This study sought to determine the extent a relationship exists between locus of control and the rate of completion for proposal and dissertation defense among doctoral students. Levenson's Internal, Powerful Others, and Chance scales were utilized to identify locus of control orientation. Findings indicated that: (1) a majority, 102, scored highest on the Internal scale; (2) Internal scale scores above the median related to increased probability of a proposal and dissertation defense and to reduced time in reaching those points; (3) no significant difference was found between male and female defensive externals in completing the proposal or dissertation defense; and (4) females tended to score higher than males on the Internal scale. Among conclusions drawn are: (1) Internal scale scores above the median relate to a reduced length of time to complete the proposal and dissertation defense; and (2) few doctoral candidates scoring higher on the Powerful Others or Chance scales were identified in this doctoral program after the point of qualifying examinations.

The problem of this study was to determine the value of Scholastic Aptitude Test scores and high school percentile rank for predicting a student's achievement in American history at North Texas State University. The study also sought to determine what, if any, difference existed between male and female students, students of different ethnic backgrounds, and students of different semester classification with respect to learning achievement in American history.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1989. / Also available in print.

Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 1960. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: no abstract available / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: geen opsomming

The study explored the relationship between student academic performance in an exit-level, developmental mathematics course and subsequent academic performance in a college-level mathematics course. Using an ex post facto research design, the study focused specifically on the influence of three sets of factors: (a) demographic characteristics, (b) "stopping-out," and (c) the developmental course. The criterion variables were college-level performance, defined in terms of the student's course grade, and college-level persistence, defined in terms of whether or not the student officially withdrew from the course. A convenience sample of 824 community college students who had completed both the exit-level developmental mathematics course and the entry-level college course during a three-year period from fall 1989 to summer 1992 was used for the data set; the students in the set were shown to be similar to several populations of developmental students. Discriminant function analysis indicated that the data supported the hypotheses. The discriminant function was calibrated on 364 cases randomly selected from the data set; the remainder of the cases were used to cross-validate the results. Cross-validated correct classification rates of 76.74% for academic success and 81.09% for persistence were obtained. The major conclusions of the study were: (1) Developmental course performance is a significant discriminator of college-level mathematics performance and persistence. (2) The length of time a student allows to pass between exiting the developmental course and entering the college-level course is a negatively related discriminator of both college-level performance and persistence. (3) Student age is a positively related discriminator of college-level mathematics performance. (4) The number of attempts at the developmental course is a negatively related discriminator of persistence. (5) African American completers of developmental mathematics appear to be more likely to withdraw from entry-level college mathematics than developmental completers in other ethnic groups. (6) Poor performance in exit-level developmental mathematics greatly increases the risk of failure or attrition for students in entry-level college mathematics. The implications of these results and those of several post hoc analyses were discussed in terms of their theoretical and applied contributions, the limitations of the study were detailed, and suggestions made for future research. / text

College success, as defined by adjustment to college and academic performance, is a multidetermined with a number of contributing influences, including academic factors, personality variables, family characteristics, and environmental factors. This study attempted to provide an organizing model of the college success literature that was based on previous research (e.g., Aspinwall & Taylor, 1994) and current stress-coping theory (Moos & Swindle, 1990). Structural equation modeling analyses indicated that the hypothesized model did not fit the data well. However, subsequent regression analyses did validate the view that college success is multidetermined. Specifically, academic performance was predicted by a combination of academic factors (SAT score and class rank) and academic adjustment. In turn, academic adjustment was predicted by locus of control, perceived social support, and high school class rank. Personal adjustment was predicted by coping strategies employed, parents who fostered autonomy, locus of control, self-esteem, and high school class rank. Finally, social adjustment was predicted by optimism, coping strategies employed, and locus of control. Treatment implications as well as directions for future research were discussed.

The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of academic assistance programs on at-risk students at the United States Naval Academy. Each year, students determined to be at-risk are enrolled in an academic assistance program known as the Plebe Intervention Program. In addition, other academic assistance programs are available to these students. In particular, the Naval Academy administers a program known as the Midshipmen Group Study Program, which is based on the supplemental instruction model. This study examines the impact of participation in each of these programs as a determinant to persistence beyond the freshman year. Other determinants examined included demographics (ethnicity and gender), course grades, athletic status, and preadmittance data (SAT scores).

Traditionally, nurse anesthesia educators have utilized prior academic achievement to predict student success. However, research has indicated that prior academic achievement offers an inadequate assessment of student success in graduate healthcare programs with extensive clinical residencies. The educational literature has identified many non-cognitive factors, such as self-efficacy and locus of control, that may provide a more holistic prediction model of student success. An experimental study with pretest-posttest design and stratified random assignment was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational intervention to promote self-management, professional socialization, and academic achievement among first semester graduate nurse anesthesia students. Participants (N = 66) were demographically similar to the national graduate nurse anesthesia student body, though Hispanics and younger students were a little over-represented in the sample (56% female, 75.8% White, 15.2% Hispanic, 6% Other, 59% ≤ 30-years-old, 67% ≤ 3 years of ICU). The results showed that most graduate anesthesia students had strong self-management and professional socialization characteristics on admission. The results did not support the effectiveness of this educational intervention. Thus, ceiling effect may have accounted in part for statistically non-significant results regarding self-efficacy (p = .190, ω2 = .03), locus of control (p = .137, ω2 = .04), professional socialization (p = .819, ω2 = .001), and academic achievement (p = .689, ω2 = .003). Future researchers may need to expand the scope of the intervention, use a more powerful and sensitive instrument, and utilize a larger sample.

The problem of this study was to investigate the relationships that exist among individual short-term counseling, academic achievement, personality factors, and college persistence of students on the junior college level.

The problem of the study is to investigate the effect of sex differences in the use of the California Achievement Tests and the California Test of Mental Maturity in predicting academic success in high school. The specific predictors which are analyzed for sex differences are verbal intelligence quotient from the California Test of Mental Maturity and reading vocabulary, reading comprehension, arithmetic achievement, and language achievement from the California Achievement Tests.