High-stakes testing (HST) is critical in the educational system of East-Asian countries like China, and the ongoing standards-based reform in many Western countries like the USA. HST has been criticized for corrupting an educational system through means like disengaging students from authentic learning. It seems that students' affective learning…

In this study, we investigate the growth trajectory of 519 students in a vocational senior high school in Taiwan. The group-based trajectory model identifies 3 subgroups with distinct trajectories of academic achievement in Math and English. This study reveals baseline predictive factors associated with these trajectories as well as relationships…

This article analyzes the crystallized learning disposition formed in secondary schools and its persistent influence on the transition between educational sectors and the workplace. Using interview data from eight adults who graduated from a prestigious university in Korea, this study reveals that "exam-inclined self-direction," a manner…

There is some disparity in the quality of education among the various races and provinces in South Africa. Since the dawn of democracy in 1994, the government has tried to bridge the gap using quintile categorisation of public schools and its concomitant funding. The categorisation is based on the socioeconomic status of the community in which the…

In this paper, we examine how ethnically diverse, inclusive schools manage their legitimacy in an educational quasi-market. These schools are often threatened with a loss of legitimacy as ethnic majority parents perceive an ethnically diverse student population and radical pedagogical practices as signs of lower quality education. However,…

In recent years, there has been a significant decline in the rate of participation in secondary school mathematics courses within Australia, particularly in advanced or higher level mathematics. The aim of this study was to investigate how grade point average (GPA) differed between five health science degrees at an Australian university. The…

This study compared selected musical, educational, and social characteristics of high schools ranked highest in "Newsweek" and "U.S. News & World Report." Questions addressed were (a) How are the top-ranked schools similar or different in educational, musical, and social characteristics? (b) What music courses are offered…

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is a financial aid application to help students and their families with the costs of college. This report summarizes FAFSA outcomes for AISD seniors in 2014.

With the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015, California state policymakers are tasked with determining the subgroup threshold for school-level reporting. To inform this decision, this policy brief explores the implications of utilizing various subgroup sizes using data from the CORE Districts. The authors find that the 20+…

The FAFSA application can be completed by aspiring students to access federal financial aid for college enrollment. FAFSA completion rates for AISD seniors were the same in 2011 and 2012, and gaps in FAFSA completion remained among student groups.

KIPP Delta College Preparatory School (KIPP: DCPS), an open-enrollment charter school, opened in 2002 in Helena, Arkansas. Since its opening, KIPP: DCPS students have consistently outperformed their peers in the Helena/West Helena School district, and moreover, recent test scores suggest that white students and minority students are achieving at…

This study examined the vocational aspirations and parental vocational expectations of high school students and their parents (1067 parent-child dyads). Participants completed a demographic questionnaire and an Occupations List. The Occupations List consisted of 126 occupational titles evenly distributed across the six Holland types. Parents were…

In South Africa, the Grade 12 "classes of 2008 and 2009" were the first to write examinations under the revised Life Sciences (Biology) curriculum which focuses on outcomes-based education (OBE). This paper presents an exploration of what students (as learners) considered to be difficult and interesting in Grades 10-12 Life Sciences…

International comparisons of American education have become so popular and widespread in the reform debates of the last several decades that many of the current centerpieces of the American reform movement were shaped through evidence and speculation on what other more educationally successful nations were doing that the U.S. was not. The current…