their academic potential. Can an institution create a formal process which can help the transfer student adjust to the institutional environment? This study is an examination of a program--an extended transfer student orientation course modeled after the freshman extended orientation course which was developed at the University of South Carolina. Grade Point Average (GPA) was used to study the effects of the course on academic achievement (academic integration as measured by GPA, retention and graduation rates). This experimental study was conducted at Oregon State University, a northwestern land-grant institution. The study was conducted with two groups of newly-admitted transfer students. The experimental group (N=80) consisted of those self-selected transfer students enrolled in the extended transfer student orientation course, while the comparison group (N=80) consisted of transfer students, picked at random, who were not enrolled in the course. The two groups were studied after the Fall 1988 extended transfer student orientation course. The demographic data revealed that a majority of the students transferred from in-state institutions, tended to enter from two-year institutions and four-year institutions. This study showed no evidence that the extended transfer student orientation course had an effect on academic achievement. / Graduation date: 1993

The purpose of this study is to examine which language skills university professors believe are most essential for academic success in Portland State University classes. The study can shed light on a question for future research: Do current academic ESL classes at Portland State University teach the necessary skills to help international students maximize their second-language learning potential in university-level courses. Enrollment statistics for 1993 I 94 show 53 percent of the 815 international students declared majors in two programs: the school of Business Administration and the school of Engineering and Applied Science. This study asked 31 instructors from business and engineering to assess which language skills--reading, writing, listening or speaking--were most important to success in their undergraduate and graduate classes; how they used the language skills; how international students performed in their classes compared with native speaking students; and to describe any critical incidents which appeared to have been caused by lack of comprehension of orally-presented materials. Interview questions were designed to establish a profile of each class and assess the relationship between the amount of culturally-embedded vocabulary and the degree of difficulty experienced by non-native speaking students. Three patterns emerged from the research. First, the ranking of language skills followed results of earlier national surveys showing the importance of reading and listening. All faculty ranked reading the "most important" language skill; reading and listening were ranked equally "most important" by engineering faculty; and writing varied by level and discipline; and speaking was ranked "least important" by all faculty. Second, all faculty ranked textbooks the preferred use of reading skills; note taking was the most-used listening skill; and class discussion was the mostused speaking skill. Writing activities varied by level and discipline, although reports and essay answers were the most frequently mentioned uses. Third, faculty said international students performed better in quantitative than qualitative classes. Within both disciplines, classes which manipulated numbers were less problematic than those which manipulated language with culturally-embedded context or vocabulary. Implications for ESL curriculum design suggest emphasis on skills considered most important by academic faculty.

This study examined the effect of a staff-mentoring program with students identified as at-risk of becoming early leavers. This mentoring program, Caring About Kids Effectively (CAKE), was implemented at a suburban secondary school in Oregon serving grades 9 through 12. The study of the CAKE program had four research components: (a) indicators of school success (GPA, attendance, and attitudes toward school) were compared between at-risk students and those not at-risk; (b) indicators of school success were analyzed over the time at-risk students were mentored to find any significant change; (c) indicators of school success and enrollment status at graduation was compared between students at-risk, with and without mentors; and (d) participants' perceptions of the mentoring program, using a researcher-constructed questionnaire given to mentees and mentors to determine activities that were successful and those which needed reevaluation. Using analysis of covariance, the findings showed: (a) a significant difference (p < .05) in attitudes, GPA, and attendance at the beginning of the study between two groups of students identified as at-risk and not at-risk; (b) a significant difference (p< .05) in attitude toward school at the end of Year 1 between those students at-risk with mentors scoring higher than at-risk without mentors and not at-risk students; (c) GPA and attendance declined for at-risk students, with or without mentors, although at-risk students with a mentor seemed to lessen the decline; and (d) no significant differences (E< .05) in GPA and attendance between at-risk with or without mentors, although more at-risk students with mentors continued in school or received GEDs after four years. Finally, students and staff agreed (75%) that they were “satisfied” that the mentor program helped at-risk students develop positive attitudes toward school; however, only half were satisfied concerning their participation, and felt that administrative support and time available to meet with students were crucial to the success of a mentor program. Based upon these findings, it was concluded that the CAKE staff-mentoring program had a positive influence on attitude toward school and retention of at-risk students.

Academic advising has been touted as a key to student success and retention. Today's academic advising delivery models vary considerably and little is known about the efficiency and effectiveness of these models. The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a relationship between how academic advising is delivered to first-year students at a four-year public, high research activity university located on the west coast and the students' satisfaction with advising, advising learning outcomes, and retention. In the study, responses of 628 first-year students to a survey which asked them about their attitudes toward and experiences with academic advising were examined. Results indicated statistically significant relationships between student satisfaction ratings and advising learning outcomes and how advising is delivered, specifically, who advises students, where students are advised, how frequently students are required to see an advisor, how frequently students choose to see an advisor, and how "mandatory" advising is implemented. Furthermore results showed that student retention was related to who advises students and how "mandatory" advising is implemented with peer-led advising processes showing higher student attrition rates than other processes. The overall advising delivery variable effect size was small. Implications for practice and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Many programs exist across the United States to prepare non-native English speaking students for academic work. The effectiveness of these programs has been the subject of various research projects, with mixed results. Some have found that the programs they have examined seem to have led to higher achievement among participants. Others have found that it is difficult to show any effect. However, the amount of time and resources devoted to such programs warrants continuing efforts to evaluate their success. This study compares the academic records of non-native English speaking students who were enrolled in the English for Non-native Residents Program (ENNR) at Portland State University (PSU) with those of a group of similar students who did not enroll in the program, with the goal of answering the following questions: (1) Does enrollment in the ENNR program have a positive effect on academic performance at PSU? (2) Does enrollment in the ENNR program have a positive effect on performance in composition classes? (3) Does enrollment in the ENNR grammar workshop have a positive effect on performance in the basic composition course? (4) Does enrollment in the ENNR program have a positive effect on performance in PSU courses requiring relatively more reading?