Do schools reduce or perpetuate inequality by race and family income? Most studies conclude that schools play only a small role in explaining socioeconomic and racial disparities in educational outcomes, but they usually draw this conclusion based solely on test scores. We reconsider this finding using longitudinal data on test scores and…

Half of all college students will enroll in remedial coursework but evidence of its effectiveness is mixed. Using a regression-discontinuity design with data from a large urban community college system, we make three contributions. First, we articulate three alternative hypotheses regarding the potential impacts of remediation. Second, in addition…

As the national teacher education institute in Singapore, the National Institute of Education (NIE) prepares all teachers seeking to be employed within the education service in Singapore. In the last decade, NIE's enrolment for initial teacher preparation programmes has grown significantly, with peaks in numbers during the recession years. There…

Purpose: While the natural expectation is that students seek greater depth of learning as they develop intellectually during their studies, some research calls this into question and even suggests that student learning can become shallower from year to year. The present study aims to investigate the relative depth of students' learning at…

The functions and possibilities afforded by blogging have been suggested to be relevant to learning and information management. Its increasing use in the business and education sectors is documented, but currently its use in professional education or internship is limited. The social nature of blogging appears to support the applicability of blogs…

In 2007, the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges launched a performance funding policy called the Student Achievement Initiative (SAI) both to improve public accountability by more accurately describing what students achieve from enrolling in community colleges and to provide incentives to colleges through financial rewards…

This article describes a three-year research project which aimed to introduce a technological innovation in working with three cohorts of undergraduate students to support them in completing their final-year dissertations through the use of a Virtual Research Environment (VRE). An additional aim of the project was to establish, amongst the…

The current study examined the validity of the selection process used for the National Merit Scholarship Program (NMSP) to identify scholarship winners. Namely, this study examined whether students who advanced to higher NMSP recognition levels (Commended Students, Semifinalists, and various levels of award winners) had higher college performance,…

The study takes advantage of the nontraditional selection process of the Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) program to test the association between selectivity of 4-year institution attended as well as other noncognitive variables on the college completion rates of a sample of students of color. The results of logistic regression and propensity score…

Using longitudinal administrative data from a large elite research university, this paper separately analyzes the determinants of persistence for life and physical science majors. My results confirm much of the previous research on major persistence in the sciences, but I document that many findings are solely driven by persistence patterns in the…

The purpose of this dissertation is to better understand scientific training within clinical and counseling psychology doctoral programs. A primary goal is to extend previous research by expanding the scientific training outcome variables from research interest and productivity to include additional characteristics of scientific mindedness such as…

"Data Notes" is a bimonthly publication that examines data to illuminate the challenges facing Achieving the Dream colleges and to chart their progress over time. Gateway courses generally include the first college-level English and math courses students are required to take. Increasing the number of students who attempt gateway classes…

Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, this issue of "Data Notes" highlights some of the differences that exist between states. In addition to Achieving the Dream data, this report includes data from the U.S. Department of Education's Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) for the 2008-09 academic year to…

Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, this issue of "Data Notes" looks at three-year enrollment and attainment outcomes of students who persist through their first year. Additionally, first-year persisters (FYPs) were grouped based on the interaction of several student characteristics; analysis was conducted to…

Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, this issue of "Data Notes" looks at students who returned to their original Achieving the Dream institution after completing credentials or transferring to another institution. Forty-two percent of students who either received a degree or certificate or transferred from an Achieving…