Psychological research, it is suggested, has made significant contributions to Canadian higher education. Cognition and learning, the measurement of student abilities, instruction, the evaluation of teaching, student characteristics, the organization and operation of the university, and program evaluation are examined. (Author/MLW)

A federal court decision in which the University of Texas was supported in preferential admissions treatment of minority law school applicants is criticized as perpetuating racial discrimination by a state institution. The suit was brought by four white applicants who would likely have been admitted if they were of a preferred racial group but…

Many colleges, Harvard among them, offer preferential admission to the children of alumni. The legacy preferential system perpetuates elitism and the status quo and places blacks and other minorities, whose parents were less likely to have gone to college, at a real disadvantage. (SLD)

The process used to select candidates for teacher training at a university department of education in the United Kingdom is described. Selection criteria, interview techniques, and essay requirements are reviewed for applicants for the training program. Tutors make assessments of candidates' personality during interviews, and these assessments…

We cannot continue to define academic quality using standards set from a limited perspective and expect students from diverse backgrounds and cultures to meet them. To increase minority participation in graduate schools, institutions should better understand minority standardized test performance and better prepare minority undergraduates for…

Whether or not colleges should require students to have a computer as a condition for admission is discussed. In determining policy on this issue, governing boards are urged to consider the rationale for such a requirement and whether or not the campus culture and infrastructure are appropriate for the change. (MSE)

A discussion of prepaid college tuition plans, operational in a dozen states, finds that they have proven viable but present problems in three areas: (1) their structure must not redistribute state resources to the relatively wealthy; (2) participation may create pressure on admissions policy; and (3) state legislatures may see the accumulated…

This article provides renewed converging empirical evidence for the hypothesis that asking test-takers to respond to text passages with multiple-choice questions induces response processes that are strikingly different from those that respondents would draw on when reading in non-testing contexts. Moreover, the article shows that the construct of…

Many deregulated public charter schools are emphasizing parental involvement. But to what extent do the initiators of these charter schools use parent involvement and parent contracts to restrict enrollment to students whose parents demonstrate the desired commitments and willingness to meet school expectations? To explore this question, this…

This paper investigates the use of enrollment limitations by "flagship" state universities in regard to out-of-state (OOS) students, presenting a case study of the enrollment limitation debate in the University of North Carolina system and its Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) campus over the last decade. The state legislature, in concert with the…

This case study describes a rural school district's problems with its program for academically gifted and talented students and illustrates the process and outcome of a program evaluation. The program came into being in a hasty and expedient manner that satisfied the superintendent's desire for the notoriety accompanying school improvement while…

This report provides testimony on results of a General Accounting Office (GAO) study of Chapter 1 Compensatory Education programs, Chapter 2 Education Block Grant programs, and dropout prevention programs. The report covers the following: (1) Chapter 1 student selection; (2) Chapter 1 fiscal provisions; (3) Chapter 2 data collection and…

The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) Validity Study Service (VSS) was developed by the Educational Testing Service at the request of the GRE Board to help graduate departments investigate the validity of their student selection procedures. The GRE VSS reports are aimed primarily at graduate department chairpersons and faculty members--those who…

This voluntary plan for the interdistrict exchange of students responds to a desegregation court order issued to the St. Louis, Missouri Board of Education. Among the criteria cited as necessary to the operation of permissive interdistrict transfers were: (1) eligibility of a student to transfer to a district and school where the student's race is…

A process for setting standards that may be adapted by educators in a variety of settings for educational decision making is presented. In this process, which was used to set minimum standards in English for admission to a teacher education program at a large university, a number of trial standards were initially set utilizing a variety of…