One-third of all post-secondary students transfer colleges and roughly two-thirds of public 4-year colleges require a minimum college GPA to be eligible for transfer admissions. Yet, little is known about how these policies influence who, when, and where students transfer. This paper studies the minimum transfer admissions requirements at…

Using administrative data from Georgia, we provide the first study of the full set of college entrance exam-taking strategies, including who takes the ACT and the SAT (or both), when they take the exams, and how many times they take each exam. We have several main findings. First, one-third of exam takers take both the ACT and SAT. Second, we see…

While there is interest in pathways-aligned high school math reform among secondary education stakeholders, change in high school math depends a great deal on policies, practices, and norms at the higher education level. This report focuses on the role of higher education in influencing (encouraging or deterring) secondary education math reform.…

We provide the first estimated economic impacts of students' access to an entire sector of public higher education in the U.S. Approximately half of Georgia high school graduates who enroll in college do so in the state's public four-year sector, which requires minimum SAT scores for admission. Regression discontinuity estimates show enrollment in…

Student success is an important focus within higher education as it relates to retention, progression, and graduation rates. Limited research exists examining the predictors of success within an undergraduate Exercise Science program. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the viability of an admission policy implemented within an…

The University of Georgia has operated under a voluntary "race-neutral" admission policy for the past 2 decades. Using frame analysis theory, we examine university documents and interview data from 11 campus administrators responsible for diversity efforts to understand how diversity is framed at the institutional and individual levels…

This paper outlines current trends, progress, and possibilities for fostering more authentic ways to assess students' competencies and mastery of skills needed for college, work, and civic life in the 21st century. It provides an introduction to performance assessments and their value. The authors highlight efforts to develop such assessments in…

The report on which this brief is based describes performance assessments and their value for guiding and evaluating high school students' learning, as well as informing colleges and universities about what students know and can do. It explores state and local policies that support the use of such assessments, along with emerging higher education…

Since Jerry Herron begins his forum essay, "Notes toward an Excellent Marxist-Elitist Honors Admissions Policy," with his anecdotal True Genealogical Confessions, Jeffery Portnoy, writes here that he feels feel obligated to begin in a similar mode. One side of Portnoy's family was in the real estate business in St. Louis, and the other…

A key focus area for the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) is ensuring equitable access to effective teachers for all students in the state (MDE, 2016, 2017b). To achieve this vision, however, MDE recognizes that it must first address persistent teacher shortages in regions of the state and in specific subject areas (U.S. Department of…

The Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes (CEELO) was asked to provide information on how other states are approaching the development and implementation of Kindergarten Entry Assessment (KEA) as part of a comprehensive assessment system. Specifically, the request asked for information about KEA measures used by other states, the processes…

Background/Context: The past few decades have seen an explosive growth in high-school student participation in the Advanced Placement program® (AP), with nearly two million exams completed in 2011. Traditionally, universities have considered AP enrollment as an indicator for predicting academic success during the admission process. However, AP…

The study investigates the chances of gaining admission to Georgian higher education in relation to residential origin. The analysis of broad trends is combined with details from an in-depth individual-level inquiry. Qualitative data on the entire population of 150,000 applicants over the period 2005-9, together with interview data from a…

Traditionally, graduate programs in business administration have heavily relied on the Graduate Management Aptitude Test prepared and administered by the Educational Testing Service in the decision to admit a candidate to the program. The purpose of this paper is to review the literature regarding the statistical validity and statistical…

This article presents a comparative-historical analysis of access to higher education in Georgia. It describes the workings of corrupt channels during the Soviet and early post-Soviet periods and the role of standardized tests in fighting corruption in higher education admission processes after introduction of the Unified National Entrance…