University Entrance Score Research Articles

Impact of instructional leadership on high school student academic achievement in China

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of instructional leadership on high school students’ academic achievement in the Chinese context and to determine which specific instructional leadership dimensions have the most important role. The sample included 26 high schools with 26 principals and 4288 students in Shenyang, China. The principals rated their instructional leadership according to the Revised Instructional Leadership Questionnaire of China (ILQC-R). The hypotheses were tested using hierarchical linear models. The results indicated that, after controlling for student background, school context, and principal demographics, overall instructional leadership showed a significantly moderating influence on the relationship between high school entrance scores and college entrance scores for students. Regarding the four different dimensions, different influence trends were observed. The dimensions of managing instruction, defining the school mission and goals, and promoting teacher development were found to influence students’ college entrance scores in both direct and indirect ways; however, no significant impact on students from managing public relations was found.

The Reading Lab: ‘failure’, dynamic teaching and reflective practice in growing the skill of reading

ABSTRACTUniversity educators have observed the concurrent problems of student attrition, higher than normal or desired failure rates and students struggling to complete assessable and non-assessable work, for instance, set readings. Recent public commentary has pointed to the widening participation agenda with its lowering of university entrance scores and consequent increase in university places as factors contributing to the problem: many students are entering university without the preparation or dispositions that helped their predecessors succeed. University teachers are at the coalface of this problem. These teachers do not set entrance scores or course caps but are tasked with supporting an increasingly diverse student population.This article offers a case study: a university teacher’s encounter with a university’s Key Accountability Measures around failure and attrition, and offers a teaching response to this policy. In response to these changing conditions, The Reading Lab was designed as a large-group learning and teaching activity in the form of a series of interactive lectures devoted to the practices of reading. The Lab sessions sought to address a problem that many scholarship-of-reading researchers have communicated: our university students are often not resilient readers and as a result often do not complete set readings. This article evaluates what the Reading Lab achieved (and failed to achieve). For instance, if it is possible (in the current climate) that the failure and attrition rates might never radically improve, how can teaching and learning activities be more positively directed towards the student experience, for even minor gains in the inclusion and the retention of students?

EVALUATION OF PROSPECTIVE MATH TEACHERS' ABILITY TO ENTER GRADUATE EDUCATION WITH FUZZY LOGIC ALONG WITH VARIOUS COMPONENTS

It seems that getting graduate education has become more important compared to the past. This is the case for teachers and prospective teachers. In order to be admitted for graduate education in Turkey, one must have ALES ( A cademic personnel and graduate education entrance exam ), College GPA (graduation grade point average) and a foreign language score. The road to success is a difficult process for many students to complete when represented by classification of traditional graduation grade point average. Development approaches of student achievement need to have a framework consisting of more in number and a complex success criteria in order to be more effective. Apart from the aforementioned grade data that was mainly determined in the classification that classify whether prospective teachers were suitable for graduate education or not, some other components such as; their emotional data, their level of knowledge on graduate education and how much priority they give to teaching department while doing their university preferences have also become important. The study was shaped in this context and by assessing various components related to the students with fuzzy logic, a more effective prediction and classification was tried to be presented. In the study, considering attitudes of prospective teachers towards graduate education, their genders, their levels of knowledge on graduate education, their university entrance scores, their order of preference, and their levels in undergraduate education, their suitabilities of admission to graduate education was aimed to be determined by fuzzy logic. In our study in which relationships of all above mentioned components with each other were analyzed, survey (scanning) method, of quantitative research methods, was used and the relational scanning model was preferred. In the study, the information of 390 prospective teachers who were studying at the department of primary school mathematics teaching in three different state universities and attending at formation programs but graduated from faculty of arts and sciences mathematics teaching department was used. MATLAB software was used for fuzzy logic analysis. In the research, a fuzzy logic rule base was created and 98 (25.1%) of the analyzed data were decided to be suitable for graduate education program. 29 (7.4%) of these prospective teachers were from the first year, 48 (12.3%) of them were from the fourth year, and 21 (5.3%) of them were from the formation group. The group with the highest percentage of prospective teachers considered to be suitable for graduate education is fourth year undergraduate students with 12.3%. The group with the lowest percentage is formation students with 5.3%. As a result of the analyses conducted by fuzzy logic providing a valid prediction and classification, the reason of fourth year prospective teachers have the highest percentage in the research can be explained as their having higher attitude scores and being more knowledge about graduate education and having higher scores on the university entrance exams than the other participants. In order to ensure prospective teachers to have a higher attitude towards the graduate education, their gaining awareness of research and being informed about graduate education from the first years of college can provide significant benefits. Prospective teachers in different departments may be included in the study. Considering different components related to the prospective teachers and conducting researches using other methods of artificial intelligence such as fuzzy logic, students and educators can be provided an effective prediction and classification opportunities. Article visualizations:

An Investigation of Self-Directed Learning Skills of Undergraduate Students.

The aims of this study were to reveal university students' self-directed learning skills and determine whether these skills vary based on university type, gender, field of study, year of study, academic success, type of university entrance score, income level, and the desire to pursue a graduate degree. Also, this study explored the relationship between university students' self-directed learning skills and their lifelong learning tendencies. The study group of the survey comprised 2,600 first and fourth-year students from same departments of Hacettepe and Başkent Universities. The study collected its data by using “Self-Directed Learning Skills Scale” designed by Aşkin (2015). Moreover, Diker-Coşkun's “Lifelong Learning Tendencies Scale” was used to explore the relationship between university students' self-directed learning skills and their lifelong learning tendencies. The results revealed that university students' self-directed learning scores were above the median score of the scale. Self-directed learning skills were found not to vary based on university, year of study, income level. However, gender, field of study, university entrance score type, academic success and the desire to pursue a graduate degree made a significant difference on university students' self-directed learning skills. Finally, a moderate positive relationship was detected between self-directed learning skills and lifelong learning tendencies. In summary it can be said that, undergraduate students have self-directed learning skills and these skills are related to lifelong learning.

Differential effect of university entrance score on first-year students’ academic performance in Portugal

The main goal of this study is to show that the association between university entrance score and first-year students’ academic performance varies randomly across courses after controlling for students’ sociodemographic, schooling trajectory and motivational variables. The sample consists of 2697 first-year students who were enrolled in 54 courses at a Portuguese public university in 2015/16. Multilevel modelling of academic performance suggests that 34% of variability in grade point average is due to differences among courses and that 80% of such variability is explained by the field of study, whether the university is the student’s first choice, and the student’s gender, age and parents’ level of education. In addition, the results corroborate that the university entrance score is the strongest predictor of first-year academic performance.

Predicting Achievement with Artificial Neural Networks: The Case of Anadolu University Open Education System

This study aims to predict the final exam scores and pass/fail rates of the students taking the Basic Information Technologies – 1 (BIL101U) course in 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 academic years in the Open Education System of Anadolu University, through Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). In this research, data about the demographics, educational background, BIL101U course mid-term, final and success scores of 626,478 students was collected and purged. Data of 195,584 students, obtained after this process was analysed through Multilayer Perception (MLP) and Radial Basis Function (RBF) models. Sixteen different networks attained through the combination of ANN parameters were used to predict the final exam scores and pass/fail rates of the students. As a result of the analyses, it was found out that networks established through MLPs make more exact predictions. In the prediction of the final exam scores, it was determined that there is a low level of correlation between the actual scores and predicted scores. In the analyses for the prediction of pass/fail rates of the students, networks established through MLPs ensured more exact prediction results. Moreover, it was determined that the variables as mid-term exam scores, university entrance scores and secondary school graduation year were of highest importance in explaining the final exam scores and pass/fail rates of the students. It was found out that in the higher institutions serving for Open and Distance Learning, pass/fail state of the students can be predicted through ANN under favour of variables of students which have been found as most the important predictors.

Multilevel modeling of persistence in higher education

Abstract The dropout or evasion rates in higher education are now a social and institutional concern, justifying the implementation of public policies to prevent this phenomenon. These policies need studies on the most determinant variables of the risk of dropout. The main objective of this study is to analyze the student’s persistence in undergraduate courses, and the relationship with the student’s previous school trajectory and with the conditions of entrance into higher education, controlling for students’ sociodemographic characteristics, such as gender and age. We applied multilevel logistic regression models to data of 2.697 freshmen enrolled in a Portuguese public university in the academic year 2015/16. The results suggest that failure in basic education (ISCED 2) has a long-term effect. According to the estimates obtained, students who declare not having failed in basic education have odds ratio of persistence 2.7 times higher than students who declare having failed in basic education. The conditions of student’s admission to the course he/she attends are relevant variables to persistence in Higher Education, for example, whether s/he was admitted to her/his first option course and the student’s university entrance score. The results also show that older and male students have lower probability of persistence.

Interactions among students’ prior learning, aspiration, confidence and university entrance score as determinants of academic success

We studied the effect grade aspiration, confidence in achieving that grade, prior learning and university entrance ranking had on first year biology students’ final grade. We hypothesised that (1) students with higher aspiration will achieve higher grades than those with lower aspiration; (2) students with prior biology learning will have a higher grade aspiration and a higher confidence of achieving that aspiration than those without such learning; (3) university entrance rank will impact students’ final grade; and (4) students with prior biology learning will achieve a higher final grade than those without such study. We found that Hypotheses 3 and 4 were supported, Hypothesis 2 was partially supported, and that Hypothesis 1 was unsupported. If these results reflect broader patterns - that undergraduate student grade aspiration is not a predictor of their subsequent final grade - then targeted information and curricula scaffolding must be provided to better align student aspirations with their actual academic achievement.

The effect of peer-led team learning on undergraduate engineering students’ conceptual understanding, state anxiety, and social anxiety

This study aims to compare the effectiveness of a Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) model with that of traditional college instruction (TCI) in enhancing the conceptual understanding and reducing both the state anxiety and social anxiety of undergraduate engineering students in a general chemistry course in a quasi-experimental design. 128 engineering students taking the course participated in the study. One of the course sections was randomly assigned to the experimental group and the other section was assigned to the control group. Both sections were taught by the same instructor. The control group was instructed using traditional college instruction, while the experimental group was instructed using the PLTL model. Throughout this study, six peer-led chemistry workshops and leader training sessions were performed simultaneously. The General Chemistry Concept Test, the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Social Anxiety Questionnaire for Adults were administered before and after the treatment to both groups. One-way Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) indicated that after controlling students’ university entrance scores, trait anxiety scores and pre-test scores of both the General Chemistry Concept Test and state anxiety, the PLTL model was more effective in improving the conceptual understanding and reducing the situational anxiety of engineering students in undergraduate general chemistry. However, it was not so effective in lessening their social anxiety when compared to traditional college instruction.

Interactions among students’ prior learning, aspiration, confidence and university entrance score as determinants of academic success

We studied the effect grade aspiration, confidence in achieving that grade, prior learning and university entrance ranking had on first year biology students’ final grade. We hypothesised that (1) students with higher aspiration will achieve higher grades than those with lower aspiration; (2) students with prior biology learning will have a higher grade aspiration and a higher confidence of achieving that aspiration than those without such learning; (3) university entrance rank will impact students’ final grade; and (4) students with prior biology learning will achieve a higher final grade than those without such study. We found that Hypotheses 3 and 4 were supported, Hypothesis 2 was partially supported, and that Hypothesis 1 was unsupported. If these results reflect broader patterns - that undergraduate student grade aspiration is not a predictor of their subsequent final grade - then targeted information and curricula scaffolding must be provided to better align student aspirations with their actual academic achievement.

University entry score

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight into the relationship between students’ spatial ability and their university entrance score (Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank [ATAR]). The ATAR provides entry into university studies but does not necessary provide a good measure of students’ spatial skills. Spatial abilities are fundamental to success in many design courses. This paper aims to show whether the ATAR is a good predictor of spatial skills and considers the implications of this. Design/methodology/approach Students entering university design courses in architecture were tested three times during their first year using a three-dimensional (3D) Ability Test (3DAT), an online psychometric test of 3D spatial ability. The students’ results in 3DAT were then compared to students’ ATAR scores using a Pearson’s correlation test were also conducted to assess the relationship between ATAR and spatial performance. Findings There was no correlation between ATAR and spatial performance. Therefore, there was no relationship between an individual’s ATAR and their spatial performance upon entering university. Research limitations/implications Participants were required to select their ATAR from ranges, i.e. 71-80, 81-90 and 91-100, which meant their exact ATAR was not recorded. This meant that the participants were clustered, making it difficult to establish a linear relationship that was a true reflection of the population. Practical implications Initiatives to support students entering design courses may be necessary to compensate for the range of spatial skills students possess when entering university because of their school experiences. Social implications Individuals who have strong spatial skills are able to perform spatial problems faster and more efficiently than those with weak spatial skills. High spatial performance has been shown relate to performance in areas such as mathematics science technology and design. Originality/value This paper fulfils the need to better understand the diversity of spatial abilities students have on entering design courses.

Factors Affecting Choice and Satisfaction: Social Work in Turkey

ABSTRACTThe study examines the relationship between professional choices and employment expectations of social worker trainees in the country of Turkey. Professional choices are examined according to gender and the relationship between employment expectations and satisfaction. This study examined responses with a comparative relational scanning model with a sample of 692 social service (social worker) trainees studying at four different universities in Turkey. Students were surveyed and answered 25 open- and closed-ended questions identifying aspects related to their career choice. Study findings reveal that gender, university entrance scores, and employability were high among the career selection factors. Additional factors identified included family-related factors, personality traits, and compatibility. Examination of the findings is discussed, and recommendations for further research are made.

Decomposing university grades: a longitudinal study of students and their instructors

First-degree course grades for a cohort of social science students are matched to their instructors, and are statistically decomposed into departmental, course, instructor, and student components. Student ability is measured alternatively by university acceptance scores, or by fixed effects estimated using panel data methods. After controlling for student ability, course characteristics, and instructor fixed effects, departmental grade differentials range over 7 points out of 100. Instructors who teach in more than one department grade more generously in departments that award higher grades, suggesting that differential grading policy is set by departments and does not result from unobserved differences in instructor quality and teaching material. Finally, student fixed effects, which measure ability at university, are correlated to 0.41 with their university entrance scores, which measure ability prior to university. This suggests that university entrance scores are poor predictors of student performance in higher education.

‘High’-School: The Relationship between Early Marijuana Use and Educational Outcomes

We use unique survey data linked to nearly a decade of administrative income support data to examine the relationship between early marijuana use (at age 14 or younger) and young people's educational outcomes. We find evidence that early marijuana use is related to educational penalties that are compounded by high-intensity use and are larger for young people living in families with a history of income support receipt. The relationships between marijuana use and both high school completion and achieving a university entrance score appear to stem from selectivity into the use of marijuana. In contrast, early marijuana use is associated with significantly lower university entrance scores for those who obtain one, and we provide evidence that this effect is unlikely to be driven by selection. Collectively, these findings point to a more nuanced view of the relationship between adolescent marijuana use and educational outcomes than is suggested by the existing literature.

Predicting Pre-service Classroom Teachers’ Civil Servant Recruitment Examination’s Educational Sciences Test Scores Using Artificial Neural Networks

This study predicts the number of correct answers given by pre-service classroom teachers in Civil Servant Recruitment Examination’s (CSRE) educational sciences test based on their high school grade point averages, university entrance scores, and grades (mid-term and final exams) from their undergraduate educational courses. This study was therefore designed by using a general survey model. The participants were 219 graduates of the departments of classroom teacher education from the education faculties of two different state universities. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) were used to predict the numbers of correct answers from the CSRE educational sciences test. As a result of different trials, the correlation between the predicted and actual numbers of correct answers was examined, and 10 ANN models were included in the study. Statistically, significant positive correlations were found between the numbers of correct answers predicted by the ANN and the students’ actual correct answers in the CSRE. The highest loading was r = .63 (p < .01), and the lowest was r = .43 (p < .05).

Can School Characteristics Influence University Entrance Scores?

This article examines the importance of schools relative to individual characteristics in explaining Tertiary Entrance Rank scores, using Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth data. The school characteristics explain around 20 per cent of the variance in Tertiary Entrance Rank scores, with the measured school characteristics explaining around 7 percentage points, indicating that idiosyncratic factors—which we interpret as reflecting schools' ethos—dominate. School sector is an important explanator; whilst the government, independent and Catholic systems all contain ‘good’ schools, schools that have low Tertiary Entrance Rank scores, after controlling for individual characteristics, are dominated by the government sector.

ÜNİVERSİTE ÖĞRENCİLERİNİN BEŞ FAKTÖR KİŞİLİK KURAMI'NA GÖRE KİŞİLİK ÖZELLİKLERİ ALT BOYUTLARININ BAZI DEĞİŞKENLERE GÖRE İNCELENMESİ*

In this research is examined subscales of personality traits according to the 5-Factor Personality Theory in terms of the variants of “gender, class, type of university entrance score, the place undergraduates spend most of their lives, family income, family structure and attitude of parents”. According to research results; it’s found out that in terms of the variant of gender, the mean scores of extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness of subscales of undergraduates’ personality traits don’t vary significantly(p>.05); but in terms of the variant of gender, in the subscale of emotional instability/neurotucism, it changes remarkably (p.05);in the subscale of extraversion and openness to experience, in terms of the variant of class, it changes remarkably in favor of the fourth grade(p.05); in terms of the variant of the place undergraduates spend most of their lives, the mean scores of emotional instability/neurotucism, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness of subscales of undergraduates’ personality traits, it doesn’t change remarkably (p>.05); in terms of the variant of family income, the mean scores of emotional instability/neurotucism, extraversion, openness to experience and agreeableness of subscales of undergraduates’ personality traits don’t differ significantly (p>.05) but in the subscale of conscientiousness, it differ significantly; in terms of the variant of family structure, the mean scores of emotional instability/neurotucism, agreeableness and conscientiousness of subscales of undergraduates’ personality traits don’t differ remarkably (p>.05) yet in the subscales of extraversion and openness to experience in terms of the variants of family structure, there is a significant change in favor of extended family(p

The Impact of Cognitive and Noncognitive Skills on Professional Salaries in An Emerging Economy, Chile

Professional salaries in Chile are here explained on the basis not only of traditional human capital variables but also of variables indicative of other cognitive and noncognitive skills. As might be expected, college entrance scores (SAT), our measure of advanced cognitive skills, are found to impact strongly and nonlinearly on salaries. More surprisingly, ranking in one's high school graduation class raises one's salary 10 years later by the equivalent of one year of additional experience, suggesting that ranking stands for a more permanent noncognitive skill such as effort or self‐discipline. As is typically found, women earn less than men, but, to our surprise, they also have lower asking salaries than men.

'High'-School: The Relationship between Early Marijuana Use and Educational Outcomes

We use unique survey data linked to nearly a decade of administrative welfare data to examine the relationship between early marijuana use (at age 14 or younger) and young people’s educational outcomes. We find evidence that early marijuana use is related to educational penalties that are compounded by high-intensity use and are larger for young people living in families with a history of welfare receipt. The relationships between marijuana use and both high school completion and achieving a university entrance score appear to stem from selectivity into the use of marijuana. In contrast, early marijuana use is associated with significantly lower university entrance score for those who obtain one and we provide evidence that this effect is unlikely to be driven by selection. Collectively, these findings point to a more nuanced view of the relationship between adolescent marijuana use and educational outcomes than is suggested by the existing literature.

'High'-School: The Relationship between Early Marijuana Use and Educational Outcomes

We use unique survey data linked to nearly a decade of administrative welfare data to examine the relationship between early marijuana use (at age 14 or younger) and young people's educational outcomes. We find evidence that early marijuana use is related to educational penalties that are compounded by high-intensity use and are larger for young people living in families with a history of welfare receipt. The relationships between marijuana use and both high school completion and achieving a university entrance score appear to stem from selectivity into the use of marijuana. In contrast, early marijuana use is associated with significantly lower university entrance score for those who obtain one and we provide evidence that this effect is unlikely to be driven by selection. Collectively, these findings point to a more nuanced view of the relationship between adolescent marijuana use and educational outcomes than is suggested by the existing literature.