The purpose of this study is to evaluate the factors that influence the college choice process for first-generation, low-income, and academically at-risk students in a TRIO Upward Bound program. The literature review theoretically explores the multi-level factors with Perna's college choice model, social construction theory, and Bourdieu's social,…

This study examines the association between college-bound friends and college enrollment using restricted transcript data from the High School Longitudinal Study. Propensity score matching and school fixed effects models suggest that having close college-bound friends is positively associated with enrolling in college. However, Black and Latino…

Noncognitive attributes as the researchers have measured them do correlate with college GPA, but the incremental validity associated with these measures is relatively small. The noncognitive measures are correlated with other valued dimensions of student performance beyond the achievement reflected in college grades. There were much smaller…

Standardized methodology was used to help identify item characteristics explaining differential item functioning among Hispanics on Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), in two studies with 284,359 and 292,725 Whites, Mexican-Americans, and Puerto Ricans. Results indicate true cognates, or words with a common root in English and Spanish; and content of…

This policy brief is based on a qualitative study of eight, low-income, urban, pre-college Latinas in California. Data for this study were collected using a narrative approach, guided by two questions: (1) What are the experiences of low-income, urban Latina students seeking financial aid to attend college?; and (2) Based on their efforts,…

A psychometrician and acquaintance of Carl C. Brigham, the "father of the Scholastic Aptitude Test," comments on the man's presonality traits and the culture that shaped his thinking. Areas of testing research that should be pursued are suggested. (MSE)

This study was designed to determine what happens to the intelligence quotient of freshman students during their enrollment at a private Negro college. The Otis Quick-Scoring Mental Ability Test, Gamma Em, was administered to 822 students from a population of approximately 2,000 in their freshman year at Hampton Institue, Hampton, Virginia. The…

When policymakers talk about closing the achievement gap, the focus is typically on bringing the average performance of minority or economically disadvantaged students in line with the average performance of White or middle-class students. From a statistical perspective, this strategy of bringing up the bottom to close the achievement gap is…

Preliminary research into the populations of public urban four year higher education institutions indicates that race/ethnicity and Verbal SAT scores may be acting as proxies for immigration status and the use of a home language other than English. There are indications of differences in the behavior of immigrant/ other language students that may…

Examines influences that might explain fluctuations in Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores since 1955. Discusses the role of the following: (1) test construction; (2) race, sex, and socioeconomic status of test takers; (3) school environment; (4) family environment; and (5) social environment. (FMW)

The African American-white achievement gap exists even among the youngest children; African American students arrive at kindergarten considerably behind their white peers in measurable cognitive skills. Although the gap has narrowed somewhat over the past several decades, the average African American still scores below 75 percent of white students…