The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between credit hour load and academic achievement of selected undergraduate college students. The study was designed to determine the relationship between credit hour load and grades earned by undergraduate college students in selected required courses and overall scholastic ratio during the specified quarters. Specifically, the study was designed to determine the additional contribution of the independent variable credit hour load to the overall relationship between academic achievement of the students in selected required courses, as measured by course grade, and overall scholastic ratio, and the independent variable set consisting of sex and ability as measured by SAT Verbal and SAT Quantitative scores.The population included all Ball State University undergraduate secondary education students enrolled during the academic years 1976/77, 1977/78 and 1978/79. The sample consisted of 1,007 students identified as having enrolled in and completed credit hour loads of twelve or more hours for at least one quarter. Students selected for inclusion had enrolled in either of two required secondary education courses, EDSEC 299 or EDSEC 420. The study was designed to control for sex differences and variations in ability.To accomplish specific purposes of the study, four null hypotheses were tested using multiple regression procedures. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SFSS) program was used in conducting the analyses. Two regression models were used to determine the statistical significance of the addition of the independent variable, credit hour load, to a set of predictors consisting of sex, SAT Verbal and SAT Quantitative scores. In the first model only sex, SAT Verbal and SAT Quantitative scores were used as predictors of the dependent variable (reduced model). The second model involved the addition of the independent variable, credit hour lead, to the predictor set. The difference between the obtained squared multiple correlation (R2) was then computed and tested for statistical significance at the .05 level using an F statistic.The findings regarding statistical significance of the contribution provided by credit hour load to a relationship between the dependent variable and the independent variable set were:1. The level of prediction of course grades in EDSEC 299 provided by sex of student and ability data was not improved by the addition of credit hour load data.2. The level of prediction of scholastic ratio for students enrolled in EDSEC 299 provided by sex of student and ability data was improved by the addition of credit hour load data. The degree of improvement however, was so slight as to be of little importance in idiographic predictions.3. The level of prediction of course grades in EDSEC 420 provided by sex of student and ability data was improved by the addition of credit hour load data. The degree of improvement however, was so slight as to be of little practical importance in idiographic predictions.4. The level of prediction of scholastics ratio for students enrolled in EDSEC 420 provided by sex of student and ability data was not improved by the addition of credit hour load data.

This thesis has described an experimental study of the "motive to avoid success", as described by Matina Horner (1968), using sex, age, and sex of cues as independent variables. One-hundred-eighty-nine school-aged subjects wrote stories in response to one of two written thematic apperceptive cues. The dependent measure was the presence or absence of negative imagery written in response to the verbal cue. A 2x2x4 completely randomized factorial design was used to analyze the data. A highly significant main effect for sex of cue was found. Both males and females recorded significantly more negative responses towards the female cue than towards the male cue.The "motive to avoid success" as an intrapsychic feminine phenomenon is questioned. An alternative explanation of response to traditional learned role-stereotypes is posited. The "motive to avoid success" appears to be less of an internal mechanism and more of a cue dependent response than previously indicated in the literature.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between selected nonintellectual traits and successful school achievement of children from low-income homes. The subjects for this study were 347 sixth-grade children who lived in a depressed urban area. Each subject was assigned to one of four achievement groups based on achievement test scores and teacher evaluations. The groups ranged from the 69 successful children in Achievement Group I to the 169 low achievers in Achievement Group IV. The California Test of Personality (CTP) was used to measure the personal and social adjustment of all subjects. Areas of academically related interests were measured by What I Like to Do, An Inventory of Children's Interests. An interview guide, developed by the researcher, was employed in unstructured interviews with eight achieving pupils. Statistical processing of the data consisted of a three factor analysis of covariance. Interactions were computed between (a) achievement groups, (b) boys and girls, and (c) ethnic groups. The analysis of covariance method was applied to partial out the effects of ability as measured by the Lorge-Thorndike Intelligence Tests. Scores the subjects made on standardized tests were converted to T-scores for the analysis, using the .05 level of confidence for significance. It was hypothesized that a group of children from low-income homes who had been identified as successful school achievers would differ significantly from groups of less successful pupils from a similar environment in areas of personal and social adjustment and in areas of academically related interests. However, the findings of this study did not strongly support this hypothesis. It was found that when ability was controlled, only the School Relations component of the CTP revealed significantly higher scores for the successful achievers. Information used in the identification of successful achievers, a review of the results of the statistical analysis, and data collected during interviews with eight of the successful achievers led to the following conclusions: The discrepancy between the actual school performance of most children from low-income homes and the expectations of teachers and the grade level norms of standardized achievement tests was clearly demonstrated. The total sample obtained below average scores on the CTP; This suggested the generally poor personal and social adjustment of children from low-income homes whatever their achievement level.White children from low-income homes who are successful school achievers appeared to be better adjusted than their minority group counterparts.Well-adjusted children are more likely to be rated as successful school achievers by their teachers. The findings of this study question the evidence that exists concerning the negative self-image of the child from a low-income home.The significantly lower scores of minority group children in all achievement groups on the Self-Reliance subtest of the CTP indicated that many minority group children are deficient in this personality variable often associated with school success. Although few differences in adjustment existed between boys and girls in this study, the two components that revealed significant differences suggested that girls from low-income homes are probably more willing than boys to subordinate their desires to the needs of the group and may be more effective in dealing with people. This group of children regardless of sex, ethnic group membership, or level of achievement, expressed resentment and hostility toward the community and toward society.The unstructured interview technique revealed some valuable information not available through a statistical approach. This approach might be a profitable one for future investigations involving children from low-income homes.

Note: / Many studies have explored the effectiveness of interventions directed towards helping highschool students with learning disabilities to achieve academic success. These studies oftenoverlook the perspectives of the students, or the common deficits among students with differentlearning disability diagnoses, when developing or implementing the interventions. This studylooked to develop a grounded theory regarding the perspectives of these students towards theirperceived barriers to academic success in addition to their perspectives regarding their resourcesfor coping. The theory is grounded upon qualitative data that were collected from participants inan academic support program for students with learning disabilities. A convenience sample wastaken from this program, which is based upon the cognitive apprenticeship model that pairsstudents with tutor mentors who help them to succeed academically. Data collection includedaudio-recorded interviews, student reflection sheets, tutor journals, and video-recorded sessions.The data were triangulated and analyzed to develop a theory designed to inform practice forschools and support programs that offer resources for students with learning disabilities. Thedevelopment of a theory based on the perspectives of the students can provide the inspiration forthe future development of potentially effective intervention programs.

Research into the teaching of science has suggested that student learning resulted from personal and social processes promoting communication and construction of knowledge. The teacher has an interventionist role. The current research project aims to investigate the process of student involvement during instruction by dialogue and if such involvement has an effect on learning outcomes. Videotapes were made of thirteen biology lessons for year 10 students in a girls independent selective school. Individual student behaviour profiles in relation to answering and asking questions, the psychological cognitive demands made of the students in answering questions, and the teacher's questions and immediate help provided for the students to answer them, added to the picture of the interactions. The evidence suggested that the teacher made the students a resource to learning. Qualitative analysis showed how the teacher's strategies helped students locate and link topic information. Socratic questioning and scaffolding techniques were identified but scaffolding did not involve fading. The students utilised prior and new information, and scaffolded one another. Concept maps were used to represent how teacher and student interaction lead to expanded networks of information. A theoretical analysis of the dialogue illustrated parallel and reciprocal teacher and student activities. This allowed the construction of a model of learning within an integration theory framework. Individual student profiles showed that low participation was associated with low success in answering questions in lessons. Greater participation in the dialogue was linked to greater success. There was not a direct relationship between participation and success. A comparison of students' behaviour during lessons and examinations results showed that the lower rates of participation in the dialogue led to the least successful examination performance. Higher level participation in the lessons led to more successful examination performance, but there was not a simple relationship between the two.

No description available.

Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2002.

Background: English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students, enrolled in health care tertiary education, have lower graduation rates compared with English native speakers. The demographic profile of most western countries is continuously changing and therefore this issue has became a concern especially for those countries which are confronted with an acute health care workforce shortage. One of the most important predictors in student retention is their perception of academic success. The purpose of this study was to explore ESOL health undergraduate students’ perceptions of campus climate, faculty and peer social support, and sought to determine whether or not there is a relationship between these factors and ESOL students’ perception academic success. Methods: The study was carried out at Auckland University of Technology (AUT). The inclusion criteria for this study were: undergraduate students enrolled with the Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, having other than English as their first language, and studying predominantely on one of AUT University’s campuses, namely Akoranga campus. The study implemented had a cross-sectional design using a novel purpose built electronic survey. ESOL health undergraduate students’ insights were explored using a 22-item web-based survey consisting of three scales: peer and faculty support, campus climate, and academic success. The content validity and realiability of each scale were tested. The study questionnaire was made available online to all ESOL health undergraduate students willing to participate in the research. Generalized estimating equations were used to test the study hypothesis. Six related binary outcome variables, measuring perceptions of academic success, were included in the analyses. Results: Twenty-seven ESOL health undergraduate students from a variety of health undergraduate programs agreed to participate in the research. The majority of participants were of Asian ethnicity with ages between 21 and 30 years and had completed their secondary education overseas. The GEE analyses showed that campus climate was significantly associated with academic success, p-value=0.01, but peer and faculty support was not, p-value=0.07. The estimated odds ratio (OR) for the campus climate relationship implies that for every unit increase in the first principal component factor for campus climate, the odds that a participant agreed with the academic success scale decreased by 0.43 (95% CI: 0.30, 0.84). The only open-ended question of the survey revealed that 39% of the participants did not intend to leave the faculty before graduation, while 17% saw the “lack of support” as a possible reason for abandoning the university without a degree. Conclusion: ESOL undergraduate students’ perception of campus climate may have an influence on their perception of academic success. Students’ perception of peer and faculty support was not significantly associated with academic success, but 17% of respondents to the open-ended question saw “lack of support” as a possible reason to leave the course before graduation. The findings were hampered by the small sample of ESOL students recruited.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Toronto, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-89).

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Tulsa, 1969. / Bibliography: leaves 45-46.