Resilient factors affecting the retention and completion of American Indian people in higher education were explored using qualitative methods. Interviews were conducted with 14 American Indian students or graduates regarding personal, familial, and tribal experiences that influenced their interest, persistence, and adjustment in higher education. Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed for common themes. Results indicate the importance of Indian traditions in the areas of internalized resiliency characteristics, ways of learning, developing an academic identity, and perceptions of social support systems. A description for Indian tradition in each of these factors is portrayed with the words of the students and graduates. Implications regarding the need for personal and institutional responses that are perceived as authentic by American Indian students are discussed.
According to the frame of reference theory (Marsh, 1986), students make both internal ability comparisons across academic areas and external ability comparisons relative to peers when determining academic self-concept. Understanding the processes utilized by high-ability students to formulate their academic self-concept is an important consideration in meeting the educational needs of this population. To determine the applicability of the frame of reference theory, verbal and mathematics self-concept and achievement measures were administered to 103 academically able high school students. Consistent with theoretical findings with students in the general population, path analysis verified the dual influence of both internal and external processes on student self-concepts.
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