Many large-scale, school-based interventions have attempted to improve academic performance through promoting students' growth mindset, defined as the belief that one's intellectual ability can increase with practice and time. However, most have shown weak to no effects. Thus, it is important to examine how growth mindset might affect retention…

This paper discusses Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) as a method for the assessment of prior learning. The Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL) is a procedure to offer learners an individualized curriculum based on their prior experiences and knowledge. The placement decisions in this process are based on the analysis of student material by domain…

In the Netherlands, university programs increasingly use the binding study advice (BSA) to select students after the first year. Students with insufficient progress after the first year and who therefore do not conform to pre-defined BSA norms have to quit their program. This study investigated whether the introduction of the BSA is associated…

Tests the hypothesis that, owing to sex differences in prior knowledge and interests, the topic of a text is an important factor explaining sex-based differences in student scores on foreign-language tests. Results indicate that differences between the sexes in prior knowledge contribute to sex differences in foreign-language reading…

The Second International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM2009) was held at the University of Cordoba, Spain, on July 1-3, 2009. EDM brings together researchers from computer science, education, psychology, psychometrics, and statistics to analyze large data sets to answer educational research questions. The increase in instrumented…