Historical perspectives on the decennial census

A brief review of the American census begins with the framers of the Constitution assembled in Philadelphia in 1787. When the delegates agreed on State representation in the Senate and proportional representation in the House, they wrote a census clause into the Constitution to ensure periodic adjustments. During the nineteenth century, the volume of census questions increased dramatically, provoking criticisms of census accuracy and calls for a permanent Census Bureau, established in 1902. In recent times, major innovations in census work have improved accuracy and timeliness, along with more popular interest in the enumeration. For the 1980 census, many people wanted to help set the stage for the census, and most people want to be counted, continuing the best traditions of 200 years.     

Low test scores in Latin America: poor schools,poor families or something else?

Latin American students consistently score low on international tests of cognitive skills. In the PISA 2012 results, students in seven Latin American countries had an average score of 395 in mathematics, or about 100 points lower than the average score of 497 in four Scandinavian countries. We estimate the effect of socioeconomic characteristics on student scores in Latin America and Scandinavia and find that 50 points of the difference are explained by Latin American parents’ lower average educational and socioeconomic characteristics, 25 points are explained by Latin America’s weak cultural orientation toward reading books and the remaining 25 points are explained by the lower effectiveness of Latin American educational systems in teaching cognitive skills.     

Tenure and Academic Productivity

Abstract

The attitudes of male and female university professors at AACSB (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) International accredited business schools differ substantially regarding certain aspects of traditional tenure. This survey of 1,306 professors at 307 AACSB International accredited schools in 48 states and Canada examines a broad range of tenure-related matters. Survey results indicate that although general agreement exists between male and female faculty with regard to the impact of tenure on higher education in business, eight significantly different tenure-related issues provide critical insight into problems that presently exist in academia.     

Early Integration and Other Outcomes for Community College Transfer Students

The purpose of this study was to explore academic and social integration and other outcomes for community college transfer students. The study used Tinto’s (Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition, 1993) Longitudinal Model of Institutional Departure and Deil-Amen’s (J Higher Educ, 82:54–91, 2011) concept of “socio-academic integrative moments” to inform the selection and organization of potential predictors. We developed regression models for relationships between demographic and background variables of interest and perceived academic and social integration following the first six weeks at the receiving university. We also included these perceived integration scores in regression models for six outcomes (first and second semester grade point average, first and second semester earned hours ratios, and second and third semester persistence). Academic and previous college background explained the greatest amount of variance in predicting early integration and academic outcomes.