Student dropout represents a significant challenge in distance higher education. To better understand this issue, a comprehensive analysis of institutional data, spanning several years from a private German distance learning university of applied sciences, was conducted. The primary objectives were twofold: (1) to pinpoint institutional factors…

Longitudinal research on students' interest in higher education showed that interest declines throughout the study program. While researchers reported numerous factors explaining interest on the student level, research on the relationship between the lecturer level and students' interest development is considered scarce. This study aimed to…

Partnerships between parents and preschools (PPP), including parental trust as a key element, are crucial for child development. This exploratory study examined the type and intensity of partnership activities to which parents were invited and their contributions to parental trust, as well as preschool and teacher characteristics that predicted…

Prior research suggests that teachers' positive perceptions of a reform are key when it comes to its successful implementation. The importance of teachers as enactors of change efforts results from their close tie to what is happening in the classroom. This suggests that without persuaded change agents, innovations are unlikely to be implemented…

Position effects (PE) cause decreasing probabilities of correct item responses towards the end of a test. We analysed PEs in science, mathematics and reading tests administered in the German extension to the PISA 2006 study with respect to their variability at the student- and school-level. PEs were strongest in reading and weakest in mathematics.…

This paper is based on the research question of what predictors (school characteristics, teachers' attitudes, teacher collaboration and background characteristics) determine secondary school teachers' frequency of computer use in class. The use of new technologies by secondary school teachers for educational purposes is an important factor…

Data about processes and outcomes of preschool teacher education is scarce. This paper examines the opportunities to learn (OTL) of prospective preschool teachers (N = 1,851) at different types and stages of preschool teacher education and their relation to general pedagogical knowledge (GPK), mathematics pedagogical content knowledge (MPCK), and…

Background: Educational processes and outcomes are influenced by a multitude of factors, including individual and contextual characteristics. Recently, studies have demonstrated that student and context characteristics may produce unique and cumulative effects on educational outcomes. Aims: The study aimed to investigate (1) the relative…

During the transition from elementary school to secondary school, in Germany, students are assigned to different school tracks, academic or non-academic, that differ markedly in compositional and institutional characteristics, e.g., the level of cognitive activation and performance standards are higher in academic tracks than in non-academic…

Emergent literacy activities are considered to be important for promoting children's emergent literacy skills. However, little research exists, especially in Germany, regarding how often such activities occur and in what context. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of emergent literacy activities occurring in the final preschool…

This paper provides evidence on the sources of differences in inequality in educational scores and their evolution over time in four European countries. Using Programme for International Student Assessment data from the 2000 and the 2006 waves, the paper shows that inequality decreased in Germany and Spain (two "decentralised" schooling…

A system of qualification options has evolved that is complementary to company-based and school-based vocational training. Thus far, these alternatives have been largely disregarded by vocational education research. Yet with respect to the number of annual entries, those alternatives are currently nearly as significant as conventional vocational…

In recent years, the transition from higher education to work in comparative perspective has attracted increasing attention from scholars and practitioners alike. Previous studies reveal similarities and differences in labour market outcomes across countries, but explanatory frameworks mainly refer to fields of study, whereas differences by types…

Purpose: The central research questions which the paper aims to answer are: What are the entrepreneurial intentions of university students in different European regions? What are the factors that most contribute to entrepreneurial intentions and the potential differences between the regions? Design/methodology/approach: This cross-sectional study…

The 11th International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM 2018) is held under the auspices of the International Educational Data Mining Society at the Templeton Landing in Buffalo, New York. This year's EDM conference was highly competitive, with 145 long and short paper submissions. Of these, 23 were accepted as full papers and 37…