Despite abundant anecdotes and theories suggesting a causal effect of teachers' expectations on student outcomes, documenting its presence and size has been challenging. The reason is simple: positive correlations between what teachers expect and what students ultimately accomplish might simply result from teachers being skilled observers. In…

Half of all college students will enroll in remedial coursework but evidence of its effectiveness is mixed. Using a regression-discontinuity design with data from a large urban community college system, we make three contributions. First, we articulate three alternative hypotheses regarding the potential impacts of remediation. Second, in addition…

This study examined participation in year 12 and higher education in Australia. It updates a previous report by including findings from the 1995 cohort of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Youth for 1998 and 1999. Combining these data with those from four previous cohorts shows changes in the patterns of and influences on participation over the…