Wellness literature reported that the current focus on academic achievement and high-stakes testing has sacrificed wellness in students, and ?there is a strong need and a public outcry to promote wellness in public schools? (Myers & Sweeney, 2005a, p. 228). Also, ?the promotion of schoolwide well-being will enrich the academic experience of students and families. In addition, school staff members who are aware and knowledgeable of wellness concepts may be more likely to apply healthy strategies in the curriculum and throughout the school? (Myers & Sweeney, p. 232). Effective teacher research supported the Student Teacher Assessment Instrument as a viable measure of teacher effectiveness. The purpose of this research was to determine whether holistic wellness as defined by creative self, coping self, social self, essential self, and physical self as measured by the 5F-Wel can be used to predict teacher effectiveness as measured by the STAI. The research question proposed for this study was: Is there a relationship between wellness as measured by the Five Factor Wellness Inventory and effective teaching as measured by the STAI? The research design was correlational. A convenience sample of voluntary participants among the 54 teacher interns during the spring 2006 semester from Mississippi State University-Meridian campus was used. The predictor variables were the second order factor scores on the 5F-Wel. These factors are creative self, coping self, social self, essential self, and physical self. The dependent variable was the overall formative score on the STAI. The results obtained show the predictor variables included in the multiple linear regression analysis did not predict teacher effectiveness as measured by the STAI at an accuracy greater than chance. A statistically significant relationship between the predictor variables and dependent variable was not found. Specifically, wellness as measured by the second order factors on the 5F-Wel did not predict teacher effectiveness as measured by the STAI in this study. Recommendations included: (a) using similar methodology in other studies and (b) replicating the study with future cohorts of student interns from Mississippi State University-Meridian Campus.

Persistence is an important issue in higher education (Tinto, 1987a). Although social and economic benefits of a college education are well documented (Baum & Ma, 2007; Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2004), during the last 100 years the college graduation rate has remained at approximately 50% (Education Policy Institute, 2004). While prior academic achievement has proven to be a successful predictor of success in college (Camara & Echtnernacht, 2000; Sadler, Cohen, & Kockesen, 1997; Tinto, 1993), it does not account for all the variability in student retention. Research has shown that other factors, including social adaptation, physical fitness, and emotional stability can contribute to whether an individual continues to persist past the first year of college (Astin, 1993; McClanahan, 2004; Tinto, 1987b). The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between self-reported wellness and academic success in first-year health science college students. In addition the study sought to determine if the relationship between wellness and academic success differs by gender, academic program, or ethnicity. Also examined was whether the factors of wellness could be used to predict academic success. Wellness was defined using the Myers and Sweeney (2005) conceptual framework, as measured in a series of constructs, including the coping self, creative self, essential self, physical self, social self and an overall wellness score. Academic success was defined as first semester grade point average. The study also controlled for high school grade point average (HSGPA) and scholastic aptitude test score (SAT) as factors of prior academic achievement that may affect academic success in college. The findings suggest that the impact of wellness differs by ethnicity and academic program. In addition, certain factors of wellness can be used to help predict academic success in the first semester of college. Finally, overall wellness had little if any bearing on academic success in first-time, first-year students. / Ph. D.