This study was designed t o provide information about : (l) Utah State University students ' impressions of counseling , (2) the sources of these impressions, (3) students ' awareness of the University Counseling Center , and (4) the effect of the foregoing factors on student use of the counseling facilities. The sample consisted of a group of 107 freshmen and 43 sophomore s randomly selected from the general psychology courses at Utah State University , Logan , Utah . Student information was obtained by a questionnaire and students ' impressions of counseling were assessed by a semantic differential. The data were analyzed by t - test , chisquare and analysis of variance . The implications from the results indicated that: l. The single "most important" source of impression was the counselor , which indicated that high school counselors could be effective in orienting students to professional facilities available at the university level . This infers that college personnel should increase their communication with high school counselor s . 2 . The Utah State University (USU) Counseling Center needed to develop other means of making students aware of the counseling facilities . Since so few students indicated the newspaper as being their source of awareness, perhaps this indicates an effective instrument for creating awareness . The bulletin board, however, appeared to have been effective in alerting students t o the counseling center and should be continued. 3. Parents seemed to convey an impression of counseling to students which encouraged their use of the facilities more than the other sources of impressions studied in this investigation . Parents were also indicated as the second "most important" source of students ' impressions of counseling . These support the need for increased counselor- parent communication .

The task I have set myself is one to which my interest has been led by a varied experience in high school teaching followed by several years teaching in college where our high school product is largely disposed of. In all that experience the giving of grades was a bugbear, a necessary evil apparently, and it occurred to me that if those grades had or could be made to have some value beyond the moment, sone directive or prognostic value, they might lose their 111-reputation in the minds of both pupil and teacher. With this thought in mind I interviewed the Registrar of the College of the Pacific and received his hearty approval and free access to the student records of the College. Using this privilege I have made a careful study of the high school and college grades of the graduates with the A.B. degree since 1921. The high school credentials of many of these graduates, however, gave simply the information "Recommended" in the various subjects, hence I could not consider those, so my first group for study, of whom I have complete records, consists of one hundred and nineteen graduates.

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The purpose of this study was to assess the self-perceptions of leadership skill development and attitudes of experienced collegiate sophomore student leaders who elected to take an undergraduate collegiate leadership course. Leadership attitude, for the purpose of this study, consisted of one's group or leader orientation. The five leadership skills studied were working in groups, positional leadership, communication, decision-making, and understanding self. A post-then methodology was utilized with self-reporting as the process by which data was collected following completion of an academic leadership course. The major findings of this study were as follows: After the semester course, there were no significant differences among sophomore student leaders regarding their attitude toward the construct leadership orientation and their attitude toward the construct group orientation. In addition, the sophomore student leaders who completed the academic leadership course displayed a self-perceived increase in their ability to work in groups, work in positions of leadership, communicate, make decisions, and in their awareness of self. No relationship was found between the self-reported attitudes on leader or group orientation of sophomore student leaders with the amount of high school leadership courses that were completed. No statistically significant relationship was found between the self-reported attitudes on group orientation of sophomore student leaders and the amount of leadership activities in which the subjects participated in high school. A statistically significant positive relationship was found between the self-reported attitudes on leader orientation of sophomore student leaders and the amount of leadership activity participation in high school. No statistically significant relationship was found between the post-class self-perceptions of the leadership skills of sophomore student leaders and their high school leadership education. A statistically significant relationship was found between the self-perceived communication skills of sophomore student leaders and the amount of leadership activities completed in high school. The more high school leadership activities in which students participated, the less confidence the students perceived in their communication skills. Statistical analysis failed to reveal a relationship between an attitude of group orientation and any one type of leadership skill.

The purpose of this study was to assess the self-perceptions of leadership skill development and attitudes of experienced collegiate sophomore student leaders who elected to take an undergraduate collegiate leadership course. Leadership attitude, for the purpose of this study, consisted of one's group or leader orientation. The five leadership skills studied were working in groups, positional leadership, communication, decision-making, and understanding self. A post-then methodology was utilized with self-reporting as the process by which data was collected following completion of an academic leadership course. The major findings of this study were as follows: After the semester course, there were no significant differences among sophomore student leaders regarding their attitude toward the construct leadership orientation and their attitude toward the construct group orientation. In addition, the sophomore student leaders who completed the academic leadership course displayed a self-perceived increase in their ability to work in groups, work in positions of leadership, communicate, make decisions, and in their awareness of self. No relationship was found between the self-reported attitudes on leader or group orientation of sophomore student leaders with the amount of high school leadership courses that were completed. No statistically significant relationship was found between the self-reported attitudes on group orientation of sophomore student leaders and the amount of leadership activities in which the subjects participated in high school. A statistically significant positive relationship was found between the self-reported attitudes on leader orientation of sophomore student leaders and the amount of leadership activity participation in high school. No statistically significant relationship was found between the post-class self-perceptions of the leadership skills of sophomore student leaders and their high school leadership education. A statistically significant relationship was found between the self-perceived communication skills of sophomore student leaders and the amount of leadership activities completed in high school. The more high school leadership activities in which students participated, the less confidence the students perceived in their communication skills. Statistical analysis failed to reveal a relationship between an attitude of group orientation and any one type of leadership skill.

This study looks at alternative models of follow-up album success in order to determine if there is a relationship between the decrease in Metascore ratings (assigned by Metacritic.com) between the first and second album for a musician or band and the 1) music genre or 2) the number of years between the first and second album release. The results support the dominant thought, which suggests that neither belonging to a certain genre of music nor waiting more or less time to drop the second album makes an artist more susceptible to the Sophomore Slump. This finding is important because it forces us to identify other potential causes for the observed disappointing performance of a generally favorable musician’s second album.

The NAEP (2016) report shows that the performance of the country’s highest achievers is increasing in reading while the lowest-achieving students have lower scores than previous reports and are performing worse than ever. Not only are these students expected to succeed academically, these students must know how to problem solve, work in teams, and be creative. The longstanding issue of how to motivate students is not new. Motivation consists of the factors that stimulate the desire to attain a goal. Self-efficacy is defined as the belief in one's capabilities to carry out, organize and perform a task successfully (Bandura, 1997). Both are the driving forces that make people pursue a goal and overcome obstacles. Students with high senses of efficacy have the capacity to accept more challenging tasks, higher abilities to organize their time, increased persistence in the face of obstacles, exhibit lower anxiety levels, show flexibility in the use of learning strategies and have a high ability to adapt with different educational environments (Elmotaleb and Sahalof, 2013). High school students and entry-level college students are struggling to maintain the self-efficacy and motivation needed to accomplish rigorous and challenging tasks in both high school and college. This study addressed the deficiencies in the literature by providing an understanding of 10th grade students developmental self-efficacy sources, self-efficacy source experiences, and academic motivation. A total of 18 student participants in a 10th grade public school at a rural community in a southeastern state in the United States were interviewed for this study. A high school principal, three 10th grade teachers, and a high school guidance counselor also participated in the study. The study employed a qualitative methodology that focused on student’s voices to gain a better understanding of the development of self-efficacy sources and the effects on academic motivation. The findings revealed that students depicted their personal perceived self-efficacy based on the self-efficacy source development that had occurred in each student’s life, particularly the amount of mastery source experiences that students had successfully completed. Another finding indicated that the student participants based their personal perceived self-efficacy source development on how successful or unsuccessful they had been in school with special emphasis on students persuasion and physiological and affective source development. Evidence also supported that student participants academic motivation was based on the students personal perceived academic self-efficacy relating to all four mastery sources (mastery, vicarious, persuasion, physiological and affective). This research provides practitioners and stakeholders with a better understanding of students self-efficacy source developments and the impact that self-efficacy has on student academic motivation.

Alignment of the expectations of engineering faculty and the preparation engineering students receive in first-year mathematics and physics mechanics courses provided the motivation for the work contained in this study. While a number of different aspects of student preparation including intangibles, such as motivation, time management skills, and study skills, affect their performance in the classroom, the goal of this study was to assess the alignment of the mathematics and physics mechanics knowledge and skills addressed in first-year courses with those needed for a sophomore-level statics and dynamics course. Objectives of this study included: (1) development of a set of metrics for measuring alignment appropriate for an engineering program by adapting and refining common notions of alignment used in K-12 studies; (2) study of the degree of alignment between the first-year mathematics and physics mechanics courses and the follow-on sophomore-level statics and dynamics course; (3) identification of first-year mathematics and physics mechanics skills needed for a sophomore-level statics and dynamics course through the development of mathematics and physics instruments based on the inputs from faculty teaching the statics and dynamics courses; (4) analysis of tasks given to the students (in the form of homework and exam problems) and the identification of the mathematics and physics skills required; (5) comparison of the required skills to the skills reported by faculty members to be necessary for a statics and dynamics course; and (6) the comparison of student preparation in the form of grades and credits received in prerequisite courses to performance in statics and dynamics. Differences were identified between the content/skills developed in first-year mathematics and physics mechanics courses and content/skills expected by engineering faculty members in the sophomore year. Furthermore, skills stated by engineering faculty members as being required were not necessarily utilized in homework and exam problems in a sophomore engineering mechanics course. Finally, success in first-year physics mechanics courses provided a better indicator of success in a sophomore-level statics and dynamics course than that of first-year mathematics. Processes used in the study could be applied to any course where proper alignment of material is desired.

abstract: The purpose of this study was to help increase success for first-generation Latina students at Arizona State University by providing a group mentoring support experience during the spring semester of their sophomore year. Thirteen first-generation Latinas in their sophomore year were recruited from the Obama Scholars Program at Arizona State University. These students participated in one or two 90-minute group mentoring intervention sessions during the spring semester of their sophomore year and responded to reflection questions at the end of each session. Additional data were collected through e-journaling and field notes to document the mentoring process and the short-term effects of the group mentoring intervention. Study participants named three themes as critical to their college success: college capital, confidence, and connections. Participants also reported that the intervention of group mentoring sessions helped them increase their knowledge of available resources, feel more confident about their remaining years in college, make connections with other first-generation Latinas, and convinced them to recommit themselves to working hard for immediate academic success to achieve their goal of becoming the first in their families to become a college graduate. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2011

The problem with which this study is concerned is the attrition of freshman and sophomore students who enroll in a baccalaureate nursing program. The purpose of this study is to identify and describe factors that may contribute to the nursing student attrition problem at a state-supported university.