Latinos make up the fastest growing population in the United States. However, this group has some of the lowest educational outcomes (Gandara & Contreras, 2009). Although large numbers of Latinos fail to achieve high levels of academic success, some Latinos are able to accomplish educational outcomes that compare with those of the most…

One sees various efforts in developed as well as in developing economies to seek a greater participation of lower-income students in their nation's leading universities. Once lower-income students do enroll in a highly selective institution, what happens to them? How well do they do academically when compared to their more wealthy counterparts?…

Researchers who examine the link between high school achievement and educational outcomes include measures of achievement that conflate high school effects with achievement effects established prior to high school. Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study, this article disaggregates achievement into achievement prior to high…

In order to improve the academic and cultural transition of low income, disadvantaged, first-generation, and working-class students at a public flagship institution, the purpose of this qualitative study is to listen as these students, with increasingly diverse background experiences, narrate their first-year experiences, including the summer…

Research evidence for the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) has demonstrated that attending high-ability schools has a negative effect on academic self-concept. Utilizing multilevel modeling with the 2003 Program for International Student Assessment database, the present investigation evaluated the generalizability and robustness of the BFLPE…

University admissions tests should predict an applicant's ability to succeed in college, but how should this success be defined and measured? The status quo has been to use 1st-year grade point average (FYGPA) as the key indicator of college success, but a review of documents such as university mission statements reveals that universities expect…

Large literatures have shown important links between the quantity of completed education and health outcomes on one hand and the quality or selectivity of schooling on a host of adult outcomes, such as wages, on the other hand. However, little research attempts to produce evidence of the link between school quality and health. The paper presents…

New York City's elite public specialized high schools have a long history of offering a rigorous college preparatory education to the City's most academically talented students. Though immensely popular and highly selective, their policy of admitting students on the basis of a single entrance exam has been heavily criticized. Many argue, for…

This research quantifies the extent of student-college academic undermatch among the 1992 and 2004 cohorts of graduating high school seniors and documents changes in the extent of academic undermatch over time. Tables are appended.

Active involvement in college activities is linked to a host of student development outcomes, including personal growth, achievement and satisfaction. Yet, to date there has been too little attention to how social class shapes campus involvement. Through an analysis of survey data of students attending a single elite university and a national…

The current paper reports the results of 2 quasiexperimental studies conducted to examine the efficacy of a new time management intervention designed for high school students. In both studies, there was no difference between the treatment and control groups in improvement in self-reported time management skills as a result of the intervention.…

This study sought to identify the relationship between a student's level of self-determination towards aspiring to receive a college degree and student retention from the first to second year. Deci & Ryan's (2000) self-determination theory served as the conceptual framework for this study. The fundamental assumption of self-determination is…

The Sutton Trust has always recognised the importance of fair school admissions to improving social mobility. Researchers from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), the University of Cambridge, and NatCen Social Research (NatCen), along with David Jesson from the University of York, were asked by the Sutton Trust to investigate entry into…

Black student underachievement has been studied extensively. On nearly every academic measure, Black students fare worse than their White and Asian peers. This mixed-methods study examined the impact of sociocultural and institutional pre-college experiences on Black students attending a highly selective university. The sample was comprised of 104…

Three million students in the United States are classified as gifted, yet little is known about the effectiveness of traditional gifted and talented (G&T) programs. In theory, G&T programs might help high-achieving students because they group them with other high achievers and typically offer specially trained teachers and a more advanced…