The basic purpose of this study is to provide an analysis of the doctoral dissertations written in the Department of Education, North Texas State University, from the first one in 1953 through those written in 1974. Specifically, one purpose is to develop, validate, and then use a format to describe the dissertations. The second purpose is to analyze the descriptive information in terms of changes in the Department of Education and in trends associated with the dissertations.

The problem of this study was first year student retention at a private university. The purpose of the study was to identify high risk students (dropout prone) by use of the Stratil Counseling Inventory -_ College Form (SCI-C) in order to initiate early intervention counseling and advising. Intrusive counseling was started within the first six weeks of the 1984 fall semester to facilitate the students' transition to college. The population of the study was first-time full-time freshmen students in attendance at Freshmen Orientation the week prior to the beginning of the 1984 academic year. SCI-C instrument consisted of six scales designed to elicit attrition-related information about the firsttime, freshmen students. The scales identified students who were in need of assistance, and they provided a profile of their problem areas. This information, available within ten days after the beginning of classes enabled Student Development personnel to select the students out of the freshman class who needed help and to refer them to university resources for assistance. The conclusions drawn from the analysis of the SCI-C data were: (1) students who needed assistance to integrate into the academic and social envrionment of the university were identified by the SCI-C; (2) students at …