Schools' priorities in student selection constitute the basis for fairness in school admissions. We study the case where schools are active strategic players that rank their applicants in terms of priorities. A methodological framework is developed to examine the impact of the variation in the admission settings on the equality of opportunity in…

A detailed analysis of "Hansard" transcripts was undertaken to explore the dialogue used in parliamentary debates and committee meetings where reference was made to grammar schools between October 2015 to March 2019. During this period, the first new grammar school for fifty years had been approved, along with the establishment of the…

Background: In the past decades, there has been a growing concern to understand why boys struggle in school. One of the turning points in students' educational trajectories likely to exacerbate boys' academic difficulties is students' enrolment in private or enriched school programmes, as boys are underrepresented in such programmes. Method: To…

Within postsecondary education, we often equate students' need for support with socioeconomic status (SES). There is also recognition of the challenges faced by Black students while navigating higher education. Programmatic and policy efforts to address these issues often focus on singular aspects of students' identities, particularly for low-SES…

Despite adolescent girls' superior school achievement and high career aspirations, fewer women than men achieve career eminence. Understanding early influences on the development of gifted girls' career-related values and aspirations may help to explain this discrepancy in career outcomes. This article reports findings from a qualitative,…

This report looks beyond high performing schools, and digs deeper into the geographical patterns of socio-economic segregation in the comprehensive system as a whole, showing the wider impacts of selection. Along with a link to an interactive map, this report provides unprecedented insight into the dynamics of secondary school admissions in…

High school graduation rates in the United States are at an all-time high, yet many of these graduates are deemed not ready for postsecondary coursework when they enter college. This study examines the short-, medium-, and long-term effects of remedial courses in middle school using a regression discontinuity design. While the short-term test…

Our paper examines the opening of branches overseas ('satellite colleges') by elite private schools mainly located in England ('founding colleges'), largely in emerging economies of the Middle East and South East Asia. We trace the development of these 'satellite colleges' over three successive waves of growth, from opportunistic venturing in…

Selective college admissions are fundamentally a question of tradeoffs: Given capacity, admitting one student means rejecting another. Research to date has generally estimated average effects of college selectivity, and has been unable to distinguish between the effects on students gaining access and on those losing access under alternative…

The purpose of this quantitative dissertation in practice was to explore the academic achievement of students of low socioeconomic status attending the District of Columbia's traditional and selective public high schools, as measured by the annual Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) standardized test scores. The…

Applying a Bourdieusian lens, this study seeks to explore the interactions between secondary and higher education and how these interactions impact marginalised students in an elite university in China. It presents accounts of the educational experiences of 13 marginalised students of rural origin. The findings suggest that for them educational…

Profiles describing a high school's quality and composition are one component of the undergraduate admission application to selective colleges, offering admission officers insight into a student's academic environment. This study explores alignment between the data admission officers seek in a profile to support their holistic evaluations and the…

This study illuminates how common holistic admissions practices at so-called "elite" colleges and universities favor high-SES, high wealth applicants through the ways they define and consider "exceptional" performance in extracurricular activities. While many studies have established advantages to high-income applicants based…

Perceiving new student populations as underprepared is a common response to the expansion of university systems and the diversification of the student body. Latin America, as other developing regions, has increased its university enrolment of underrepresented, historically excluded students, through a variety of policies. This study analyzes the…

After higher education expansion in the private sector and technical college system starting in 1985, students' opportunities to attend four-year institutions in Taiwan are increasing. This study extends Cabrera and La Nasa's model of student college choice to examine not only choices of institutional types but choices of college pathways after…