Predicting College Performance of Homeschooled Versus Traditional Students

The prevalence of homeschooling in the United States is increasing. Yet little is known about how commonly used predictors of postsecondary academic performance (SAT, high school grade point average [HSGPA]) perform for homeschooled students. Postsecondary performance at 140 colleges and universities was analyzed comparing a sample of traditional students matched to a sample of 732 homeschooled students on four demographic variables, HSGPA, and SAT scores. The matched sample was drawn from 824,940 traditional students attending the same institutions as the homeschooled students, which permitted a very precise level of matching. This comparison did not show a difference in first‐year college GPA (FGPA) or retention between homeschooled and traditional students. SAT scores predicted FGPA and retention equally well for both groups, but HSGPA was a weaker predictor for the homeschooled group. These results suggest that, among college students, those who were homeschooled perform similarly to traditionally educated students matched on demographics and academic preparedness, but there are practical implications for college admissions in the use of HSGPA versus standardized test scores for homeschooled students.     

The Role of Socioeconomic Status in SAT–Freshman Grade Relationships Across Gender and Racial Subgroups

Recent research has shown that admissions tests retain the vast majority of their predictive power after controlling for socioeconomic status (SES), and that SES provides only a slight increment over SAT and high school grades (high school grade point average [HSGPA]) in predicting academic performance. To address the possibility that these overall analyses obscure differences by race/ethnicity or gender, we examine the role of SES in the test‒grade relationship for men and women as well as for various racial/ethnic subgroups within the United States. For each subgroup, the test‒grade relationship is only slightly diminished when controlling for SES. Further, SES is a substantially less powerful predictor of academic performance than both SAT and HSGPA. Among the indicators of SES (i.e., father's education, mother's education, and parental income), father's education appears to be strongest predictor of freshman grades across subgroups, with the exception of the Asian subgroup. In general, SES appears to behave similarly across subgroups in the prediction of freshman grades with SAT scores and HSGPA.     

Child abuse in an urban centre in Malaysia

This study was undertaken to determine the incidence and other factors associated with child abuse in an urban population in Malaysia. Nineteen cases of child abuse (16 physical and 3 sexual abuse) were diagnosed during a prospective 2-year study with a service-orientated project conducted at the University Hospital in Kuala Lumpur. Girls outnumbered boys by more than 3:1. Ten of the children were less than 3 years old while five were between 6 and 13 years of age. A significant number (4) were children of mixed parentage, while equally significant was the 45% incidence in nuclear families. There was one death and two cases of permanent brain damage. Apart from parents, who were the main abusers, the other abusers in this series were baby-minders and employers. Multiple stress factors were identified and their prevalence in the 19 cases are discussed. All 19 cases were managed using a modified form of the case conference system. It is believed that these 19 cases represent only a fraction of the true incidence of child abuse in the area served by the University Hospital. Possible reasons for the low rate of identification of cases are discussed and measures to remedy the deficiencies suggested.     

Adding a Statistical Wrench to the “Toolbox”

This paper demonstrates a formal statistical test that can be used to help researchers make decisions about alternative statistical model specifications. This test is commonly used by researchers who would like to test whether adding new variables to a model improves the model fit. However, we demonstrate that this formal test can also be employed when alternative representations of variables or constructs are considered for inclusion in a regression. An empirical example is provided using information from a widely cited US Department of Education report. Substantively, we find evidence that an alternative representation of an important policy variable would have been a better fit to the data than the index that was used in the analysis conducted in the report.

Learning About Posterior Probability: Do Diagrams and Elaborative Interrogation Help?

To learn from a text, students must make meaningful connections among related ideas in that text. This study examined the effectiveness of two methods of improving connections—elaborative interrogation and diagrams—in written lessons about posterior probability. Undergraduate students (N = 198) read a lesson in one of three questioning conditions (read twice, embedded questioning, and elaborative interrogation) and one of three diagram conditions (text only, diagram without redundant text, and diagram with redundant text). Elaborative interrogation negatively affected learning from the lesson, relative to reading the lesson twice. One possible explanation for this finding is that the quality of answers to the elaborative interrogations was poor. When the lesson was read twice, diagrams helped learning from the lesson relative to text only. Implications of these findings for instruction in probabilistic reasoning are discussed.     

Interprofessional education in gross anatomy: Experience with first‐year medical and physical therapy students at Mayo Clinic

Interprofessional education (IPE) in clinical practice is believed to improve outcomes in health care delivery. Integrating teaching and learning objectives through cross discipline student interaction in basic sciences has the potential to initiate interprofessional collaboration at the early stages of health care education. Student attitudes and effectiveness of IPE in the context of a combined gross anatomy course for first‐year students in Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) and Doctor of Medicine (MD) degrees curricula were evaluated. Integrated teams of MD and DPT students participated in part of the gross anatomy dissection course at Mayo Medical School. A survey was administered to 42 MD and 28 DPT students that assessed their attitudes toward IPE and cooperation among health care professionals. Pre‐ and post‐experience surveys were evaluated. Positive comments were related to opportunities for developing a better understanding of the nature and scope of each other's programs, encouraging teamwork and communication, mutual respect, and reducing the perceptual divide between disciplines. Ninety‐two percent of the students agreed that interprofessional learning would help them in becoming a more effective member of the health care team. This initial experience with IPE in gross anatomy provides a basis for continued development of interdisciplinary educational strategies. Anat Sci Ed 1:258–263, 2008. © 2008 American Association of Anatomists.     

The Stigma of Tenure Denied: An Exploration of Individual and Institutional Implications

Research in Higher Education - Although tenure denial is a familiar feature of the faculty profession, the dearth of specific research on the subject indicates that it is a phenomenon not...     

Nine years in the journal

An analysis of the contents of nine volumes of the International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling has been attempted in this article. The publications have been organized under fifteen headings. Two topics were analyzed more thoroughly: Theories and models of counselling and Country studies, presented by scholars of the countries studied.     

Will the Tide Lift All Boats? Examining the Equity Effects of Performance Funding Policies in U.S. Higher Education

Research in Higher Education - This study considers whether performance funding policies systematically tend to harm some types of institutions of higher education while helping others. Building on...