Author: Michael S. McPherson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 88
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Book Description
This study describes the American system of higher education's distributive mechanism in the practice of selective admission and considers possible changes in that system. Chapter One presents the work's overall approach, a three level analysis of the current system from the viewpoints of the individual student and the individual college as well as a conspectus of the system as a whole. Chapter Two describes some main features of the outcome of the existing admissions system in terms of the distribution of students across institutions. Chapters Three and Four analyze the consequences of higher education by enumerating and evaluating the various outputs of higher education in terms of what is "fair" and what is "efficient." Here, alternative descriptions of how the educational system actually operates are provided. Chapter Five follows up the earlier work on defining and measuring equity and efficiency by turning to trade-offs between the two. Chapter Six returns to the central issue: the person or institution's pursuit of individual goals may result in a collective situation in which achievement of those goals is frustrated. Chapter Seven looks at what all of this means for policy decision making and concludes that, although radical change in existing practices are neither feasible nor desirable, improvements in both equity and efficiency are possible if relatively small changes (such as institutional cooperation to limit competition-driven expenditures) are implemented. (56 references) (JB)
Author: Brainerd Alden Thresher
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 112
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Book Description
Author: John Aubrey Douglass
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 360
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Book Description
The first comprehensive study of the admission policies and practices at U.S. public universities, examining their "social contract" in light of contemporary debates over affirmative action, standardized testing, privatization, and the influences of globalization.
Author: Anna Mountford Zimdars
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1849665486
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 249
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Book Description
This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Who gets into elite universities, how and why? What are places like Harvard in the United States or Cambridge in England looking for when they admit undergraduate students? What qualities do selectors value and how do they decide between many applicants with often stellar attainment records? And, are we all better off because of who these elite universities admit? Meritocracy and the University provides an insight into the world of university admissions. Based on interviews with professional admissions staff and academic faculty members who select students, the book explains what selectors value and how they make decisions. By shining a light on the world of university admissions in England and in the United States, readers are invited to reflect on the similarities and differences in who selects and how selection is done, the purpose and mission of universities, and the challenges universities face in building fair admissions processes when earlier opportunities to shine in education are unequally distributed.
Author: Philip Woods
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134770391
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 274
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Book Description
This book reports on the findings of a unique investigation into the impact of education reforms aimed at introducing more choice and competition into the school system.
Author: Jeffrey Selingo
Publisher: Scribner
ISBN: 1982116293
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 336
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Book Description
From award-winning higher education journalist and New York Times bestselling author Jeffrey Selingo comes a revealing look from inside the admissions office—one that identifies surprising strategies that will aid in the college search. Getting into a top-ranked college has never seemed more impossible, with acceptance rates at some elite universities dipping into the single digits. In Who Gets In and Why, journalist and higher education expert Jeffrey Selingo dispels entrenched notions of how to compete and win at the admissions game, and reveals that teenagers and parents have much to gain by broadening their notion of what qualifies as a “good college.” Hint: it’s not all about the sticker on the car window. Selingo, who was embedded in three different admissions offices—a selective private university, a leading liberal arts college, and a flagship public campus—closely observed gatekeepers as they made their often agonizing and sometimes life-changing decisions. He also followed select students and their parents, and he traveled around the country meeting with high school counselors, marketers, behind-the-scenes consultants, and college rankers. While many have long believed that admissions is merit-based, rewarding the best students, Who Gets In and Why presents a more complicated truth, showing that “who gets in” is frequently more about the college’s agenda than the applicant. In a world where thousands of equally qualified students vie for a fixed number of spots at elite institutions, admissions officers often make split-second decisions based on a variety of factors—like diversity, money, and, ultimately, whether a student will enroll if accepted. One of the most insightful books ever about “getting in” and what higher education has become, Who Gets In and Why not only provides an unusually intimate look at how admissions decisions get made, but guides prospective students on how to honestly assess their strengths and match with the schools that will best serve their interests.
Author: William Benton Schrader
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Universities and colleges
Languages : en
Pages : 140
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Book Description
Author: Chester E. Finn, Jr.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400844576
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 264
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Book Description
An in-depth look at academically selective public high schools in America What is the best education for exceptionally able and high-achieving youngsters? Can the United States strengthen its future intellectual leadership, economic vitality, and scientific prowess without sacrificing equal opportunity? There are no easy answers but, as Chester Finn and Jessica Hockett show, for more than 100,000 students each year, the solution is to enroll in an academically selective public high school. Exam Schools is the first-ever close-up look at this small, sometimes controversial, yet crucial segment of American public education. This groundbreaking book discusses how these schools work--and their critical role in nurturing the country's brightest students. The 165 schools identified by Finn and Hockett are located in thirty states, plus the District of Columbia. While some are world renowned, such as Boston Latin and Bronx Science, others are known only in their own communities. The authors survey the schools on issues ranging from admissions and student diversity to teacher selection. They probe sources of political support, curriculum, instructional styles, educational effectiveness, and institutional autonomy. Some of their findings are surprising: Los Angeles, for example, has no "exam schools" while New York City has dozens. Asian-American students are overrepresented—but so are African-American pupils. Culminating with in-depth profiles of eleven exam schools and thoughtful reflection on policy implications, Finn and Hockett ultimately consider whether the country would be better off with more such schools. At a time of keen attention to the faltering education system, Exam Schools sheds positive light on a group of schools that could well provide a transformative roadmap for many of America's children.
Author: Caroline M. Hoxby
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226355373
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 447
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Book Description
Aspiring college students and their families have many options. A student can attend an in-state or an out-of-state school, a public or private college, a two-year community college program or a four-year university program. Students can attend full-time and have a bachelor of arts degree by the age of twenty-three or mix college and work, progressing toward a degree more slowly. To make matters more complicated, the array of financial aid available is more complex than ever. Students and their families must weigh federal grants, state merit scholarships, college tax credits, and college savings accounts, just to name a few. In College Choices, Caroline Hoxby and a distinguished group of economists show how students and their families really make college decisions—how they respond to financial aid options, how peer relationships figure in the decision-making process, and even whether they need mentoring to get through the admissions process. Students of all sorts are considered—from poor students, who may struggle with applications and whether to continue on to college, to high aptitude students who are offered "free rides" at elite schools. College Choices utilizes the best methods and latest data to analyze the college decision-making process, while explaining how changes in aid and admissions practices inform those decisions as well.
Author: Jon Elster
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610441834
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 294
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Book Description
The well-being of individuals routinely depends on their success in obtaining goods and avoiding burdens distributed by society. Local Justice offers the first systematic analysis of the principles and procedures used in dispensing "local justice" in situations as varied as the admission of students to college, the choice of patients for organ transplants, the selection of workers for layoffs, and the induction of men into the army. A prominent theorist in the field of rational choice and decision making, Jon Elster develops a rich selection of empirical examples and case studies to demonstrate the diversity of procedures used by institutions that mete out local justice. From this revealing material Elster fashions a conceptual framework for understanding why institutions make these crucial allocations in the ways they do. Elster's investigation discloses the many complex and varied approaches of such decision-making bodies as selective service and adoption agencies, employers and universities, prison and immigration authorities. What are the conflicting demands placed on these institutions by the needs of applicants, the recommendations of external agencies, and their own organizational imperatives? Often, as Elster shows, methods of allocation may actually aggravate social problems. For instance, the likelihood that handicapped or minority infants will be adopted is further decreased when agencies apply the same stringent screening criteria—exclusion of people over forty, single parents, working wives, and low-income families—that they use for more sought-after babies. Elster proposes a classification of the main principles and procedures used to match goods with individuals, charts the interactions among these mechanisms of local justice, and evaluates them in terms of fairness and efficiency. From his empirical groundwork, Elster builds an innovative analysis of the historical processes by which, at given times and under given circumstances, preferences become principles and principles become procedures. Local Justice concludes with a comparison of local justice systems with major contemporary theories of social justice—utilitarianism, John Rawls's A Theory of Justice, Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia—and discusses the "common-sense conception of justice" held by professional decision makers such as lawyers, economists, and politicians. The difference between what we say about justice and how we actually dispense it is the illuminating principle behind Elster's book. A perceptive and cosmopolitan study, Local Justice is a seminal work for all those concerned with the formation of ethical policy and social welfare—philosophers, economists, political scientists, health care professionals, policy makers, and educators.
