High School Rank Research Articles

Equity and Higher Education Access in Chile: The High School Ranking Admission Policy Results from the Perspective of Its Program Theory

Equity and Higher Education Access in Chile: The High School Ranking Admission Policy Results from the Perspective of Its Program Theory

The role of an equity policy in the reproduction of social inequalities: High School Ranking and university admissions in Chile

The High School (HS) Ranking is an equity policy aimed at increasing the enrolment of students from underprivileged contexts in selective higher education institutions in Chile. However, HS Ranking is considered as an admission criterion for all applicants, regardless of their contextual characteristics. In this study, we delve into how students from different high school settings interpret and deploy actions to increase their HS Ranking score. Through a Structural Equation Model with validated survey data (9 schools, N = 1.831), our results show that the role of the schools’ context in the deployment of academic strategies to increase HS Ranking score is significant, even after controlling for academic individual motivation. In a scenario of a highly segregated secondary system these results are relevant for the discussion of the role of HS Ranking – an equity-oriented admission policy – in maintaining the higher education inequalities.

The Expansion of High School Students' Participation in Extracurricular Activities and the Transformation of Learning Behavior: An Analysis of Surveys Conducted in 1990 and 2006, Focusing on High School Rank and Social Strata

The Expansion of High School Students' Participation in Extracurricular Activities and the Transformation of Learning Behavior: An Analysis of Surveys Conducted in 1990 and 2006, Focusing on High School Rank and Social Strata

High School Rank in Math and English and the Gender Gap in STEM

Using unique data on preference rankings for all high school students who apply for college in Ireland, we investigate whether, conditional on absolute achievement at the end of high school, within school-cohort rank in English and math affects choice of college major. We find that higher rank in math increases the likelihood of choosing STEM and decreases the likelihood of choosing Arts and Social Sciences. Similarly, a higher rank in English leads to an increase in the probability of choosing Arts and Social Sciences and decreases the probability of choosing STEM. The effects of subject ranks on STEM are larger for boys than girls while there is no evidence of a gender difference in the effect of subject ranks on Arts and Social Sciences. We also find that English and math rank can explain about 4% of the gender gap in the choice of STEM as a college major and 9% of the gender gap that is not explained by absolute achievement. Overall, the tendency for girls to be higher ranked in English and lower ranked in math within school-cohorts can explain about 10% of the difference in the STEM gender gap between mixed-sex schools and same-sex schools and about 25% of the difference that is unexplained by absolute achievement. Notably, these effects occur even though we control for an extensive set of measures of absolute achievement at the end of high school, and the institutional setup implies that within-school rank plays no role whatsoever in college admissions decisions.

Examinig the Formation Process of Disparities in Educational Achievement Based on Social Background and High School Rank / Type

Examinig the Formation Process of Disparities in Educational Achievement Based on Social Background and High School Rank / Type

Desires, Beliefs and Opportunities in decision-making of secondary students heading to university. Actions and reactions regarding the implementation of the ranking score in the admission system.

This study addresses school choice and migration processes of students from academically demanding public schools, in comparison to students from schools with a different profile, in the context of the recently implemented high-school ranking score in the Single Admission System (SUA) of the Council of Rectors (CRUCH), between 2013 and 2014. The work addresses the interactive dimension that underlies the implementation of public policies, referring to the experience of students who, in the transition from secondary to higher education, become actors who make decisions within the framework of a new regulatory scenario. Through interviews with school leaders and students at this juncture, the research approaches a critical case in which student experience is analysed based on their desires, beliefs and opportunities, by means of the Hedström’s DBO model (Desires, Beliefs & Opportunities). The analysis showed that the model performs in terms of its illustrative capacity. However, it is not exhaustive regarding the phenomenon, as new elements emerged that need to be addressed to perform an appropriate analysis.

The Effect of High School Rank in English and Math on College Major Choice

Using unique data on preference rankings for all high school students who apply for college in Ireland, we investigate whether, conditional on absolute achievement, within school-cohort rank in English and math affects choice of college major. We find that higher rank in math increases the likelihood of choosing STEM and decreases the likelihood of choosing Arts and Social Sciences. Similarly, a higher rank in English leads to an increase in the probability of choosing Arts and Social Sciences and decreases the probability of choosing STEM. The rank effects are substantial, being about one third as large as the effects of absolute performance in math and English. We identify subject choice in school as an important mediator â?? students who rank high in math are more likely to choose STEM subjects in school and this can partly explain their subsequent higher likelihood of choosing STEM for college. We also find that English and math rank have significant explanatory power for the gender gap in the choice of STEM as a college major--they can explain about 36% as much as absolute performance in English and math. Overall, the tendency for girls to be higher ranked in English and lower ranked in math within school-cohorts can explain about 6% of the STEM gender gap in mixed-sex schools and about 16% of the difference in the STEM gender gap between mixed-sex schools and same-sex schools. Notably, these effects occur even though within-school rank plays no role whatsoever in college admissions decisions.

The Influence of Student Abilities and High School on Student Growth: A Case Study of Chinese National College Entrance Exam

Enabled by available educational data and data mining techniques, educational data analysis has become a hot topic. Current researches mainly focus on the prediction of problems and performance rather than revealing the underlying causal relationships. Based on a unique exam data, we extracted the abilities of examinee from HSEE (High School Entrance Exam) based on the knowledge of educational experts, then we measured student growth from middle school to high school in total score and subject scores. We studied the impact of high school ranking and student abilities of HSEE on student growth by multiple linear regression model, in which high school ranking is divided into 5 levels, Level 1 being the best and Level 5 being the poorest. We found that: 1) the higher of the ranking of the high school was, the higher of their student growth in total score was, but there were exceptions in Level 4 and Level 5 schools. The growth in subject scores did not follow the same rule. Level 3 schools performed better than Level 2 schools in student growth in Physics, and Level 2 schools performed better in student growth in Chemistry. 2) Student abilities in HSEE have different impacts on student growth in total score and subject scores. For student growth in total score, the abilities of English memory and Math analysis and solutions have larger positive influences than the other abilities. For student growth in the subject score, most abilities have a negative impact on the growth of the same subject, except for English listening and memory. Our research can not only help educational authorities evaluate the impact of high schools on the variations of student abilities to ensure equity and efficiency, but also help students and parents choose schools based on student abilities and the characteristics of high schools.

The Relationship of Help-Seeking Inclinations to Traditional Predictors of Academic Success and First-Semester College GPA

Inclination to seek help was measured among a cohort of first-time, full-time freshman at a private university prior to the start of their first semester. The item involved a 10-point scale defined with contrasting terms at each end (i.e. verbal anchors at the extremes). Approximately 78% of the respondents rated themselves 5 and below, indicating a general reluctance to seek help. Males were less likely to seek help than females. Help-seeking inclinations were positively correlated with academic performance in high school, as reflected in class rank, but negatively related to SAT scores. An interaction was observed, indicating that students with high SAT and low high school rank were especially reluctant to look for help. The relationship of help seeking predisposition to first semester college GPA was curvilinear, with the GPA rising with increasing proclivity to seek help until the highest level of help seeking, at which point it dropped.

A Novel Low-Cost Indicator of Student Perseverance and Its Association with College Student Academic Performance

Within the research literature investigating how student characteristics related to perseverance impact academic outcomes, leading scholars have encouraged the development of new measurements, both survey and non-survey based. We introduce here an innovative non-survey-based measurement, derived from common higher education variables, that reflects the perseverance construct. The created perseverance proxy is easily created and explainable to audiences with minimal statistical background. The variable was used to analyze academic outcomes at a mid-sized public university in the United States. The perseverance proxy strongly positively associates with academic outcomes, as measured both by GPA and odds of academic probation, in multivariate analysis across both genders. The perseverance proxy explains more of the variation in academic outcomes than any of the cognitive and financial aid variables used in the analysis. The technique for constructing the perseverance proxy is easily replicated at any college or university having data on students’ high school ranking and college admission exam scores.

Diagnostic Effects of an Early Mastery Activity in College Algebra and Precalculus

The purpose of this study was to investigate implementation of an early intervention mastery activity during the first two weeks of college algebra and precalculus courses at a large U.S. public university. Statistical modeling of (N = 935) students’ performance in the courses, including a logistic regression model of pass/fail course achievement with students’ high school rank, ACT Mathematics scores, and performance on the intervention as explanatory variables, suggested significant independent differences in course performance across performance levels on the early mastery activity. An evaluation of diagnostic validity for the model yielded a 19% false negative rate (predicted to fail the course, but passed) and a 7% false positive rate (students predicted to pass the course, but failed), suggesting the early mastery activity, when combined with admissions indicators of mathematics readiness, may be useful in better identifying students at risk of failing their first university mathematics course. This strategy, which also yields information for focused intervention efforts, is currently being explored through a campus-wide advising tool at the research site.

Work complexity and cognitive functioning at midlife: Cross-validating the Kohn–Schooler hypothesis in an American cohort

In an influential body of work extending across more than three decades and drawing on data from the United States, Poland, Japan and the Ukraine, Melvin Kohn, Carmi Schooler and their associates have found that cognitive capacities are affected by experiences on the job; specifically, that working at a complex job improves cognitive functioning. These findings anticipate and parallel research on the relationships among social integration, leisure-time activities and cognitive functioning among the elderly. This paper tests the Kohn–Schooler hypothesis using different measures, models and data. Specifically, we estimate models of the reciprocal influence of work complexity and cognitive functioning at ages 53 to 54 and 64 to 65 among women and men who graduated from Wisconsin high schools in 1957. Even when adolescent academic ability test scores and high school rank have been controlled, we find moderate effects of the complexity of work on abstract reasoning ability at ages 53 to 54 (in 1993). These effects are similar among women and men and are robust to reasonable assumptions about the unreliability of measurement of adolescent academic ability. However, there were no such effects, either in 1993 or in 2004, among individuals who were still working at ages 64 to 65. Thus, the full set of findings provides only limited support for the Kohn–Schooler hypothesis.

High School Ranking in University Admissions at a National Level: Theory of Action and Early Results from Chile

Alternative university admissions models like the recent consideration of high school ranking by universities in Chile offer the promise of increasing access to higher education by considering academic performance in context of opportunities to learn. The intent is to employ this policy without sacrificing predictive validity of college success. This study explores the theory of action of the high school ranking policy, as well as the high school ranking’s ability to predict students’ persistence in higher education system and in Chile’s higher education institutions using logistic regressions with fixed and random effects (intercepts) and country-wide data. The theory of action shows a main focus on access and a less intense emphasis on the goal of predicting academic success. The access goal is addressed through considerations during the admission process, and there are few efforts geared toward recruitment and graduation. Results also suggest that the high school ranking marginally helps predict college persistence at the institutional level, but only among students attending traditional universities. In light of results, it is recommended that traditional institutions keep working collaboratively to provide new admissions processes that are transparent, equitable, efficient and predict college success.

The Relationship between High School Sector and Educational Success: Focusing on the Social Background of Private High School Students

This study investigates the influence of high school sector on educational success in Japan. A range of previous research on disparities among high schools has revealed that high school rank (based on the academic ability of pupils, etc.) originated from the democratization of high school. However, given that the democratization of high school is supported by private high schools, high school sector may become a factor for high school ranking. The data used for the analysis are the 2005 National Survey of Social Stratification and Social Mobility (SSM) in Japan. The results indicate that students who enter private high schools have lower academic ability than students who enter public high schools. By contrast, private high school students have greater educational success than public high school students. Moreover, this study reveals that private high school students are generally from a higher social class than public high school students. Given that the use of entrance examinations for private junior high schools has been increasing since the 1990s, in the future, the effect of private schools on educational success may become stronger in not only high schools but also junior high schools. This study thus emphasizes the importance of paying greater attention to the relationship between educational success and the private and public school sectors.

Leadership Lessons from the World of Athletics: Up Close and Personal

The purpose of this paper is to organize the reflections of my sons on the leadership qualities of their coaches, representing 22 years of teams at the professional, college and high school ranks and eight head coaches. As a professor of public administration who teaches leadership in an MPA program, I was interested in examining how their observations compared and contrasted with prevalent leadership themes in respected books on the topic. My conclusion is that these reflections are worthwhile illustrations of a number of classic leadership theories and practices.

Sexual victimization history predicts academic performance in college women.

College women frequently report having experienced sexual victimization (SV) in their lifetime, including child sexual abuse and adolescent/adult sexual assault. Although the harmful mental health sequelae of SV have been extensively studied, recent research suggests that SV is also a risk factor for poorer college academic performance. The current studies examined whether exposure to SV uniquely predicted poorer college academic performance, even beyond contributions from three well-established predictors of academic performance: high school rank, composite standardized test scores (i.e., American College Testing [ACT]), and conscientiousness. Study 1 analyzed longitudinal data from a sample of female college students (N = 192) who were assessed at the beginning and end of one semester. SV predicted poorer cumulative end-of-semester grade point average (GPA) while controlling for well-established predictors of academic performance. Study 2 replicated these findings in a second longitudinal study of female college students (N = 390) and extended the analyses to include follow-up data on the freshmen and sophomore students (n = 206) 4 years later. SV predicted students' GPA in their final term at the university above the contributions of well-established academic predictors, and it was the only factor related to leaving college. These findings highlight the importance of expanding the scope of outcomes of SV to include academic performance, and they underscore the need to assess SV and other adverse experiences on college campuses to target students who may be at risk of poor performance or leaving college. (PsycINFO Database Record

Creativity as a Factor in Persistence and Academic Achievement of Engineering Undergraduates

AbstractBackgroundTo date, there has been little research to establish how creativity relates to engineering student persistence and academic achievement.PurposeThis study used creativity to predict engineering student persistence and achievement relative to demographics, academic aptitude, and personality. It further evaluated those predictors for consistency throughout the undergraduate engineering program.Design/MethodParticipants were entering first‐year engineering students in 2011 and 2012. Academic aptitude was measured by high school rank and SAT scores. Personality was characterized using the Big Five inventory, which measures the traits of Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness. Creativity was assessed using student artifacts on three tasks and a modified creativity questionnaire. Outcome measures were students' persistence and GPA over four years. Multinomic logistic regression and multivariate regression were used to model the relationship between predictor variables and persistence and achievement.ResultsSAT math, high school rank, and Conscientiousness were predictors of persistence and achievement. Creativity measures did not predict GPA, and creative self‐efficacy was negatively related to engineering student persistence in the major.ConclusionsOur results suggest that creativity is not appropriately taught or rewarded in some engineering curricula, and those engineering students who view themselves as highly creative are less likely to graduate in engineering.

Transition to higher education in contemporary China: A study of high school graduates in urban Nanjing

China has undergone an expansion of higher education in the 1990s. The university enrollment rate among high school graduates increased from 27.3% in 1990 to 87.6% in 2013. At the same time, Chinese universities are stratified into key universities and non-key universities, which differ significantly in resource input and prestige. Chinese parents are found to play an increasingly active role in preparing their children for the competition to get into elite universities. Researchers argue that in the era of mass education, social inequality is effectively maintained through school stratification and raising entrance bars for prestigious institutions. Thus, the focus of educational inequality should move from quantitative to qualitative differences. While educational inequality in China has attracted much research attention in the past decade, little is understood about educational inequality in China in qualitative terms. The present study aims to fill this research gap. Data come from a panel survey of 759 high school graduates in urban Nanjing initiated in 2010. A vast majority of these students (98.4%) were enrolled in post-secondary education in 2012, among whom 96.6% attended colleges or universities in China. Our findings do not show inequality in mere access by family background or high school prestige. However, family backgrounds make a difference in educational destinations (local vs. overseas as well as prestige of the institutions) but the family impact tends to be mediated by high school ranking. The findings suggest meritocratic elitism in mass education in China, which legitimizes the intergenerational transfer of social advantages and mediated role of school in producing educational inequality.

Application of an Artificial Neural Network to Predict Graduation Success at the United States Military Academy

This paper presents a neural network approach to classify student graduation status based upon selected academic, demographic, and other indicators. A multi-layer feedforward network with backpropagation learning is used as the model framework. The model is trained, tested, and validated using 5100 student samples with data compiled from admissions records and institutional research databases. Nine input variables consist of categorical and numeric data elements including: high school rank, high school quality, standardized test scores, high school faculty assessments, extra-curricular activity score, parent's education status, and time since high school graduation. These inputs and the multi-layer neural network model are used to classify students as: graduates, late graduates, or non-graduates. Several neural network architectures are examined and compared by run time, minimum mean square error achieved (MSE), mean correct classification rate, precision, recall, and specificity. A multi-layer neural network with 50 hidden neurons, momentum value of 0.8, and learning rate of 0.1, with hyperbolic tangent hidden neuron activation functions was able to accurately predict graduation success and achieved the best performance with classification accuracy exceeding 95%, high recall, high precision, and high specificity. This prediction model may be used to inform admission decisions and identify opportunities for required remediation with the potential to improve graduation rates, increase student retention, reduce late graduation, and reduce first-term course failures.

Do Traditional Admissions Criteria Reflect Applicant Creativity?

College admissions decisions have traditionally focused on high school academic performance and standardized test scores. An ongoing debate is the validity of these measures for predicting success in college; part of this debate includes how success is defined. One potential way of defining college success is a student's creative accomplishments. We tested the hypothesis that traditional admissions criteria fail to capture adequately the creativity of applicants by asking 610 college applicants to complete several creativity tasks. These included divergent thinking, caption-writing, an essay, and self-report measures of creativity in numerous domains. Creativity scores were compared to data from the college application, including high school rank, standardized test scores, and admissions interview scores. Results showed that traditional admissions criteria were only weakly related to creativity. Indeed, students who report the highest creative self-efficacy can be perceived as weaker applicants according to traditional criteria. Findings are discussed in light of the goals of higher education to increase diversity of the student body and the abilities of its students.