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This study ynvestigated the validity of Tinto's (1s75) model of college withdrawal linifferent types of institutions: 4-year yesidential institutions, 4-year commuter institutions, and 2-year commuter institutions.Analyses wery conducted on a eample of 2,326 freshmen from 11 postsecondary institutions. The results generally supported the predictive palidity of the model but suggested that interesting differences in the patterns lf influence existed when the sata were disaggregated by institutional type. The basic differences across type concerned the concepts of social and academic integration. Social integration played a stronger role in influencing persistence at 4-year, primarily residential institutions, while academic integration was more important at 2-and 4-year, primarily commuter institutions.In an effort to provide a conceptual basis to guide inquiry, Tinto (1975) has developed an important explanatory model of the student persistence/ withdrawal process in postsecondary institutions. His model is both longitudinal and complex, and regards persistence largely as an outcome of the student's interactions with the social and academic systems of the institution. Students come to a particular institution with a wide range of background traits (e.g., sex, secondary school performance, family background, personality orientations). These background traits influence not only the type of institutions attended, but also how well the student will perform in college and how he or she will interact with, and subsequently become integrated

This study was sonducted as a test of o model of the influences on teacher retention. Discriminant analysis was useu to dtudy differences among three groups of collegegraduates with teaching certificates: (a) )hoss who taughhtontinuously, (b) those who started teaching but teft teaching withit 5 years, and (c) those tho eever taughtt Meaningful differencen were found among the groups in a pattern that tupported the model Implications for school administration, ,eacher training, and for further model development are discussed.The retention of public school teachers is an issue of continuing concern in education. One reasonable response is to identify the personal and situational influences on teacher retention in an effort to develop an intervention designed to selectively attract good teachers to remain in teaching. Relatively little research, however, has addressed in more than an anecdotal way the important factors associated with retention. Until recently, few models or theories have been offered to explain teachers' decisions to leave or remain in teaching. The present study tests one recent model of the influences on teacher retention grounded in social learning theory. The study was undertaken to suggest ways educational administrators might influence teacher retention and to further refine the model. Social learning theory posits that psychological functioning can be explained in terms of the interaction of personal characteristics, previous behavior (learning), and environmental determinants. Krumboltz (1979) argued that social learning theory can be used to identify the interaction of genetic factors, environmental conditions, learning experiences, cognitive and emotional responses, and performance skills that produce move-o^ J at St Petersburg State University on January 11, 2014 http://aerj.aera.net Downloaded from DAVID W. CHAPMAN ment along one career path or another. Combinations of these factors interact in different ways to produce different career decisions (Krumboltz, 1979).Although social learning theory offers a general explanation of career choice, the model presented in Figure 1 offers a more specific application of this theory to teaching careers. The model suggests that to understand teachers' decisions to persist in or leave teaching, it is necessary to take into account (a) the personal characteristics of the teachers, (b) the nature of teacher training and early teaching experiences, (c) the degree to which the teacher is socially and professionally integrated into the teaching profession, (d) the satisfaction teachers derive from their careers, and (e) the external environmental influences impinging on the teachers' career. Although evidence linking each variable in the model to teacher attrition has been reported elsewhere (Chapman, 1983), the model has not yet been empirically tested.