Two major purposes existed for this study. The first purpose was to compare how persisters and nonpersisters in the first year of a two-year nursing program differed in locus of control, selected personality traits, and seven demographic variables. The second major purpose was to develop a predictive model for the persisters and the nonpersisters. The particular personality variables examined were intelligence, superego strength, extraversion, anxiety, tough poise, and independence as measured by the 16PF. The summary findings were that persisters had significantly higher scores on the NDRT and the B and G traits, significantly lower externality, and were generally younger with no previous nursing experience, and more likely not to have prekindergarten age children than the nonpersisters. The major significance of this research comes from its use of data gathered at the beginning of an educational program to make predictions which can be available to teachers, counselors, and administrators who may make use of the information to improve the chance potential nonpersisters have of completing the nursing program, or perhaps to assist students in reexamination of their career choice.

The problem of this study was to investigate how good and poor comprehenders utilize passage structure and task instructions to acquire information from a prose passage. To give a more detailed picture of what type of information processing occurred during reading, both verbatim and paraphrase items were used to assess comprehension.There were two strong but nonsignificant patterns in the data for task instructions. Poor readers were sensitive to both attribute and relation instructions. Good readers, however, were not affected by attribute instructions, but were sensitive to relation instructions. The results for good readers tentatively suggest that they encode attributes as a natural part of reading, but only encode relationships when they are specifically instructed to do so. Based on these results, three observations were made. First, good readers appear not to be easily affected by text organization, but poor readers may be aided in comprehension by slight improvements in the organization of the text. Second, all students need more assistance and practice in drawing inferences from the text. Third, written instructions may be a weak aid for increasing the comprehension of poor readers and may help good readers attend to information they would normally miss.

This investigation was concerned with whether linguistic competence with printed material is related to the retention of information contained in prose passages of high readability. The specific purpose of the study was to investigate relationships between linguistic competence and free recall, immediate, delayed, and practiced, after the reading of a passage of high readability. In a review of related literature, indications were found that linguistic competence could be expressed by test scores of reading achievement. Therefore, in this study linguistic competence was operationally defined by scores of literal and inferential reading comprehension.

This study explored the feasibility of predicting academic achievement in prerequisite Anatomy-Physiology Classes for prospective nursing students and Medical Surgical Nursing Classes for students enrolled in a diploma program. This was accomplished by using three instruments that measure the attitudes of nursing students about the nursing profession or preferences towards learning environments . The purposes of this study were (1) to determine if the subgroup or total scores were correlated with final examination scores for each class, (2) to determine if the subgroup or total scores interacted with one another to increase the power of prediction, and (3) to compare the effects of different teaching styles, upon the instruments used to measure attitudes and preferences

This study sought to determine the effectiveness of an instructional program for developing creative thinking, a positive self-concept, and leadership among intellectually and academically gifted elementary students in grades four, five, and six. The purposes of the study were to determine the effect of experimental treatment on test scores measuring creativity, self-concept, and leadership; to compare the performance of the moderately intellectually gifted with that of the highly intellectually gifted; to determine whether boys or girls benefited more from instruction; and to determine whether fourth-, fifth-, or sixth-grade students achieved greater test gains after experimental treatment.

This study sought to investigate the secondary school principal's leadership behavior as perceived by secondary school teachers and principals in Nakorn Pathom, Thailand. The study had two purposes: to determine whether significant differences existed between teachers' perceptions of principal leadership behavior based on the variables of sex, years of teaching experience, educational level, and size of school; and to determine whether significant differences existed between the perceptions of principals and teachers with regard to the principal's leadership behavior.

This study is concerned with the problem of identifying the nature of and the similarities and differences among the attitudes of three ethnic groups (Mexican-Americans, Blacks, and Anglos) toward vocational education.The purposes of the study were threefold. The first was to determine the attitudes toward vocational education that prevail among Mexican-American, Black, and Anglo students who attend a vocational/technical high school. Secondly, the purpose was to determine the attitudes toward vocational education that prevail among Mexican-American, Black, and Anglo students who attend regular academic schools. The third purpose was to compare the attitudes toward vocational education of students who attend a vocational/technical high school with those of students who attend regular academic high schools.

This study explored the attitudes of four professional groups toward selected adult behaviors in order to gain an insight into their definitions of abuse and neglect. A sample was drawn from the population of pediatricians, psychologists, teachers, and social workers employed in a large metropolitan area of North Central Texas. A total of 190 subjects participated. The instrument used to quantify the attitudes of the respondents was a five-point rating scale, the ABTC Rating Scale. The rating scale was composed of thirty-six adult behaviors selected from the "gray areas" of child abuse and neglect. Participants rated the thirty-six behavior items according to how harmful they perceived each behavior to be for a five-to-six year old child. It was concluded that of the variables tested, those that appear to have the most influence on the differences in responses are professional membership and sex. It is possible that the differences found are due as much to the sex of the respondent as to professional membership. Teachers and females may react more strongly to the behaviors almost universally.

This investigation seeks to determine the correlations among the three factors of self-esteem, marital communication and marital adjustment to determine if these factors are evidenced similarly in the marital system, and to determine if their relationships are consistent among a wide range of marriages. In addition, several demographic variables are isolated in order to determine their influence on the three factors under investigation. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that marital adjustment is dependent on married individuals' level of self-esteem and the ability to communicate effectively. It was also concluded that when there is a high level of either self-esteem, marital communiation, or marital adjustment, the other factors will also be at a high level. In addition, the consistency of the relationships among marital adjustment, marital communication, and self-esteem apparently transcend demographic factors.

This investigation of twentieth century trends in mathematics education includes the survey of existing literature and questionnaires conducted with retired and active Texas teachers. Historical events, trends in curriculum, instruction, learning theories, and contradictions of twenty-year periods are delineated. Questionnaire responses are tabulated along the same periods and vignettes of typical classrooms are drawn from the data. Results of the survey show the impact of societal forces on mathematics curricula, a continued downward expansion of content into lower grades and expanding knowledge of learning processes. A unified mathematics curriculum, classroom-related learning theory research, and further development of team-teaching are postulated as future trends. Recommendations include further examination of trends through isolation of other variables such as region and ethnicity.