Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005.

This study explored factors that appear to contribute to the growing increase of remedial education in higher education. Participants included teachers and administrators from feeder high schools in northeast Tennessee, local community college instructors of remedial education, and administrators. Participants were experienced and knowledgeable in the field of remedial education. Personal interviews and public domain documents included documentary material, books, magazines, newspaper articles, and use of the Internet to gather data for the study. Data analyses were broken down by participant group response to questions. Findings indicated that most graduating high school seniors are not ready for community college or college level studies. Contributing factors appear to be the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (2002), lack of preparation in coursework for elementary and middle school students' entry into high school, lack of communication between the feeder high schools and the local community college, cookie cutter or one-size-fits-all approach to teaching, social promotion with no mastery of coursework, and teaching to tests.

No description available.

No description available.

This study was an attempt to determine to what extent personal contacts, as a part of student recruitment, acquainted high school seniors of 1958 with Brigham Young University and influenced them in their enrollment. Opinions of college freshmen who were graduated from high schools visited by a B.Y.U. public relations representative were elicited by mail questionnaire. Respondents were asked to list the means through which they became "acquainted" with the University. They were also asked to list what "influenced" them to attend. Personal contacts by a public relations representative were considered among various means of "acquaintance" and "influence" of a public relations nature to provide relative comparison. A specific question also asked whether a visit by the public relations representative influenced students to enroll at B.Y.U. Accompanying the areas inviting opinions on means of "acquaintance" and of "influence" was an area inviting free response regarding what the students "reasons" were for enrolling. It was recognized that "reasons" for attending an institution are not necessarily attributed to the source of "acquaintance" or the source of "influence." "Reasons," it was recognized, were likely to be attributed to institutional characteristics established by ideals, objectives, location, course offerings, and others. A series of questions were included to determine students' opinions on whether a college representative could provide assistance toward college orientation of high school students, and whether he could provide assistance, in addition to orientation given by high school guidance personnel and a class unit of college orientation.

The second semester of the high school senior year has been associated with a lack of motivation among students and increased frustrations among parents and teachers. This qualitative study examines the achievement goals and engagement outcomes of second semester high school seniors in their mathematics classes. Data were collected from eight high school seniors, three of their parents, and two teachers enrolled at an all male college preparatory school in Pennsylvania. In-depth interviews were used to gather participants’ definitions of success prior to their senior year and during the second semester of their senior year. Student participants’ behavioral, emotional and cognitive engagements were assessed through directed interview questions and observations. Data were analyzed using a three goal framework of task-involvement, ego-involvement, and work-avoidance (Nicholls, Patashnick, & Nolen, 1985). The participants’ definitions of success suggested four themes. First, student participants defined success in mathematics consistently as they recalled their four years of high school and transition into the second semester of their senior year. Second, the phenomenon of senioritis was found to be more perceived than real for most of the participants. The work-avoidant participants described feeling the effects of senioritis for most of the second semester whereas the task-involved and ego-involved students reported brief effects before regaining focus. Third, students’ achievement goals in mathematics were found to be more closely aligned to their parents’ goals and less aligned to their teachers’ goals. Lastly, students described different achievement goals from one class to another during the same semester, at times even within the same discipline. Implications for practice and suggestions for future research were also discussed. / Math & Science Education

The purpose of this study is to make an investigation relating to certain factors and influences that have some bearing upon decisions made by graduating seniors in high schools to attend college or vocational school before entering a vocation or professional career.

This study was a simple "before" and "after" attitude measurement experiment using an experimental group and a control group. The attitude measurements were made before and after the subjects in the experimental group were presented an informational briefing about the Air Force ROTC training program. Both the experimental group and the control group were subject to exposure to the Air Force mass communication advertising during the two-month study period. The results indicate that the increased knowledge gained by the experimental group through its exposure to the informational briefing caused a negative change of attitude within the group. However, the control group had no significant change of attitude during the study period even though more than 87 percent of those subjects were exposed to some form of Air Force advertising.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Science in Information Technology in Education