Research on the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) indicates that students evaluate themselves more favorably when they have high rank in low rank schools than low rank in high rank schools. In this integrated dissertation, I provide three empirical papers examining experiences and forecasts of this effect. BFLPE experiences refer to the impact…

Schools receive an annual letter grade that is made readily available for parent, community, teacher, and school district staff consumption. Victor Vroom's (1994) Expectancy-Value theory is used to further evaluate the importance that school rankings (via school letter grades) play in motivated teacher planning. Purposeful sampling was used to…

Instructors may use low-cost, light-touch strategies to help students achieve optimal effort in demanding upper-level courses. The authors of this study exploit an intervention that provides a series of personalized feedback emails to students about their relative performance, which is tied to approving messages or tips that encourage improvement.…

When the purpose and meaning of grades is not well-defined by an organization, there is a disconnect between curricular/assessment practices and student engagement. This study sought to investigate origins and find solutions in regards to discerning a student's knowledge and mastery of a subject and how this is reflected in the grade, and how…

Students who perform well at school academically are more likely to complete Year 12 and experience smoother transitions from education to employment. However, disentangling the effects of prior academic achievement on later performance from other confounding factors, such as socioeconomic status, has proved difficult. This study uses data from…

During COVID, HyFlex gained popularity and became a "new normal" that educators need to consider as an effective instructional approach. Previous research offers conflicting findings related to the impact of HyFlex instruction on students' basic psychological needs and academic performance. Our investigation provides insight into a…

This report looks at why men are more likely than women to achieve first-class degrees at Oxford and Cambridge. This situation stands in stark contrast to the UK higher education sector as a whole, where women are generally more likely to achieve both first-class honours and 'good' honours. The author argues that the first-class awarding gap…

This study was designed to investigate whether teacher literacy content knowledge affects student achievement in Texas schools. Teacher participants from Texas public schools completed a three-part survey. In Parts 1 and 2, teachers completed a demographic section and teacher knowledge of foundational reading skills. The survey consisted of…