This study examined gender role and female body image. It was hypothesized that results would support a statistically significant difference between the androgynous gender role group and other gender role groups on measures of body image. Androgynous female undergraduates (n = 52) of a large southwestern university, as classified by the Short Form of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, were compared with masculine (n = 57), feminine (n = 53), and undifferentiated (n = 56) female undergraduates on body image scores of the Body Esteem Scale. Androgynous females scored significantly higher than masculine, feminine, and undifferentiated females on the Sexual Attractiveness subscale and significantly higher than the undifferentiated females on the Weight Concern and Physical Condition subscales. Additional results supported a significant correlation between height-to-weight ratio and Weight Concern subscale scores and a low but statistically significant correlation between height-to-weight ratio and Physical Condition subscale scores.

<p>The Keystone Learning Community was implemented by the Department of Campus Recreation to address retention at the institution. This learning community for incoming freshmen consists of two phases. Phase I is as an outdoor orientation program that includes a three day, two night canoeing and camping experiencer lead by upperclassmen leaders. Faculty and staff from the institution complete every aspect of Phase I with the freshmen. Phase II is class time that concentrates on development of critical thinking and writing skills. </p><p> Through surveys and interviews, participants in the Keystone Learning Community reported strong peer, faculty, and upperclassmen engagement initiated by the completion of Phase I. Participants in the Keystone LC considered Phase I to a be a significant event in their transition to college. The engagement facilitated in Phase I created and strengthened the ability to persist in the participants. The strategies to persist the students gained through their engagement leads to retention of the participants. Both persistence and retention as facilitated through the Keystone Learning Community feed back into deeper engagement at the institution. A conceptual framework is introduced that purposes a non-linear alternative to the Tinto model of student departure. This new framework highlights the dynamic complexity and interactions between engagement, persistence, and retention. </p>

<p> The purpose of this research was to explore community college counselors' perception of role strain in their positions. Role strain theory explains the difficulties individuals face as they determine which behavior expectations they fulfill in their relationships. It was determined that counselors have important role relationships with students, college administrators and their peers.</p><p> Through qualitative analysis, this study provided knowledge about community college counselor's perceptions about expectations of their role on campus. The study discovered student and administrator expectations of counselors, and beliefs counselors held regarding their roles based on formal educational and on the job trainings.</p><p> This research aimed to answer the following questions: (a) How do California community college counselors define their roles in serving their student population? (b) What are California community college counselor's perceptions of student, administrative and professional expectations of the counselor's role? (c) What are the role expectations community college counselors learned from their formal education and on the job training programs? and (d) How do community college counselors perceive any differences in role expectations to affect their ability to provide quality counseling services? To answer these questions, in-depth interviews were utilized to collect qualitative data from community college counselors.</p><p> The findings resulted from qualitative data analysis of the interview transcripts from study participants. Using thematic coding and analysis the interview data was grouped by codes into recurring themes. This resulted in the identification of four critical themes: (a) counselor preparation; (b) counselor role expectations; (c) counselor experiences with students; and (d) Counselor perceptions of college administrators.</p><p> The results showed to improve counseling practice, counselors must discover ways to effectively deal with student mental health, and teach students how to navigate the higher education system. Counselors must also learn new ways to meet administrative requests for data based on information they already collect from students. This research be further developed by collecting data from a larger more diverse group of counselors. The data can be enriched by analyzing what Master's programs intend to teach future counselors. Last, collecting data from students is always recommended as the goal is always to improve their success.</p>

<p> Each fall, approximately one million children enter the ninth grade with little prospect of completing high school. Of the 1.1 million students projected to leave school without a diploma for the 2012 school year, a staggering 27 percent (approximately 310,000) will be of Latino descent (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2012). The purpose of this study&mdash;"Dreams Deferred: A Qualitative Study of Latino Youth Who Left High School Prior to Obtaining a Diploma"&mdash;was to examine the perceptions and beliefs of Latino youth as they attempted to make meaning of the factors that led to their leaving school before graduation. Utilizing phenomenological research methods, the researcher conducted in-depth interviews with ten individuals who had the shared experience of leaving high school prematurely. The phenomenological in-depth interview research design was chosen because the occurrence of Latino students leaving school without a diploma cannot be examined without consideration of how the experience was defined and felt by the students. In addition, multiple factors must be considered including the subjective impact of the students' social, cultural and educational histories on their school experience. The individuals were participants in a community-based GED program and were selected through purposeful sampling based on pre-identified selection criteria. The study focused on the participants' perceptions of their school experience and the events and influences that precipitated their premature departure from school. Data were collected through the in-depth interviews and detailed field notes of observations made during the interviews and program activities. Data analysis consisted of coding responses and clustering relevant statements into themes and patterns, which were then synthesized into descriptions of the participants' school experience and the factors associated with their leaving school prior to graduation. Data from the study revealed that the participants began to feel disengaged in middle school, and they perceived that their interaction with school personnel had a significant impact on their school experience. In addition, the participants cited multiple factors outside of school that diverted their focus from learning and ultimately contributed to their leaving school without a diploma. Recommendations for practice and additional research are included following a discussion of data.</p>

<p> Among ethnic groups in California, Latinos continue to have the lowest high school graduation rates and the lowest college completion rates. This study focused on understanding the role parents can play and ways schools and educators can support immigrant Latino parents to improve these rates. </p><p> Framed with a <i>funds of knowledge</i> approach (Gonzalez, N., Moll, L., &amp; Amanti, C.,2005), this mixed-methods qualitative and quantitative study was conducted in a public charter high school in a low income area of Los Angeles where the student body was primarily Latino. The mission of the school was to prepare students for higher education at a four-year institution. </p><p> The study results showed that it is possible for a school to engage immigrant Latino parents. With a better understanding of the aspirations, fears, and challenges faced by this community, the information can be provided in a form that is meaningful and that builds upon existing <i>funds of knowledge.</i> Critical components of the college outreach program were seeking parent input, developing a parent outreach plan, making information accessible, encouraging parent college visits, disseminating information beginning in middle school, providing personalized guidance, developing an undocumented student support plan, and creating a college-going culture. Implementing the the college access program encompassed gathering informal and formal feedback, presenting workshops, making documents available in Spanish as well as English, defining terms, arranging college visits, sending and displaying motivating communications, and engaging staff, students, and parents every step of the way.</p>

<p> Treatment integrity of school-based interventions is discussed within the dropout prevention and the Check &amp; Connect (C&amp;C) mentoring program framework. Treatment integrity factors and increasing and measuring it are explored. The psychometric properties of the C&amp;C Survey, an online administered self-report treatment integrity measure, used 2010/2011 data from 24 mentors and middle school mentees. Estimation of the C&amp;C Survey's criterion and content validity through mixed methods included data across multiple factors of treatment integrity and mentee outcomes. Aspects of the C&amp;C Survey correlate to improved mentee attendance and, less so, to decreased mentee GPA. Qualitative data showed mentors with higher C&amp;C Survey scores have more comprehensive knowledge of C&amp;C interventions. Experienced mentors found the C&amp;C Survey accurately reflected their activities. The C&amp;C Survey was deemed to have adequate psychometric properties. The frequent use of online administered treatment integrity measures for school-based interventions is proposed and further investigation posited.</p>

<p> As our nation has become more aware of severe, yet usually rare, crisis events in schools, the need for crisis planning is more evident. Although the severity of crises can differ greatly (e.g., school shooting versus physical assaults), crisis preparedness is an essential component of schools' responsibilities in order to effectively respond to a variety of situations. A total of 70 participants, from multiple states across the United States, completed an online questionnaire about demographic characteristics, resources for school crisis planning, and training on crisis topics. Participants also submitted a copy of their school's crisis plan to be evaluated using a recently developed checklist to assess the comprehensiveness of plans. The results indicated that school crisis plans were often lacking recommended components in the prevention, intervention, and postvention areas. Further analyses revealed that demographic variables did not significantly impact the variation in plan quality, and the total training score did not significantly predict plan quality. However, the regression analysis for the total resources score was significant in predicting plan quality. Another important finding of this research was that plans often included essential crisis procedures that were not included on the checklist used for evaluation. These results hold several implications for schools. First, schools should be revising and updating crisis plans on a regular basis. The lack of certain components based on the checklist should be taken into account when revising these plans. Schools may also want to invest in factors that will positively influence their crisis planning. The current study suggests that resources are a significant predictor of plan quality, and thus this should be an area where schools focus time and funding. </p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to assess the sex-role egalitarian attitudes and gender role socialization experiences of African American men and women. A sequential mixed-methods design was employed to research this phenomenon. The Sex-Role Egalitarianism Scale-Short Form BB (SRES-BB) was utilized to assess sex-role egalitarian attitudes (King &amp; King, 1993). </p><p> A total of 183 participants, 86 males and 97 females, completed the SRES-BB. Results revealed statistically significant differences in male and female total scores on the SRES-BB. Participants were purposefully selected to engage in the follow-up interview process. There were a total of eight participants. Eight themes were identified that depicted the perceived gender role socialization experiences of the participants: instillation of religious/spiritual values, familial generational socialization, gender role flexibility, male gender role norms, female gender role norms, ethnic cultural differences in gender role socialization, the influence of educational accomplishment on gender role socialization, and the influence of society and social networking on gender role attitudes. </p><p> Overall the results depicted the African Americans in this sample as less egalitarian than asserted in much of the literature (Bryant &amp; Beckett, 1997; Davenport &amp; Yurich, 1991; Stanik &amp; Bryant, 2012). The interviews supported and expanded existing literature on themes relevant to understanding the gender role socialization experiences of some African Americans to include installation of religious values, diversity in roles assumed by African American women, and perceived ethnic cultural differences in the gender role socialization experience. </p><p> Results of this study provided several implications for counselor educators and practitioners: the relevance of broaching race and gender when working with African American clients, or students, awareness of the perception of privilege for middle and upper-class Whites highlighting the importance of exploring the intersectionality of status variables (e.g. race, gender, religion, etc.), and considering gender role socialization experiences when providing counseling and supervision to African Americans individually, as couples, and families.</p>

<p> College student retention has been described as a puzzle because retention rates have stagnated, and in some cases declined, despite over seventy years of research into the problem. The magnitude of the problem is that 50 percent of college students will leave their institution before obtaining a degree (Braxton, Hirschy, &amp; McClendon, 2011). In an effort to improve retention rates, colleges and universities have concentrated their attention on first year students. But this concentrated strategy may have simply transferred the retention problem into the second year where retention rates for many schools are as low as first year rates (Amaury, Barlow, &amp; Crisp, 2005). While advising practices have been identified as one of the three top contributors to increasing retention, major gaps exist about the role academic advising might play in the retention of <i>second</i> year students. </p><p> The present correlational study was undertaken to fill gaps in the mostly conceptual second year literature base which implies second year students differ from first year and upper division students. Advising formed the focus of the study because advising has been identified as one of the most important methods for putting students into a mentoring relationship with college staff and faculty, a practice with strong ties to retention (Habley &McClanahan;, 2004; Kuh, 2008). Six research questions were posed in the study which asked whether second year students differed from first year and upper division students and whether retained second year students differed from not retained second year students in their attitudes toward and experiences with advising.</p><p> Using simultaneous and logistic regression models, and controlling for confounding variables, statistically significant differences were found between second year students and their first year and upper division peers as well as between retained second year students and not retained second year students. </p><p> The findings of difference between second year and other students provide the growing second year retention literature with an empirical basis to support previously held assumptions about difference between class years which had also formed the basis for presumptions about practice for second year success and retention. Many of the findings in this study also support present retention and second year research and prescriptions for practice provided by that research. </p>

<p> Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) is the most frequently diagnosed psychiatric disorder among children (APA, 2000). This information is especially relevant to teachers in the elementary school population where this disorder is often first evidenced (Wilens, Faraone, Biederman, &amp; Gunawardene, 2003). Individuals with AD/HD frequently experience significant difficulty meeting social/emotional, academic, and behavioral expectations. </p><p> Even with the high prevalence and significance of AD/HD, very little research has investigated teachers' knowledge of AD/HD or defined a protocol for quickly updating teachers' knowledge of this subject. In particular, there is limited literature examining primary-school teachers' overall knowledge in this area (Kos, Richdale, &amp; Jackson, 2004). </p><p> This study developed and assessed the effectiveness of a 45 minute on-line accelerated AD/HD training developed for elementary school teachers. This on-line Accelerated Elementary School Professional Development AD/HD Training was geared towards educators who have some basic knowledge and experiences with children who have AD/HD but who have been unable to keep abreast of new findings regarding AD/HD and associated gender, culture, and environmental factors. </p><p> Training effectiveness was assessed by comparing results obtained in on-line pre and post training testing as well as by assessing responses to 11 post training "interview questions". The basic assessment instrument used was the Knowledge of Attention Deficit Disorders Survey (KADDS). Each training participant completed a Descriptive Demographics Questionnaire which was correlated with their KADDS' test results. </p><p> Analysis of participants' responses to the KADDS questions, across the three categories of knowledge reflected in the KADDS, combined with a qualitative assessment of responses to the Post Training Interview Questions, support the conclusion that the study was able to assess the effectiveness of the 45 minute Accelerated Elementary School Professional Development AD/HD Training (herein referred to as the "Accelerated AD/HD Training"). This training was developed to increase teachers' awareness of their significant role in the early identification of children at risk for AD/HD and to equip them with general knowledge of AD/HD as well as its symptoms and interventions. The training provides essential information regarding gender, cultural and environmental considerations as they impact presentations of AD/HD. As part of this study, strengths and weakness of the training were identified and recommendations were provided to address specific training weaknesses as well as KADDS shortfalls in the areas of AD/HD knowledge relating to gender, culture, and environmental factors. This study is one of the first to demonstrate that a web-based medium can quickly improve the AD/HD knowledge of elementary school teachers. </p><p> Following implementation of noted training improvements, the protocol may serve as a model for development of future AD/HD trainings and also specifically address the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria. Recommendations were also made regarding possible future studies. The studies identified are based upon observations made during this study and teachers' responses to Post Training Interview Questions.</p>