Nontraditional students have become the majority on community college campuses; however, a national report showed that 46.2% of nontraditional students were no longer enrolled after two years. Nontraditional students have competing life roles that affect their attrition rates as well as their academic performance. The purpose of this quantitative study was to understand the relationship between the number of roles and the academic achievement and persistence of nontraditional community college students. The roles identified were student enrollment status (full-time or part-time), spousal roles, parental roles, and employment status (full-time or part-time). Goode's theory of role strain was used as the theoretical framework to guide this study on nontraditional community college students. Additionally, the existence of statistical significance was determined between the number of different roles and academic achievement, measured by grade point average, and persistence, measured by enrollment through two consecutive terms for 250 participants. Descriptive statistics showed that being employed full-time was the most common role (f=171) among nontraditional community college students. Beta regression showed there was no statistical significance (p = 0.705) between the number of roles and grade point average. Logistic regression showed that the relationship between the number of roles and persistence was statistically significant (p -?¤ 0.0001). This study can help community college faculty and staff gain knowledge on the needs of nontraditional students. Positive social change can be promoted by creating or extending resources for these students to help them overcome the barriers that may hinder their academic achievement and persistence through school.

This diploma thesis deals with the issue of the Romani children and their motivation for learning. It is based on a widely believed idea that motivation of the Romani ethnic group in general is different from the vast majority of population. In practice this problem may manifest itself when the children in question are unwilling to learn, they disrupt the educational process, they refuse to go to school and discontinue their further education as such. The theoretical part of the paper is focused on describing Romani people and their particularities connected with the family environment in which the Romani children are brought up and which strongly forms their attitudes. It also determines the amount of motivation for learning as a starting point for success in terms of education. Motivational factors depend on the value of education in the broader socio-cultural context of the Romani minority. The practical part of the thesis is based on the ethnographic research. The purpose of the research has been to analyze motivation of the Romani children for education. The method of observation has aimed to find the answers for the following research questions: To what extent does socio-cultural and completely different historical background reflect the Romani children's motivation for learning? Which are...