The past few years have seen a shift in many universities' admission policies from test-required to either test-optional or test-blind. This paper uses laboratory experiments to examine students' reporting behavior given their application package and the school's interpretation of non-reported standardized test scores. We find that voluntary…

The role of mathematics in secondary-tertiary transition is subject to increasing analysis in several education contexts. We explore the longitudinal relationships among a standardized test used for assessing secondary school mathematics, high school final grades and the academic progress of a sample of Italian undergraduates. Results from…

We analyze admissions and transcript records for students at multiple Ivy-Plus colleges to study the relationship between standardized (SAT/ACT) test scores, high school GPA, and first-year college grades. Standardized test scores predict academic outcomes with a normalized slope four times greater than that from high school GPA, all conditional…

In this mixed-methods study, we seek to understand the impact of the California Subject Examination for Teachers (CSET) on the makeup of the teacher pipeline. We are specifically interested in exploring how teachers of color are impacted by these tests when seeking to enter the teacher workforce. Findings from the data, both qualitative and…

Objective-Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) are a valuable source of assessment for students' practical clinical and professional skills throughout their medical careers due to the OSCEs' capability to test multiple competencies in a standardized manner. Over the years, OSCEs have increasingly been integrated across medical programs to…

Community colleges often employ measures to determine student course placement. Though much research has examined the predictive validity of placement measures such as ACT or high-school GPA, little research examines the effects of students' traditional and non-traditional status. Using data from a rural state community college, we examined the…

In the 1930s, American colleges and universities began to screen applications using the SAT, a mass-administered, IQ-descended standardized test. The widespread adoption of the test accompanied the development of the world's first mass higher education system--and served to promote the idea that the United States was becoming a…

Effective science instruction and associated student learning is reliant upon a strong foundation of teacher content knowledge. This study of the "Praxis?" General Science Content Knowledge Test from May 2006 to June 2016 investigates content knowledge of 28,688 general science teacher candidates. Examinees performed well on "Life…

Perceived failure in academic performance can lead to differing outcomes for students. Depending on the coping strategies that they choose, students may improve or worsen their performance. This study examined the relationship between affective components and coping strategies in college students' responses to perceived academic failure and their…

Without standardized tests, college admissions may reward high schools' reputation over effectiveness--a phenomenon we study in Peru. We first estimate the impact of selective public exam schools on college outcomes by leveraging the admissions mechanism in a single- and multiple-offers RDD. Despite no conclusive evidence of learning gains,…

Policymakers' neoliberal reforms have negatively altered early childhood teaching and teacher education. In doing so, these policies make it difficult for preservice teachers to learn how to engage in pedagogical practices that sustain their students' sociocultural worlds. To address this issue, we utilized case study methodology to examine how a…

A January 2024 survey found that 72 percent of parents had considered a new school for their children in the past year. And in 2025, Texas and Tennessee are poised to become the next states to enact education savings account (ESA) programs, potentially giving millions more students the education options that their parents want for them. As a…

This study reports the results of a national survey of the types and uses of assessments for matriculating secondary students into college Chinese language programs. In addition to providing an overview of college placement procedures obtained from 35 college Chinese programs, the survey also probed into the rationales behind the varied placement…

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) was one of many universities that adopted a test-optional admissions policy for the Fall 2021 incoming cohort. However, unlike many institutions that went to test-optional admissions out of necessity, the decision made by IUPUI faculty and administration was thoroughly considered, data…

Two-year colleges provide access and opportunity for students with various academic backgrounds to pursue a post-secondary education. While two-year colleges take pride in admitting any student with a high school diploma or equivalent, in recent years colleges have been under scrutiny for low completion and graduation rates. Particular attention…