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State systems have begun to implement performance-based policies in higher education that obligate state institutions to demonstrate they are providing quality educational experiences for students in an effective and efficient manner (Hatcher, Kryter, Prus, & Fitzgerald, 1992; Redd, 1998). Quality and overall effectiveness are measured by student outcomes, such as student retention, attrition, and graduation rates (Hatcher, et al., 1992; Redd, 1998). College student satisfaction has emerged as a factor that affects student retention, attrition and graduation rates (Aitken, 1982; Allen, 1987; Hatcher, et al., 1992; Love, 1993). The greater the level of satisfaction with the college environment, the greater the likelihood that the student will remain affiliated with the institution. This is seen at predominately White institutions (PWIs). Many have found that African American students are less satisfied than their White counterparts with the college environment, and have attrition rates five to eight times higher than their White counterparts at the same institution (Allen, 1987; Fisher & Hartmann, 1991; Love, 1993; Suen, 198). Approximately 80 percent of all African American undergraduates are enrolled in PWIs (Arenson, 1997). Research also indicates that African American students attending historically Black institutions (HBIs) seem to be more satisfied with the college environment than their African American counterparts at PWIs, and graduate at rates equal to White students at PWIs (Allen, 1987; Bohr, Pascarella, Nora, & Terenzini, 1995; Love, 1993; Nettles, et al., 1986; Suen, 1983). Despite these satisfaction and success rates, by 1994, total African American student enrollments at HBIs decreased to an all-time low: 16 percent (Redd, 1998; Schexnider, 1998). Contrary to African American student enrollments, White student enrollments at HBIs have increased 71 percent from 1976 to 1994 (Redd, 1998; Wenglinsky, 1996). Because these students represent non-majorities on HBI campuses, it would be interesting to see if the pattern of satisfaction for African American students attending PWIs hold true for White students at HBIs. The present study, by examining the satisfaction levels of both groups of students with the college environment, is designed to address this gap in the existing body of literature on African Americans and Whites at PWIs and HBIs. Data related to levels of student satisfaction with the college environment were obtained from the College Environment scale of the Student Opinion Survey (SOS). Chi-squares were calculated on each item of the College Environment scale to determine significance. The study made within group comparisons (AA-HBI v. AA-PWI; W-PWI v. W-HBI) and between group comparisons (AA-PWI v. W-PWI; AA-HBI v. W-HBI) based on majority and non-majority statuses on respective campuses. Results of the study revealed that, when respecting the non-majority on campus, African American and White students are seemingly more satisfied (or equally satisfied) with aspects of the college environment than their majority students counterparts on campus. Additionally, these non-majority groups were more satisfied (or equally satisfied) with dimensions of the college environment than their ethnic counterparts on PWI and HBI campuses (AA-HBI and W-PWI students). W-HBI students demonstrated greater levels of satisfaction than all other groups included in the study. / Master of Arts

International assessments indicate that Swedish students achieve high results in reading, writing and understanding English. However, this does not mean that the students display oral proficiency, despite an emphasis on functional and communicative language skills in the current English Syllabus. While a previous literature study by this researcher has shown that authentic texts are a way to increase these skills, most of the results shown are from an international viewpoint. Thus an empirical study was conducted within Sweden with the aim to examine the use of authentic texts in the Swedish EFL upper elementary classroom. Twelve teachers have answered a questionnaire on how they use authentic texts in their language teaching, as well as their opinions about these as a teaching tool. Additionally, 37 students have answered a questionnaire on their attitudes about authentic texts. Results indicate that all of the teachers surveyed see authentic texts as an effective way to increase students’ communicative competence and English language skills; however, only a few use them with any frequency in language teaching. Furthermore, this seems to affect the students’ attitudes, since many say that they read authentic texts in their free time, but prefer to learn English out of a textbook at school. These findings are based on a small area of Sweden. Therefore, further research is needed to learn if these opinions hold true for the entire country or vary dependent upon region or other factors not taken into consideration in this study.

This paper studies the attitudes of college students concerning statistics; students who are taking the basic course in Statistics under an Adult Worker Student program at a private university in Lima, Peru. Two scales have been considered: Attitudes Toward Statistics (ATSE) proposed by Estrada (2002) and Attitudes Toward Statistics (ATSC) proposed by Cazorla et al (1999). The sample corresponds to 137 students with ages ranging from 32 to 42 years old, from four engineering majors, , 84% male and 52% who had taken a previous course in statistics. The item analysis was performed considering the Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT) under the Bayesian inference of the Samejima’s graded response model (Tarazona, 2013). The results reveal that AEC has a reliability of 0.93, and by comparison a shortened version of AEE after eliminating two items has a reliability of 0.88. Both scales are closely correlated are therefore are interchangeable. However AEE is the only one that reveals differences by specialty, especially among students of the School of Industrial Engineering (positive attitudes), and of Telecommunications and Network Engineering (less positive attitudes). Finally, other factors such as gender, different age groups and experience in a previous course of Statistics were insignificant in explaining attitudes toward statistics at any scale. / Se analiza las Actitudes hacia la Estadística en estudiantes universitarios que llevan un primer curso de Estadística en el marco del programa Estudiante Adulto, Trabajador de una universidad privada de Lima en Perú. Son consideradas dos escalas: Actitudes hacia la Estadística de Estrada (2002) (AEE) y Actitudes hacia la Estadística de Cazorla; Silva; Vendramini & Brito (1999) (AEC). La muestra corresponde a 137 estudiantes de cuatro especialidades de Ingeniería, con edades entre 32 y 42 años, siendo un 84 % del sexo masculino y un 52 % que ya habían llevado antes un curso de Estadística. El análisis de ítems fue realizado considerando la Teoría Clásica de los Test (TCT) y la Teoría de Respuesta al Ítem (TRI), bajo inferencia bayesiana del Modelo de Respuesta Graduada de Samejima (Tarazona, 2013). Los resultados muestran que AEC tiene una confiabilidad de 0,93; en contraste, AEE tiene 0,88 para una versión recortada eliminando dos ítems. Ambas presentan una fuerte correlación, siendo por tanto intercambiables. No obstante, AEE es la única que muestra diferencias por especialidad, sobre todo entre los estudiantes de Ingeniería Industrial (actitudes más positivas) y los estudiantes de Ingeniería de Telecomunicaciones y Redes (actitudes menos positivas). Finalmente, otros factores como sexo del estudiante, permanencia a diferentes grupos etarios y experiencia en un curso previo de Estadística no resultaron significativos para explicar las Actitudes hacia la Estadística en ninguna escala.

The purposes of this study were threefold: (1) to examine the effects of time spent on CAI on student attitudes, (2) to examine the effects of time spent on CAI among ability groups, and (3) to determine whether initial attitudes would be maintained throughout a school year, and if not, determine variables associated with an attitude shift.

This study looks at factors relating to the noncompletion of units of study by students in a secondary college. It is aimed at providing information for decision-makers at Erindale College specifically in the area of course counselling. Administrators and counsellors at other colleges should also find the information of value. The study compared a sample of students who completed all their chosen units of study in one semester with all students who did not complete all of their chosen units in that semester. The latter group consisted of those who withdrew from one or more units during the semester, those who left the college and those who were deemed "unassessable" as a result of poor attendance or nonsubmission of assessment items. All 362 students in the college were asked to complete a Baseline Questionnaire during Week 3 of Semester 1, 1985. This sought background information about reasons for enrolling at college, influences on their choice of units, future intentions, preferred ways of learning and other details. Students who withdrew from, or changed units during the semester were asked to complete a Change of Unit Survey and any leavers were asked to complete a Leaver's Survey. In Week 16 (May, 1985) all students still enrolled were asked to complete an End of Semester Questionnaire designed to enable comparisons of attitudes between those who completed all units and those who did not. The study looks at a number of characteristics of students and their attitudes to various aspects of learning, college life and choice of units of study. It attempts to look at factors that might affect the student's decision to complete or not complete a chosen unit of study. The factors considered were largely based upon studies of early school leavers. FINDINGS. 1. Students who do not complete units tend to have one or more of the following characteristics (significant at the 0.05 level): (a) do not enrol to gain tertiary entrance qualifications (b) enrol to improve their chances of getting a job (c) are not definitely seeking a tertiary entrance score (d) have no definite intention of completing Year 12 (e) have no firm intention of studying subjects in order to complete major or minor courses in them (f) are less likely to have a part-time job (g) by the end of the semester, are not happy with their marks in most units (h) finish the semester studying less than 3 T-units (i) continue into Semester 2 with 3 or more A-units and less than 3 T-units (j) do not consider their parents' wishes an important influence on the choice of units for Semester 2. In addition to these, one other finding of interest, with a significance of 0.055 (approx.), showed that noncompleters tend to come from a socio-economic background of parents who are either managers/employers/self-employed or manual-skilled workers (i.e. not professional or nonmanual/clerical). 2. No significant differences at the 0.05 level were found between males and females nor between Year 11 and Year 12 students in their tendency to complete units. 3. Students who change or withdraw from units give the following reasons (in rank order of frequency): - they are getting poor marks - they are unable to understand the work - they find the class activities uninteresting - they state that the content is not very relevant to their needs - the unit is not suited to their career plans. IMPLICATIONS. The implications for administrators at Erindale College are: 1. Students should be encouraged to formulate specific goals and develop a commitment to their education. 2. Students who are "at risk" need to be identified early and given tutorial assistance in units where they are having difficulty with understanding. 3. The curriculum must be kept under review in order to provide for the needs of all students.

The differences in attitudes toward African American English (AAE) and Mainstream American English (MAE) were investigated among elementary students (N=34) and middle school students (N=40) using the Speech Evaluation Instrument (SEI). Participants listened to audio recordings of speakers of AAE and MAE and then completed the SEI. Both elementary and middle school students perceived MAE positively (p =.005), as hypothesized. However, for both hypotheses related to AAE, the researcher hypothesized that both groups would perceive the language negatively; however, in both cases, the researcher failed to reject the null hypothesis. Comparing how each group perceived the two languages, it was found that both groups perceived MAE more positively than they did AAE. With regard to perceptions of AAE, middle school students did not perceive AAE more favorably than elementary students did, as had been hypothesized. On individual scales of the Speech Evaluation Instrument, both elementary and middle school students perceived speakers of MAE more positively than they did speakers of AAE. Students felt that speakers of MAE were better readers, smarter, and more likely to be rich than speakers of AAE. Although, middle school students were more likely to feel that speakers of MAE were more intelligent and more likely to be leaders than speakers of AAE; elementary students did not feel the same way. For middle school students there was a statistically significant difference in how they perceived speakers of the two languages. Middle school students perceived speakers of MAE to be more helpful, more friendly, nicer, and kinder than speakers of AAE. The study concluded that both elementary and middle school students perceived MAE more positively than they did AAE. There appeared to be a shift in perceptions the longer students are in school. The study also revealed that perceiving MAE more positively than AAE did not indicate the participants perceived AAE negatively.

This research explored the impact of a sixth grade one-to-one laptop initiative on student attitudes about learning and technological competencies. The study compared student preintervention and postintervention survey data prior to and after a sixth grade laptop intervention initiative. The survey responses were divided into 5 dimensions (School Subject Attitudes, Teaching and Learning Preferences, Computer Use Perceptions, Technology Skills, and Personal Attitudes and Behaviors) on both pre- and postsurveys. District means were compared with preintervention and postintervention data, as well as the means from the 5 dimensions, using a one-sample t-test with a midpoint test value of 3 on a 5-point scale. Ninety students participated in the preintervention survey and 93 students participated in the postintervention survey across 3 schools. The findings indicated that there was a statistically significant difference in student responses in 4 of the 5 dimensions except Teaching and Learning Preferences. Overall the findings on the 2 dimensions related to technological competencies had statistically significant scores on the postintervention survey, whereas the findings on 2 of the 3 sections related to student attitudes about learning had statistically significant scores. In conclusion, generally the laptop intervention initiative had an overall positive impact on student attitudes and technological competencies. The researcher concluded that the timing of the postsurvey, as well as the research taking place during the first year of implementation could have had an impact on the Teaching and Learning Preferences results. Examining the impact of one-to-one initiatives on student attitudes about learning and technological competencies could support districts in making the decision of adopting this technology.

In an attempt to examine the effects of journaling and vocabulary strategies on elementary students’ attitudes towards mathematical performance, I embedded reflective journaling and vocabulary strategies into my fourth grade mathematics curriculum. The mathematics content focused on whole number place value, multiplication, and division. My study revealed the positive effects these interventions can have on elementary students’ attitudes towards mathematics.

As medical students undergo their clinical years, they exhibit a well-documented loss of idealism, increasingly negative attitudes towards poor and underserved patients, and less interest in working with these patients. Here we describe the pilot year of a longitudinal service-learning requirement implemented as a part of the medical student pre-clinical curriculum. We hypothesized that increased non-clinical contact would decrease the formation of negative attitudes towards underserved patients. Students completed service hours at assigned community sites each semester along with written reflections. Surveys were administered to track attitudes towards the underserved. Written reflections were analyzed qualitatively for thematic content as well as feedback on the experience. The requirement was largely acceptable to medical students, and many found value and enjoyment in the experience. The most common critique was that the required hours were insufficient to develop continuity, and that students desired more thorough briefing beforehand to increase their effectiveness. Students reported practicing clinical skills and communication skills. They identified social determinants of health and learned about their patients. They reflected on their professional identity, motivations for entering medicine, and specialty choices. Students experienced moments of connection and belonging, as well as feelings of guilt, otherness, and awareness of privilege. We continue to explore how working collaboratively and learning reciprocally with community members outside of the hospital and clinic may teach students cultural humility and help insulate students from cynicism and negative views of poor and medically underserved patients. / Urban Bioethics