The process of determining class rank does not help students achieve more or reach higher levels of proficiency. Evidence indicates ranking students may diminish students' motivation. High school educators argue that they are compelled to rank-order graduating students because selective colleges and universities require information about…

The Texas Ten Percent Plan (TTP) provides students in the top 10 percent of their high-school class with automatic admission to any public university in the state, including the two flagship schools, the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M. Texas created the policy in 1997 after a federal appellate court ruled that the state's…

In this study, responses of 574 students from two colleges in Israel were used to examine three issues: (a) financial literacy (FL) among Israeli college students, (b) gaps in FL between Jews and Arabs, and (c) factors affecting students' FL. The results showed that Israeli students exhibit a low level of FL and that FL is affected by gender,…

This study identifies a theoretical mechanism that could potentially affect public university admissions standards in a context of demographic change. I explore how demographic changes at a prestigious public university in the United States affect individuals' evaluations of college applications. Responding to a line graph that randomly…

The Texas 10% law states that students who graduated among the top 10% of their high school class are guaranteed admission to public universities in Texas. We estimate the causal effects of this admissions guarantee on a sequence of connected decisions: students' application behavior, admission decisions by the university, students' enrollment…

We find an individual's rank within their reference group has effects on later objective outcomes. To evaluate the impact of local rank, we use a large administrative dataset tracking over two million students in England from primary through to secondary school. Academic rank within primary school has sizable, robust and significant effects…

The field of education is moving rapidly toward a standards-based approach to grading. School leaders have become increasingly aware of the tremendous variation that exists in grading practices, even among teachers of the same courses in the same department in the same school. Consequently, students' grades often have little relation to their…

The purpose of this study is to develop a preadmission predictive model of student success for prospective first-time African American college applicants at a predominately White four-year public institution within the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. This model will use two types of variables. They are (a) cognitive variables (i.e.,…

This study sought to determine whether the use of standardized test scores contributes any useful information regarding First Time in College (FTIC) students' probable success at USF, using more detailed analysis of underrepresented minorities and women, who Micceri (2009) shows, experience substantial negative bias relative to males and whites on…

Traditionally class rankings have been used by high schools to determine valedictorians and salutatorians. These rankings have also been used by colleges to make admission decisions and for awarding scholarships. While there is no direct link between college rank and college admission, there is evidence that not using class rank can reduce stress…

This study examines student's perception of the campus racial climate and interactional diversity at selective undergraduate liberal arts institutions through an examination of data collected in the 2005 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). Student responses are selected from institutions identified as members of a specified group of…

New Leaders for New Schools, a nonprofit organization committed to training school principals, heads the Effective Practices Incentive Community (EPIC), an initiative that offers financial awards to effective educators. Through this initiative, New Leaders offers financial awards to educators in two urban school districts and a consortium of…

The document is a summary of the conference proceedings for the 23rd Annual Farmingdale State College Teaching of Psychology Conference held on March 20-21, 2009 at the DoubleTree Hotel in Tarrytown, New York. The conference featured a keynote address by Dr. Jeffrey Nevid on Reaching and teaching the millennials: Helping today's students become…

The purpose of this research is to compare students' perceptions of the learning environment in a traditional science classroom and a field study classroom. This mixed methods study used a sequential explanatory design. Phase one was the quantitative phase using two survey tools. A modified version of the "What is happening in this Classroom…

This quantitative research study used logistical regression and ordinary least squares to examine factors that contribute to the narrowing of the achievement gap at an urban high school in the Midwest. The study analyzed the relationship between five independent variables related to participation in co curricular activities, demographic…