Statistical models for college admission and enrollment: A case study for a selective liberal arts college

In making admission decisions, selective colleges make choices that allow them to improve the quality of the college. Desired student attributes include leadership, noteworthy achievements and talents, and cultural and geographical diversity, as well as high academic performance. Since few applicants dominate in all these attributes, a delicate balancing act must be forged.In this study we construct probability models for college admissions and student enrollment. We have chosen a selective liberal arts college as a case study over a four-year period. In the first stage we estimate the probability of acceptance to the college for individual applicants. The logit model includes a number of academic factors as well as nonacademic components. In the second stage we estimate the probability of enrollment for an accepted student.The first stage results show that the actual outcome of the admissions decision does match the broader institutional goals of the college. However, in the second stage, the discrepancy between the acceptance and enrollment decisions frustrates the efforts of the institution to achieve its diversity goals and highlights the difficulty that admission officers have in targeting their efforts toward special groups of applicants.     

Teachers’ perceptions of students’ additional support needs: in the eye of the beholder?

Nowadays, teachers are regarded as key players in the process of identifying and catering to students’ additional support needs within mainstream primary classrooms. However, teachers’ professional judgements regarding students with special needs have been found to be contextually influenced (e.g. by school context, student population, level of achievement). It is unclear whether teachers’ perceptions of their students’ actual support needs are also influenced by their personal and professional characteristics. Hence, a better understanding of the value of teachers’ perceptions regarding students’ needs is needed. Therefore, this study explored perceptions of 109 Dutch mainstream primary teachers regarding four dimensions of students’ additional support. It addressed whether these teacher-perceived students’ needs are affected by teachers’ years of experience, level of training, personality traits and self-efficacy beliefs. It was found that teachers’ perceptions of students’ needs were relatively unbiased by their personal and professional characteristics.     

When will I succeed in my first‐year diploma? Survival analysis in Dutch higher education

The goal of this study was to illustrate survival analysis with higher education data and gain insight into a limited set of factors that predict when students passed their first‐year examination at a Dutch university. Study participants consisted of 565 first‐year students in four departments. Data were collected on when students pass their first‐year examination, prior achievement and procrastination. The analysis showed that 69% of the students had not passed their examination within the nominal study length of 12 months. The estimated median lifetime, the time when 50% of the students had passed their examination, was after 23 months. Students from the 2nd department passed their examination fastest. Female students reached the estimated median lifetime at 20 months, younger students at 16 months, older students at 24+ months and students with high prior achievement scores at 12 months. The analysis finally indicated that age, prior achievement and procrastination predicted passing first‐year examinations.     

Motivation and degree completion in a university-based teacher education programme

This study investigated which factors determine degree completion in a Dutch university-based teacher education programme. We assumed that both student characteristics and characteristics of the learning environment affected degree completion. We included the following factors in our study: motivation for becoming a teacher, teaching self-efficacy, professional commitment, perceptions of time management and perceptions of quality of instruction in the teacher education programme. Data were collected from 135 preservice teachers using a digital questionnaire. The student administration of the teacher education department provided data on degree completion. Analyses showed that teaching ability was the most important motive for becoming a teacher; it was also found to be a negative predictor of degree completion. We found that social utility values, professional commitment, perceptions of quality of instruction and time management contributed to the prediction of degree completion. The findings and implications for teacher education and policy are discussed.     

Teachers’ capacities to meet students’ additional support needs in mainstream primary education

Mainstream primary school teachers generally acknowledge the need to implement adaptive teaching; however, meeting a variety of students’ needs is a challenge. Studies have addressed the conditions under which teachers attribute their (in)capacities, but these have mainly involved vignettes. Therefore, it remains unknown whether teachers are capable of meeting their own students’ needs and what is of help or hindrance to them. The current study drawn from survey data obtained from 108 Dutch teachers addresses teacher-perceived (in)capacities to meet their students’ needs and perceived sources of help or hindrance in meeting them. Teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs were expected to partly explain teachers’ capacity. Results show that teachers feel fairly adequate in meeting students’ needs. They discern four sources of help or hindrance to which teachers attribute their success, including the teacher him/herself, student characteristics and school/working conditions. Attributions at the teacher and school levels were mostly related to teacher-perceived capacities rather than to teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs.     

Is the motivation to become a teacher related to pre‐service teachers’ intentions to remain in the profession?

This study investigated 198 pre‐service teachers’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for becoming teachers and focused on the distinction between adaptive motives, which promote lasting and effective engagement, and maladaptive motives, which promote superficial engagement. We examined the relationships with teacher self‐efficacy, the quality of the teacher training programme, classroom teaching experiences and the time pre‐service teachers expect to spend in the profession. The analyses indicated that female pre‐service teachers and pre‐service teachers with higher prior ability showed more intrinsic adaptive motives. Intrinsic adaptive motives were positively related to the quality of the teacher training programme and the classroom teaching experiences. Pre‐service teachers with positive teaching experiences indicated greater teacher self‐efficacy. Pre‐service teachers with extrinsic maladaptive motives indicated having had negative teaching experiences and they intended to remain in the profession for shorter periods. Teacher self‐efficacy was positively related to the amount of time pre‐service teachers intended to remain in the profession.