Spirituality in higher education has received increasing attention in the last two decades, but the association of spirituality with religiousness creates challenges. As an alternative approach to spirituality, this study proposes a scale to measure the closely related concept of students' authenticity. Using a large-scale, longitudinal dataset,…

Academic stress, an endemic phenomenon in higher education, presents a multifaceted challenge, manifesting as cognitive overload, affective dysregulation and physiological destabilisation. It leads to recurrent feedback loops that reinforce anxiety and frustration, intensifying maladaptive stress responses. This study examines the extent to which…

In this paper, we set out the first step towards the measurement of learning gain in higher education by putting forward a conceptual framework for understanding learning gain that is relevant across disciplines. We then introduce the operationalisation of this conceptual framework into a new set of measurement tools. With the use of data from a…

Part II of the Houston Longitudinal Study on the Transition to College and Work (HLS) examined potential indicators of college enrollment school and district staff might use to identify and support students at risk of not attending college. The study used administrative data from the Houston Independent School District (HISD) and tracked two…

This report examined three potential indicators of college enrollment school and district staff might use to identify and support students at risk of not attending college: (1) Chicago: Designed to predict high school graduation; based on earning six course credits--the minimum to advance to the next grade in HISD--and having at most one semester…

These are the appendices for "Transitioning to College and Work. Part 2: A Study of Potential Enrollment Indicators," which examined potential indicators of college enrollment school and district staff might use to identify and support students at risk of not attending college. The study used administrative data from the Houston…

Research about the structure of character has largely assessed purported universal attributes. However, character develops within specific social, cultural and institutional contexts. As part of the first wave of a longitudinal study (Project Arete) of character development among cadets at the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point,…

Purpose: Graduate admission has become a critical process for quality assurance in tertiary education. Hitherto, most research has investigated the validity of admissions instruments. However, surprisingly little work has been conducted on the overall organization of admission, which often remains "informal, ad hoc, and lacking in…

As with other countries, Australia has been grappling with the identification, measurement and impact of disadvantage in higher education. In particular, the measurement of socio-economic status (SES) has been of central concern. The immediate solution in Australia has been the introduction of an "area" measure in which students' SES is…

The aim of this paper is to discuss intercultural competence (IC) from a languacognitive perspective, whose main assumption is the interface between language, cognition and culture manifested in meaning construction. The article first emphasizes the centrality of language in the process of meaning construction. As a result, in the following…

Learning to program is a complex task, and the impact of different pedagogical approaches to teach this skill has been hard to measure. This study examined the performance data of seven cohorts of students (N = 1168) learning programming under three different pedagogical approaches. These pedagogical approaches varied either in the length of the…

Many higher education studies use self-reported gains as indicators of college student learning and development. However, the evidence regarding the validity of these indicators is quite mixed. It is proposed that the temporal nature of the assessment--whether students are asked to report their current attributes or how their attributes have…

In 1979 and 1980, college freshmen (N=1766) completed the Noncognitive Questionnaire (NCQ). The validity of the NCQ in predicting graduation status after five and six years was assessed for Black and White students. Results indicated that the noncognitive dimensions measured by the NCQ were significantly related to graduation but the traditional…

The long-range predictive and differential validities of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) are investigated. Data from students (n=1284) who entered Jefferson Medical College from 1965 through 1974 were analyzed and supported the convergent and divergent validities of the SAT over an extended period of time. (Author/PN)

Five studies involving medical students over a four-year period were conducted to examine the reliability and validity of the Medical Helping Relationship Inventory (MHRI)--an instrument for evaluating medical communication skills. Evidence of the MHRI's construct validity, convergent validity, and discriminant validity is discussed. (SLD)