This article describes the strategies employed to make a university-wide commitment to student success, persistence, and graduation rates. The shift in culture has made student success everybody's business, and there has been a high level of buy-in to the enterprise. The predictive tools that have been developed have given focus to serving those…

This study examines Japanese students' awareness regarding critical thinking (CT) attitudes and their attention to building their speaking skills in an EFL context to determine effective CT approaches. The study began with a literature review of CiNii articles and studies from the Web of Science database regarding CT theories and educational…

There is no special university entrance exam for gifted students in Turkey. Their only option is to complete the standard university entrance exam at the end of their final year in high school. This system of entrance exams does not benefit gifted students. Other universities around the world support such students in the following two ways:…

We report the results of a pre-registered, cluster randomized controlled trial of a mathematics learning intervention known as interleaved practice. Whereas most mathematics assignments consist of a block of problems devoted to the same skill or concept, an interleaved assignment is arranged so that no two consecutive problems require the same…

As states have upgraded their commitment to pre-K education over the past two decades, questions have arisen. Critics argue that program effects are likely to fade out or disappear over time, while supporters contend that program effects are likely to persist under certain conditions. Using data from Tulsa Public Schools, three neighboring school…

Honors programs are rare in Latin America, and in Chile they were unknown before 2003. At the Universidad Austral de Chile, an interdisciplinary group of scholars linked to environmental studies put forward a pilot project for implementing a new experience in higher education. Challenged by an educational environment where (1) apathy and…

At the end of a two-year Honors Civilizations sequence based on a Great Books curriculum, students at the University of Maine write a reflective essay that describes their personal and intellectual journey with the texts they have encountered over the previous four semesters. Students can describe a theme or narrative that has emerged in their…

By expanding admissions processes to carefully consider students from first-generation and low-income backgrounds, honors programs and colleges not only increase the diversity of their programs and add richness and depth to their classes, but they also make a significant difference in the individual lives of the students who enroll. Recruiting…

Differentiated instruction is a nice idea, but what happens when it comes to assessing and grading students? What's both fair and leads to real student learning? An internationally recognized expert on grading practices, Rick Wormeli first examined these questions 10 years ago in the first edition of "Fair Isn't Always Equal." In this…

Since spring 2012, the author has taught a 300-level Theatre and Human Rights class in the University of New Mexico Honors College. One of the centerpieces of honors education is careful research and thorough analysis of what is taught and why it is taught. In creating the honors class Theatre and Human Rights, the author explored how she would…

The role of higher education is not only to prepare students for a career: it should assist and support them as they begin an adult life, which includes contributing to society and a community, participating in a democracy, forming relationships, clarifying their values and beliefs, and finding meaning and direction in the world. However, as…

Critical thinking skills are often assessed via student beliefs in non-scientific ways of thinking, (e.g, pseudoscience). Courses aimed at reducing such beliefs have been studied in the STEM fields with the most successful focusing on skeptical thinking. However, critical thinking is not unique to the sciences; it is crucial in the humanities and…

A series of laboratory experiments were developed to introduce first-year chemistry students to nanoscience through a green chemistry approach. Students made and characterized the stability of silver nanoparticles using two different methods: UV-visible spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering. They then assessed the ecotoxicity of silver…

So far, few articles about innovations in Dutch or American honors programs appear to link their findings to an existing body of research about innovations in higher education in general. Although scholars are starting to make this connection more and more (see Kallenberg; NRO, "Excellentie" and "EXChange"; NWO,…

The purpose of this historical examination is to first understand the context of United States affirmative action legislation and its importance. It provides a spotlight on Indiana University Bloomington (IUB) during the civil rights movement and what led to the creation of policies that would forever impact the institutional makeup of IUB.…