This study identifies and discusses the academic activities and support services that second-year-engineering students perceived as having impacted their freshman year academic performance. Guided by Astin's (1984) student involvement theory, this investigation involved a total of 34 participants, and was conducted at a large land-grant university in the southeastern United States during the spring semester of the 1998/99 academic year. The following questions were addressed by this study: (1) Which academic activities do students consider as important to their academic performance? (2) Which academic support services do students consider as important to their academic performance? (3) Are there academic performance level-related differences in students' perceptions of the impact of various academic activities in which they are involved, relative to their academic performance? (4) Are there academic performance level-related differences in students' perceptions of impact of the academic support services they use, relative to their academic performance? (5) Are there gender-related differences in students' perceptions of the impact of various academic activities in which they are involved, relative to their academic performance? (6) Are there gender-related differences in students' perceptions of impact of the academic support services they use, relative to their academic performance? (7) Are there race-related differences in students' perceptions of the impact of various academic activities in which they are involved, relative to their academic performance? (8) Are there race-related differences in students' perceptions of impact of the academic support services they use, relative to their academic performance? The data for this study were gathered from 9 focus group interviews and from an accompanying open-ended questionnaire. The 34 participants were divided into groups according to their academic performance levels, gender and race. There were six unsuccessful academic performers with below 2.00 GPAs; 12 low academic performers with GPAs below 2.7 but not less than 2.00; and 14 high academic performers with GPAs of 2.7 and above. The racial and gender composition was: 25 White students, 9 Black students; and equal numbers of males and females (17 each). The criteria for participation were being a second-year, full-time student enrolled in the 1998/99 academic year. Data were analyzed through content analysis, constant comparative data analysis and supplemented by NUD*IST. The resulting findings demonstrate a link between academic involvement activities and academic performance. The academic involvement factors that students perceived as either positively or negatively impacting their freshman year academic performance were identified and categorized into three general themes: (1) effort and involvement, (2) peer interaction and (3) faculty interaction. Effort and involvement factors refer to the specific learning activities implemented and the academic support services students used during the freshman year. Peer interaction factors are the relationships and contacts with fellow students that were perceived as impacting academic performance. Faculty interaction refers to a student's contact with professors inside and outside of the classroom and the perceived impact of these interactions on academic performance. The critical factors identified for success in engineering include doing homework and completing assignments, making good use of one's time, using supportive programmatic resources, and receiving academic support from interacting with peers and faculty. Students who expend effort in these areas are more likely to perform at a higher academic performance level than those who do not. / Ph. D.

This thesis will deal with five points of emphasis--content, logic, organization, demon errors, and style. Not a complete manual for teaching freshman composition, this thesis will serve as a simplified guide. This thesis is written for the inexperienced teacher of freshman English who may need guidance, but it should also be of interest to the experienced teacher who wants to confirm his own practices or to find new approaches for teaching the college freshman how to write.

The purpose of this study was to collect data and analyze the cultural diversity behavioral characteristics among freshman engineering students attending a large southeastern urban institute of technology. A secondary purpose was to examine freshman students' behavioral patterns as they are demonstrated in a university setting during cultural, educational, and pre-professional or work related interactions. This study was also designed to contribute to the current knowledge base of relevant data designed to improve the technological institute's level of diversity and increase service to its diverse population. The Survey of Contemporary Cultural Diversity Attitudes was used to determine the behavioral characteristics among freshman engineering students. The subjects in this study consisted of a select group of 213 freshman students enrolled in the institute's Psychology 1010 (freshman orientation) classes. Frequency Analysis in numbers and percentages were used to analyze the data. The results indicated that the survey respondents agreed with cultural diversity in social settings, disagreed with cultural diversity in educational settings and agreed with cultural diversity in the workforce.

The purposes of this study were to determine freshman composition requirements, to describe organization of writing programs, to describe staffing of writing programs, to identify common textbooks and syllabi requirements, to describe course content and pedagogy, and to describe common goals and philosophies of Texas writing programs.

The purpose of this quantitative study was to identify and explore the relationship between state appropriations and freshman to sophomore retention at public, four year institutions of higher education. Additional questions concerning the users of retention programming learning centers, summer bridge programs, and freshman seminars emerged during the analysis of the initial question. Data sources included the College Board annual survey of institutions, WebCASPAR, Barron's Profiles of American Colleges, and email surveying of the 271 institutions included in the sample for the years 1991 and 1996. The data was used in a series of multiple regressions and fixed effects regressions. The fixed effects method was viable since the same institutions provided observations for two points in time. The choice of independent variables was informed by retention theory and prior quantitative research into the retention question, as well as by the small body of literature addressing the efficacy of retention interventions. The new independent variable was the state dollars allocated per FTE student at each institution in 1991 and 1996.The multiple regression analyses confirmed that state dollars have a statistical impact on freshman to sophomore retention. In addition, the analyses suggested that summer bridge programming is the most effective of the three retention interventions considered, despite the small size of these programs relative to learning centers and freshman seminars. However, learning centers were the most numerous of the three programs and freshman seminars were the fastest growing. Descriptive statistics suggested that institutions using these three programs have higher populations of students of color and also were more selective than those institutions not using the programs.The fixed effects regressions, however, returned very different results, with freshman seminars showing a strong, negative effect on retention rates and state appropriations no apparent effect. Data limitations may have resulted in these disparate results. Implications of this work include a stronger case for institutions to lobby the states and the suggestion to implement summer bridge programming prior to the other two interventions while additional research should employ a more robust data set and focus on disaggregating state money into its primary beneficiaries.

Even though faculty are one of the most important components of a successful learning community, little research discusses the experiences and motivational factors that influence faculty to participate actively in learning community programs. This study at Ball State University helped researchers to understand these factors so that they could alter the learning community environment to make it more favorable for faculty participation. Qualitative research methodology resulted in data being gathered via interviews with faculty members who were identified as active participants in the Freshman Connections program during the fall 2002 semester. An interview guide was revised from a study conducted by Golde and Pribbenow (2000). Data were collected in April 2003. The researcher analyzed the data by identifying thematic connections among the data according to guidelines presented by Seidman (1998). / Department of Educational Leadership

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF BENJAMIN M. ERWIN, for the Masters of Arts degree in Rhetoric and Composition, presented on December 18th, 2009 at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: WHAT YOU SAY AND WHERE YOU SAY IT: AN EXAMINATION OF INSTRUCTOR END COMMENTS AND STUDENT REVISION IN FRESHMAN COMPOSITION MAJOR PROFESSOR: LISA J. MCCLURE The relationship between instructor commentary and student revision is not a new issue, but the majority of this existing scholarship focuses on marginal feedback while largely ignoring the possible influence of end comments. The purpose of my study was to examine the types of remarks within endnotes alongside the revisions made by a pair of English 101 students at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. The participants in my study were English 101 instructors and students. By studying the comments of composition instructors as well as the revisions of a pair of SIUC students, this study presents evidence that suggests students revise and edit as the result of remarks within end comments. However, various types of remarks seemed to result in different types of revisions from these two students. Based on the instructor endnotes and the revisions provided by the two case study students, lower-order concerns are most commonly addressed in the revision process in the form of individual editing changes. Changes made in response to lower-order remarks do not generally affect the content of the text. Questions and references to higher-order concerns within end comments seemed to yield content-specific changes from both students. Given the low number of participants involved in my study, these results do not provide sufficient evidence to make specific claims regarding the influence of end comments for all students; however, endnotes seemed to foster revision when feedback is given on early drafts and when remarks clearly address content-specific aspects of a student's text.

This study investigated the validity of excusing students from composition courses based upon an objective examination. Utah State University (USU) students who had taken freshman composition courses during the 1970-71 school year when these courses were required of all entering freshman students were divided into two groups: one group was composed of those who had received an "A" or "B" for three freshman composition courses, while the other group had received a- "C" or "D" for the same courses. USU students who had been excused from taking freshman composition courses based on the CLEP General Examination in English Composition (CLEP) during the 1971-72 school year when all entering freshman students were required to take the C LEP were divided into two groups: one group had scored above 449 on the CLEP and the other group had scored from 390-449. In addition, students who had been excused from the same composition requirement based on a score above 2 on the Advanced Placement Test in English Composition (AP) were included in the study. A random sample of 25 from each of the above groups participated in the study. All subjects completed an essay test (CLEP Subject Examination in English Composition--Essay Section) and an objective test (CLEP Subject Examination--Objective Section). The essay test was rated independently by three members of the USU English Department, and an inter-rater reliability coefficient of . 83 was obtained using analysis of variance techniques. Results showed that on the bases of both the essay test and the objective test there was no significant difference in the writing ability of the two groups of students who had completed freshman composition courses and the two groups of students who had been excused from freshman composition courses based on the C LEP. On the bases of both of these tests, the students who scored above 2 on the AP test scored above all other groups in the study; the students who scored above 449 on the CLEP scored second to the AP students and very much like the students who had received an average of "A" or "B" in freshman composition courses; the students who scored 390-449 and those who received a "C" or "D" in composition courses received virtually identical scores on the essay and objective tests. Based on multiple regression analysis, the objective test was found to be a much better predictor of freshman English grades than the essay test. In addition, the essay test was found to add little to the prediction of freshman composition grades provided by the objective test alone. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that the C LEP had been accurately applied at USU. Based upon the assumption that freshman composition grades are a valid measure of writing ability, it was also concluded that the objective test used in the study was a more valid measure of writing ability than the essay test, and further concluded that the objective test could predict writing ability quite accurately independent of the essay test. In consideration of the previous conclusions, it was concluded that a strictly objective test can validly be used to excuse students from freshman composition courses.

The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship existed between arrival time in coming to take the ACT test and academic achievement. The individuals who met the general criteria were used in this study numbered 129; 46 of these met the additional criteria of arriving early and they composed the early group. The early and late groups were compared on ACT composite score and cumulative grade point average. Significant differences between the means could not be found, by analysis of variance; between the early and late groups using either ACT composite score or cumulative grade point average.

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 .