A Canadian university required a new admissions policy in order to increase the fairness of procedures for second language (L2) international students, admitted provisionally to the university with mandatory language course requirements. This necessitated reform of the English for Academic Purposes (EAP) curriculum, but there was no agreement…

Notions of what it is to be knowledgeable and skilled in one's profession have evolved in recent decades. For instance, medical practitioners are expected to think critically and creatively, communicate effectively, and to be a professional and community leader. While these attributes have always been well regarded, it is only relatively recently…

This article presents a comparative-historical analysis of access to higher education in Georgia. It describes the workings of corrupt channels during the Soviet and early post-Soviet periods and the role of standardized tests in fighting corruption in higher education admission processes after introduction of the Unified National Entrance…

This report examines the demographics, performance, and success of students who were admitted to the University of British Columbia's Vancouver campus on the basis of a minimum 24 transfer credits earned at a BC college during the five year period comprising the 2003/04 through 2007/08 academic years. The report mines familiar ground--similar…

This paper is concerned with segregation and school selectivity in secondary schools with a religious character in London, England. Analyses of the characteristics of pupils at religious and non-religious schools reveal that the former tend to cater predominantly for pupils from particular religions and/or denominations and ethnic groups, so…

In Texas, undergraduate teacher preparation programs graduate 9,300 new elementary, secondary and special education teachers, nearly half (43 percent) of the total number produced each year in the state. This report examines 67 of those programs on a range of standards. The standards bear directly on their programs' capacity to attract the most…

Charter middle schools popular enough to hold admissions lotteries are, on average, no more successful than nearby traditional public schools in boosting student achievement, behavior, and attendance. However, charter schools vary widely; some are more effective and some are less effective than nearby traditional public schools. Those located in…

The assertion that there are a limited set of generalizable good educational practices (Chickering & Gamson, 1987) with a common model of preferred active student engagement in learning (Kuh, 2001) is appealing to those responsible for simply stated institutional outcomes and to the faculty who teach in fields that espouse the same practices…

Adding to the growing debate and evidence base on the effects of charter schools, this evaluation was conducted in 36 charter middle schools in 15 states. It compares the outcomes of 2,330 students who applied to these schools and were randomly assigned by lotteries to be admitted (lottery winners) or not admitted (lottery losers) to the schools.…

In 2008, British Columbia Council on Admissions and Transfer (BCCAT) commissioned an environmental scan on the possible need for system-wide work on institutional admissions processes and practices. This scan is intended to seek system input and to provide guidance on the choice of research projects and other related work in the coming year. This…

The "Special Ability Selection Examination" (SASE), which is used to select appropriate students for the music education departments of educational faculties in Turkey, has many subsections and must evaluate highly competitive cohorts of students according to a broad range of criteria. The test consists of three subsections, with a large…

State laws and regulations can either help or hinder the ability of school districts to hire effective teachers for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects. State officials wanting to tackle this critical problem need to begin with a thorough review of relevant policies, asking themselves: "Are we part of the problem, and…

The vast majority of high school students plan to attend college, but little is known about the postsecondary enrollment of students who exit high school with certificates of completion or individualized diplomas. With as many as 10% of all high school completers in some states earning documentation other than the high school diploma, it is…

In this study, the authors examined the demographic characteristics of students entering the new small high schools in New York City and contrasted them with the characteristics of students entering the large high schools that closed. They also determined whether these high school reforms altered how different types of students are distributed…

As a follow up to National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ's) national studies of how well elementary teachers are prepared to teach reading and mathematics, NCTQ looks at preparation in both subjects in all undergraduate teacher preparation programs in New Mexico. This analysis evaluated New Mexico's eight undergraduate elementary teacher…