This ex-post facto quantitative study examined how a comprehensive STEM education program impacts high school students' ACT math and science scores as well as their attitudes toward STEM. Using data from one STEM-designated school, the researcher examined ACT math, science, and STEM results for students who took the ACT in the Spring of 2024,…

In this study we characterize student procrastination habits and investigate associations between these habits and student performance on graded course components, student beliefs about their own procrastination behavior, and gender. The procrastination habits of calculus-based introductory physics students are measured via the amount of time…

Algebraic thinking and strategy flexibility are essential to advanced mathematical thinking. Early algebra instruction uses 'missing-operand' problems (e.g., x - 7 = 2) solvable via two typical strategies: (1) direct retrieval of arithmetic facts (e.g., 9 - 7 = 2) and (2) performance of the inverse operation (e.g., 2 + 7 = 9). The current study…

Problem Roulette (PR), an online study service at the University of Michigan, offers points-free formative practice to students preparing for examinations in introductory science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses. Using four years of PR data involving millions of problem attempts by thousands of students, we quantify the benefits…

In 2016, more than 1.6 million students took the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), a standardized college admissions test (College Board 2016a). Researchers have estimated that 33 percent of students who take the SAT participate in some mode of formal test preparation, such as private tutoring or classes, to prepare for the exam (Buchmann, Condron…

One of the major claims of the report of University of California's Task Force on Standardized Testing is that SAT and ACT scores are superior to high-school grades in predicting how students will perform at UC. This finding has been widely reported in the news media and cited in several editorials favoring UC's continued use of SAT/ACT scores in…

We study the effects of exposure to non-resident students on the outcomes of undergraduate in-state students during a period of high non-resident enrollment growth at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Our models leverage within-major, cross-time variation in nonresident exposure for identification. We find no evidence that increased exposure to…

Although memory retrieval often enhances subsequent memory, Peterson and Mulligan (2013) reported conditions under which retrieval produces poorer subsequent recall--the negative testing effect. The item-specific--relational account proposes that the effect occurs when retrieval disrupts interitem organizational processing relative to the restudy…

One primary goal of many science courses is for students to learn creative problem-solving skills; that is, integrating concepts, explaining concepts in a problem context, and using concepts to solve problems. However, what science instructors see is that many students, even those having excellent SAT/ACT and Advanced Placement scores, struggle in…

The purpose of this research study was to explore how incoming first year students develop their academic performance expectations, differences between students in the development of academic performance expectations, and lastly the role of the university has in communicating expectations to students. The researcher utilized case study research to…

If numerical reasoning items are administered under time limits, will two dimensions be required to account for the responses, a numerical ability dimension and a speed dimension? A total of 182 college students answered 74 numerical reasoning items. Every item was taken with and without time limits by half the students. Three psychometric models…

One key difference between successful and struggling college readers is their use of strategies. The former can understand challenging texts due to their knowledge of how to apply a diverse range of strategies. In contrast, the latter are frequently unaware of when and how to utilize strategies, and, as a result, often cannot comprehend assigned…

Distinctions were made between three classes of statistical linkage: equivalence, concordance, and prediction. These distinctions were based on rational content considerations and empirical statistical relationships. A large database involving SAT I and ACT scores was used to determine which type of linkage was best suited for different scores and…

This paper describes how results on the ACT and SAT I can be compared through statistical linking procedures.

In an attempt to help college students who needed remedial work in English composition and reading, a combination of four courses (two in English and two in psychology) by means of team teaching and block scheduling was designed at Foothill College. During the spring of 1968, 30 selected students met during a 2-hour block of time five days a week.…