Chinese language is the only ideographic language remaining in the world (Osaka, 1976). It conveys affluent Chinese culture and has great influences on the East Asian countries (Miyake, 2013). In the economic globalization of the world, China's economy and international influence are expanding. For these reasons and many more the Chinese language is widely accepted as one of the major world languages. It makes sense then Chinese language classes are experiencing popularity and growth with United States undergraduates. Despite this growth, however, the enrollment of African American students is constantly low in college Chinese language classrooms (Li, Wen, & Xie, 2014). This call to action argues that this low representation of African American students lies on a course promotion system that denies African American students a preliminary learning opportunity that systematically limits their representation in Chinese language classrooms from the beginning.<br> This call for action examines systematic avenues for creating early opportunities. First the study explores the utility of offering African American students an informational workshop introducing the features of the language and the potential benefits of learning it. Next the study examines the leverage that could be gained by providing direct feedback and assessing student interest to explore whether students are more inclined to enroll in Chinese language courses following the information workshop. Such a process could lead to suggested policy changes that might close the enrollment gap between the African American students and their peers. This call for action considers the reality that even a well-designed action plan may not always produce positive consequences. Therefore, an impact evaluation is explored along with suggested instruments and uses. Finally possible outcomes of an impact evaluation are described.<br> To ground this call for action, a set of foundational theories are employed that mainly include networked improvement communities, leadership and teamwork, and critical theories. The call for action strongly suggests the iterative cycle of Plan, Design, Study, and Act (PDSA) of the NIC improvement science (Bryk, Gomez, & Grunow, 2011) in the change process beginning with the examination of a local four-year university Chinese Studies Program. / School of Education; / Professional Doctorate in Educational Leadership (ProDEL) / EdD; / Dissertation;

The purpose of the study is to determine if significant differences and relationships exist between students who enrolled late and those who enrolled on time at Tarleton State College between the years 1955-1962 inclusive. The study involves comparing the records of 325 freshman and sophomore students who registered late with those of 325 matched freshman and sophomore students who enrolled on time.

Using Tinto's longitudinal model of institutional departure as the theoretical basis for this research, the purpose was to determine what extent selected motivational factors measured by the College Student Inventory (CSI) predict academic success and persistence of at-risk students at the University of North Texas (UNT). The study focused on United States citizens and permanent residents entering UNT as at-risk first-time freshmen admitted via individual approval for the fall 1994 semester. The 409 subjects were enrolled in a developmental course titled Personal and Academic Effectiveness where the CSI was administered during the first 2 weeks of class. Selected predictor variables were tested in relation to the separate criterion variables of grade point average and enrolled status during the 2nd and 4th years of the study. Grade point averages and enrollment data for the 1995-96 and 1997-98 academic years were extracted from the student information management system. The research design employed appropriate multiple regressions, multiple correlations, multiple discriminant analyses, and bivariate correlations. Findings confirmed the ability of five CSI factors to predict grade point average (p < .05) of at-risk students over the time frames used in this study. Nine factors predicting enrolled status were also significant at the .05 level; however, results were not meaningful in the 2nd year as factors classified 95% of all subjects as persisters. By the end of the 4th year, the factors were able to predict correct classification of both persisters and nonpersisters approximately 24% better than chance. This research provides support for Tinto's institutional departure model, particularly associated with pre-entry attributes and goals/commitments over time. The CSI is a viable instrument for use with at-risk first-time freshmen at a metropolitan university; however, required enrollment in a developmental course likely confounded the ability of selected variables to meaningfully predict enrolled status during the 2nd year.

ORLIKOVA, V. Evaluation of readiness for admission to primary school. Prague 2015. Diploma thesis. Charles University in Prague. Faculty of Education. Psychology department. The first chapter defines the concept of school maturity and readiness. The second chapter lays down the general criteria of child's maturity for primary school. It deals with pupil's physical, and especially psychical readiness for school. The third chapter describes several means of diagnosing school maturity and readiness by various methods and tests. The empiric part of the thesis deals with awareness of criteria of school maturity at selected schools and the means of their application for evaluation of readiness for admission to school. It also includes characteristics of the selected schools, used methods of research and results of the conducted research. In the last part of the thesis, there is a discussion and a conclusion. KEYWORDS Criteria of maturity, enrollment, evaluation, primary school enrollment

The main question of this study is whether the demand for higher education is relatively sensitive to tuition fee changes or is price inelastic. There is no definite answer in the literature. Approximately 52% of the estimates show it to be insignificant, 43% rate it as statistically negative, and approximately 5% are statistically positive. In a quantitative survey of 562 estimates reported in 48 studies, it has been found that large increases in tuition fees have a disproportionately negative impact on enrollment when potential publication bias and method heterogeneity are taken into account. The publication bias tests show that negative results are more preferable among researchers, because it is well supported by theory (when prices increase demand decreases). The results also suggest that four aspects of study design are especially effective in explaining the differences across primary studies: (1) the longer time period negatively associated with the price c of demand for higher education, (2) while the cross sectional estimations have reported more negative results, panel data estimations have reported fewer negative results, (3) controlling for endogeneity is crucial, (4) while controlling for unemployment rate has no clear conclusive impact, controlling for income is not significantly...

When a family in British Columbia (B.C.) chooses to educate their child at home, they have two legal options: enrollment in a Distributed Learning (DL) program or registration under Section 12 (S12) of the School Act as a homeschooler. To date, there has been very little published on trends in participation rates and growth rates with regards to home educating options in B.C. The current study employs a quantitative archival design to document trends in DL and S12 across age, gender and location. Home educating is on the rise in B.C. over the past twenty years, largely due to an increase in enrollment in DL programs while registration under S12 has declined. Distinct patterns in age, gender and location between S12 and DL are apparent in the data. Growth rates among age categories in DL mirror declines in S12. While there are slightly more males than females in the total school-aged population in B.C., within DL programs there are more females than males at the secondary level. In 1993/1994 rural children were more likely to be educated at home than urban children in B.C.; today the opposite is true. Further research is needed to ascertain why these trends persist. / Graduate / 0525 / 0529 / ngardner@uvic.ca

Despite increased diversity noted in undergraduate education in recent years (Antonio, 2003), students from non-majority groups continue to be underrepresented in graduate school. Many research studies (Perna, 2000, 2004; Perna & Titus, 2005; Rowan-Kenyon, 2007; Walpole, 2003, 2007b) have used measures of cultural and social capital to increase the explanatory power of the traditional econometric framework in college choice models, but have not used these sociological variables as a primary focus. The purpose of this correlational study was to explore the influence of cultural capital and social capital on the decision of bachelor’s degree completers to enter graduate school and ultimately to degree achievement. The study is an extension of Perna’s 2004 work, which examined similar relationships of cultural and social capital variables via use of the Baccalaureate & Beyond: 93/97 study. Based on Walpole’s findings (2003), variables related to socioeconomic status (SES) were also included in my analysis. The data used to answer the research questions were collected as part of a longitudinal study, the Baccalaureate & Beyond: 93/03. Participants in the Baccalaureate & Beyond: 93/03 study were students in the U.S. who earned a bachelor’s degree during the 1992-1993 academic year, representing a population of 1.2 million individuals (Choy, Bradburn, & Carroll, 2008). My findings revealed that measures of cultural and social capital have a significant influence on graduate school enrollment and degree completion. Among low SES students (as designated by family income) cultural and social capital variables substantially increased the likelihood of graduate degree attainment.

In order to understand withdrawal rates in online K-12 schools, it is vital to have detailed documentation of these rates and to describe characteristics of the students who withdraw compared to the students who remain enrolled. Once these characteristics are known schools can develop programs and/or policies that support students who are at risk of withdrawing. This study was a descriptive analysis of (a) attendance, (b) lessons completed, (c) participation, (d) teacher-student communication, and (e) overall performance percentage comparing the means between the enrolled student population and the withdrawn student population using extant data. Four of the five variables, (a) attendance, (b) lessons completed, (c) teacher-student communication, and (d) overall performance percentage, were significant at the p < .01 level. Upon analysis, the results of average lessons per day were not reportable due to problems with the data. The Enrolled group had significantly higher means in the following variables: (a) attendance, (b) lessons completed, (c) teacher-student synchronous contact, and (d) overall performance percentage.

Thesis advisor: Jacqueline Lerner / Americans are more educated than ever, and high educational attainment has long been associated with positive outcomes for individuals and society as a whole. However, one-third of high school students do not enroll in post-secondary education immediately after graduation, thereby reducing potential benefits. A thorough understanding of college enrollment patterns is needed to develop and enhance interventions that will effectively promote immediate college enrollment. Extant literature on college access focuses largely on contextual factors that influence college enrollment, such as families, schools, and classrooms. Given that context is only one component of development, additional research on the role of the individual may be especially useful for understanding more fully the transition from high school to college. For this dissertation, theoretical approaches from higher education and developmental psychology were combined to provide a new framework for exploring immediate college enrollment. The variables of interest included indicators of college readiness (e.g., academic preparedness and sources of college information) and three internal assets: self-regulation, school engagement, and expectations for academic success. College enrollment patterns were examined using data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, which surveyed students nationwide in 2002 (Grade 10), 2004 (Grade 12), 2006, and 2012. A series of multinomial regression equations revealed significant main effects and indirect effects of internal assets on college enrollment through college readiness variables, but no interaction effects between internal assets and college readiness variables. Analyses also provided support for previous findings related to racial/ethnic and socio-economic group differences, as well as school-level contextual factors. The findings from this study have valuable implications for college access programs: internal assets appear to be driving college readiness, not merely bolstering it, and should be a focus for interventional efforts. Additional research across applied settings for youth is needed to replicate and extend the findings from the current study, to evaluate applicable measurement standards, and to propose reform in practice and policy. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

Thesis advisor: Ana Martinez-Aleman / Abstract Black and Latino men have the lowest college enrollment rates among traditional college-aged students. Using a qualitative method, this study examined first-year students' perceptions of factors that influenced their plans to pursue a college education and actual enrollment. The factors this study explored were family support activities as defined by the Hossler college choice model and college aspirations factors. Currently, the experiences of first-year black and Latino men enrolled at four-year postsecondary institutions have been limited. These firsthand accounts will provide useful information to guidance counselors, school and university administrators, and policy makers interested in increasing the number of black and Latino men at four-year colleges and universities. The literature on college enrollment shows that black and Latino men have the lowest enrollment rates of all college-aged students. The college choice literature suggests that family support activities such as saving for college, visiting colleges, and attending a financial aid workshop all are influential in students' decision to enroll at a postsecondary institution. In addition, the literature on college aspirations shows that factors such as family encouragement, peers, and schools can either aid or hinder a student's plans to go to college. Yet, Hossler's college choice model and the college aspirations literature usually do not explain the college enrollment decisions of black and Latino men. In particular, a specific aim of this study is to investigate whether the college choice and college aspirations literatures' conclusions hold true for black and Latino men. In addition, this study explores whether participants' decisions to enroll are influenced by gender expectations. The results of this study were examined using a critical theory lens. The study's findings reveal that black and Latino men's college enrollment decisions are influenced in much the same ways as those of other high-school students. Parents provided the foundation along with early academic success that instilled ideas about the benefits of a college education and supported the attainment of that goal. Furthermore, participants rejected negative stereotypes associated with men of color and saw the pursuit of a postsecondary education as a challenge to these common beliefs. These findings show that men of color's college enrollment decisions are impacted by parents as well as multivariate factors that work to sustain their college enrollment goals. This information can provide school and college administrators as well as policymakers with strategies that could successfully address the problem of college transition and access for this population. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Administration and Higher Education.