Minnesota's Intervention for College Attendance Program (ICAP) is a program of competitive grants awarded to postsecondary institutions, professional organizations and community-based organizations. Funded programs focus on increasing the access and success of groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education by strengthening their…

While benefits of college matriculation are well-established, the portal controlling access to higher education is the institutional application. The bulk of the college application process takes place during a student's senior or 12th-grade year; however, parents and caregivers of high school students need to know that the quest for college…

Focuses on the issues of the course advice given to secondary students who were intending to study one of the more demanding mathematics subjects in year 12. Concludes that all students would benefit from studying as much mathematics as they are capable of in terms of the problem-solving skills they would acquire and future course and career…

Describes the consequences of changing the sixth-form physics syllabus for ages 17-18 in Hong Kong in the last 20 years. Considers further changes necessary to attract more students to physics. Appendix includes contents of physics syllabuses in 1978 and 1996. (Author/MKR)

Enrollments in foreign-language courses at American colleges and universities have jumped 13 percent since 2002, with Arabic and Chinese showing the most-dramatic increases, according to a report released last week by the Modern Language Association. The number of students studying Arabic soared 126.5 percent between 2002 and 2006, while the…

Assigning grades to student work, both during the academic term and as a summation of a student's mastery of subject matter, is a longstanding practice in all levels of education, from kindergarten through graduate and professional studies. Recently, a variety of factors have brought the criteria for assigning, and the resulting distribution of…

There is a gender imbalance in undergraduate economics departments with most departments educating a strong majority of young men. This imbalance has led many economists to ponder the question of why relatively few women choose to take courses and major in economics. Our hypothesis is that the gender imbalance in undergraduate economics,…

The researcher examined the effects of online (OL) and face-to-face (FTF) course modality choice, as a motivational component, on students. self-selection of courses. A naturally occurring control and treatment group comparison design was employed. The participants were 435 college students (200 OL and 235 FTF) who attended an accredited private…

Three years ago, as part of a broad effort to raise academic standards in college sports, the NCAA adopted a controversial rule designed to make life difficult for athletes idling in the classroom. The measure--known as the 40-60-80 rule, or the "progress toward degree" requirement--mandates that, to remain eligible to compete, athletes must…

Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in April 2009. Using a comprehensive longitudinal data set as an example, poses questions and raises issues around defining a high school curriculum that is related to indicators of college success.

Past research from Pew's Economic Mobility Project (EMP) has shown that a college degree quadruples the chances that an individual born into the bottom income quintile will reach the top quintile in adulthood. For community colleges in particular, the project has shown that getting a community college degree increases earnings by an average of…

Comparison of student reports of course taking from the 1994 history National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) with information from the 1994 High School Transcript Study suggests that students overestimate the number of history courses taken and fail to distinguish among types of history classes taken, something that may affect the…

This study investigated educational opportunities and participant course selection within a public sector tuition waiver program for full-time employees. Found that the typical participant was female; married; 30-39 years old; in a semi-professional, secretarial, or technical position; with one to four years service; and earned between $20,000 and…

Humorously examines the presumption of undergraduate course titles, suggesting that they are not invitational and do not reflect the interests of the students. Offers an alternative list of courses based on the notion that relevance is determined not by course content but by the application of that content. (MAB)

Opposition to excessive use of mathematical techniques in economics is growing. Math dominance reduces the diversity of traditions in economics. When used appropriately, it is a useful, efficient research tool, but it should be balanced with other methodologies. (SK)