Social mobility and improving the performance of disadvantaged pupils is a focus for policy in England, Northern Ireland and Wales. The findings from PISA 2018 provide a unique opportunity to explore the impact of disadvantage on pupils aged 15, to contextualise achievement outcomes with information about home-life and school, as well as providing…

This newsletter provides highlights of the latest research from the Student Transitions Project (STP), with a focus on the first transitions of British Columbia (B.C.) grade 12 graduates into B.C. public post-secondary education. The study was conducted by the Student Transitions Project (STP), a collaborative research partnership involving B.C.'s…

This paper reports preliminary findings on students enrolled in a massive open online course, who were also assigned to work in groups. Part of a larger study on the effect of groups on retention and completion in MOOCs, the paper provides students' demographics (i.e., location, gender, education level, and employment status), and motivation for…

In this paper, we exploit a rich longitudinal data set to explore the forces that, during high school, shape the development of aspirations to attend university and achieve academic success. We then investigate how these aspirations, along with grades and other variables, impact educational outcomes such as going to university and graduating. It…

The postsecondary experiences of adults diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) were examined in this qualitative research. Tinto's Student Integration Model (SIM) (1975, 1997) provided the theoretical framework that guided the study. Tinto posits that the interplay of background characteristics, academic integration, and social…

Few studies have directly asked undergraduate students their reasons for coming to institutions for higher learning and, instead, have been developed based on theoretical rationale. We asked undergraduate students to list all of their reasons for attending university and to indicate those most important. Overall, students reported more than five…

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and its companion projects serve colleges and universities committed to monitoring and improving the quality of the undergraduate experience. While participating institutions receive detailed customized reports, the "Annual Results" series presents noteworthy aggregate findings from the…

In 2015, the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) collected responses from more than 315,000 first-year and senior students attending 585 bachelor's degree-granting colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. This report presents selected NSSE results from students at 541 U.S. institutions or subsets of that group where…

The Transition of Youth into the Labour Market is a developmental study of youth as they make the difficult transition into the labor market of Newfoundland and Labrador. The project consists of two parallel yet interrelated studies, one focusing on the full cohort of over 9000 Level III high school students at the end of the 1988-89 school year,…

This developmental study focused on the process of youth as they make the difficult transition into the labor market of Newfoundland and Labrador. The project consists of two parallel yet interrelated studies, one focusing on the full cohort of over 9000 Level III high school students at the end of the 1988-89 school year, and a second, which…

Discusses the issue of access to higher education in Canada and suggests that those who do not gain entry share common social and cultural properties. Recommends three strategies for enhancing accessibility: a monitoring system, compensatory education programs, and financial assistance programs. (JAC)

Postsecondary aspirations (educational and occupational) of high school seniors from five different residential settings (rural farm, rural nonfarm, village, small-town, and large city) in Durham, Ontario, are examined. Two variables account for most of the variance: parental expectations and peer group. (Author/MLW)

The Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) regularly evaluates the experience of international students in Canada through a benchmarking survey. Canada First 2009 represents the fourth time CBIE has conducted this research. Previous editions appeared in 1988, 1999 and 2004. This year's survey used a revised questionnaire similar to…

In order to advance our understanding of the mechanisms through which women come to be underrepresented in mathematics and science, factors associated with the academic choices of students in three grade ll classes were studied. Information was gathered through questionnaires, interviews with students and with their mathematics teachers, classroom…

Examines data on students at York University (Ontario) and seven other Canadian universities concerning who goes to university, parents' income, student diversity, where students live, why students go to university, how particular universities are chosen, the importance of a degree, and students' future academic plans. (SV)