Hansel Burley

Dropout and Stopout Patterns among Developmental Education Students in Texas Community Colleges.

The dropout/stopout patterns of community college students were examined in the research reported here. About two thirds of the 51,903 students in the study were enrolled in developmental education courses. Success in college was defined as a passing grade point average after five semesters of coursework. Student success was found to be associated with enrollment patterns, initial skill deficiencies, and age. Community college students who enrolled for consecutive semesters outperformed students with other types of enrollment patterns.The dropout/stopout patterns of community college students were examined in the research reported here. About two thirds of the 51,903 students in the study were enrolled in developmental education courses. Success in college was defined as a passing grade point average after five semesters of coursework. Student success was found to be associated with enrollment patterns, initial skill deficiencies, and age. Community college students who enrolled for consecutive semesters outperformed students with other types of enrollment patterns.

Coping with the Unexpected: Black Faculty at Predominately White Institutions

The fall semester is in full swing. Midterms have come and gone, and faculty as well as students are entrenched in the everyday activities of college life. Classes, research, writing, and service projects strain the 24-hour day of faculty, but these are the accepted aspects of faculty life at a predominately White (PWI) Research II institution. And then it happens; the unexpected incident. The institutions nationally ranked womens basketball team is hosting a historically Black institution (HBI) team. During the day of the game, the coaches for the visiting team go to a local discount store to pick up needed items. As they exit the store, police question them about a money scam reported by a local citizen. The coaches indicate they have no knowledge of the scam, however, the victim of the scam positively identifies the coaches. Police follow the coaches, two women and a man, back to their hotel. There, the questioning continues and the coaches are taken to jail, where they are held for several hours before being released. Police refuse to state that the coaches are no longer suspects in the scam; however, no charges are filed. They simply indicate that the investigation is continuing. The trauma of the encounter prompts the visiting coaches to cancel the game and return home. Needless to say, this incident was front-page news in this community as well as nationally. Even now, months after the incident, letters to the editor continue to appear in the local newspaper. The

Advanced Placement Course Enrollment and School-Level Characteristics.

The current study examined access to Advanced Placement (AP) courses as a function of these school characteristics (e.g., percentage of ethnic minority and lower socioeconomic status) and then examined AP course enrollment as a function of both access to AP courses and these school characteristics. Using structural equation modeling techniques, results indicated that school characteristics, such as the percentage of students who have minority and/or lower socioeconomic status backgrounds, would appear to be more related to the availability of AP curricula rather than to the number of students who enroll in these courses at a school.

The Career Lines of Chief Academic Officers in Public Community Colleges

Administrative careers in higher education have typically been examined from an individual orientation, placing attention on the demographics and background characteristics of those holding a particular office. This study follows the structural perspective, examining the sequence of positions held by individuals who currently occupy the position of chief academic officer (CAO) in public community colleges. Six, three-sequence career lines are identified, representing the experiences of 43.9% of the sample. In addition, a faculty position emerges as the most common entry port to the career lines and the community college labor market.

What I expect and fear next year: measuring new teachers’ possible selves

Possible selves theory describes the relation between self-concept and regulation of future-oriented behaviours. This theory helps conceptualise issues related to teacher development, including preparation and retention, but few researchers have done so. The validation of a Likert-type instrument intended to measure ‘new teacher possible selves’ is described. Student teachers in the United States (n = 335) completed the new measure in their final practicum semester. Results from two confirmatory factor analyses indicate that data fit well the models of new teacher expected and feared possible selves. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.

Does the medium make the magic? The effects of cooperative learning and conferencing software

Abstract This article explores the effects of computer-assisted writing environments on composition students, focusing on the effects of cooperative learning and conferencing software. I found that word processing alone has little effect on writing behavior; however, conferencing software seems to help create a more authentic writing environment than found in the traditional classroom or in one that uses word processing alone. This conferencing environment became a catalyst for a distinctive learning ecology that interrelated prosocial student behaviors, learner-centered teaching, and assessment. The conferencing class did more than help students to apply critical thinking and problem-solving skills in interaction with others. It helped students identify and use varying learning styles of cooperative groups to successfully reach writing goals.

Teaching Diversity across Disciplines: Reflections from African-American Faculty in Four Different Academic Settings.

Abstract The authors, male and female African-American faculty from different academic disciplines at predominantly white institutions, share personal reflections on their experiences teaching postsecondary graduate and professional courses that focus on diversity and multicultural themes. This article provides tools and strategies for improving the overall effectiveness for those who teach diversity courses from a framework the authors have codified as a “3-C” perspective: context, characters, and curriculum.

Explaining Youth Mentoring Behavior using a Theory of Planned Behavior Perspective

ABSTRACT Ajzens (1991) theory of planned behavior (TPB) has been used to explain and predict behaviors from food consumption to academic performance. In the current study, we examined whether an TPB-inspired model may be used to explain youth mentoring behavior using structural models. We additionally examined whether attitudes toward diversity may be considered a mediating variable in an individuals youth mentoring behavior. A sample consisting of mainly freshmen and sophomores (N = 411) at a large, public research intensive university in the Southwest participated in the study. Findings indicate that a model as inspired by TPB may explain youth mentoring behavior and subsequently be used to develop better mentoring relationships.

A Cluster Analysis of Young Adult College Students' Beef Consumption Behavior Using the Constructs of a Proposed Modified Model of Planned Behavior

The theory of reasoned action (TRA) served as the theoretical framework for this study. This study focused on the development and analysis of a proposed modified model of planned behavior (MMpB) to investigate the beef consumption habits of young adult college students. The participants were a convenience self-selected sample of young adult college students from a major southeastern and southwestern university. A self-report survey was administered to (N = 914) students in classrooms at both universities. Using cluster and discriminant analysis three distinct cluster groupings were found based on the behavior construct.

Characteristics of Good Clinical Educators from Medical Students' Perspectives: A Qualitative Inquiry using a Web-Based Survey System

Medical educators have a unique role in teaching students how to save lives and give comfort during illness. This article reports a qualitative inquiry into medical students’ perspectives on the key qualities which differentiate excellent and poor clinical teachers, using a Web-based questionnaire with a purposeful sample of third- and fourth-year medical students. Thirty-seven medical students responded with 465 characteristics and supportive anecdotes. All participants’ responses were analyzed through reviewing, coding, member checking, recoding and content analysis, which yielded 12 codes. Responses from 5 randomly chosen participants were recoded by two authors with an inter-rater reliability coefficient of 0.72, implying agreement. Finally, 3 larger categories emerged from the data: Content Competence, Teaching Mechanics, and Teaching Dynamics. We incorporate these codes into a diagrammatic model of a good clinical teacher, discuss the relationships and interactions between the codes and categories, and suggest further areas of research.