Assessing Student Abilities and Enhancing Value Added in Higher Education for Disadvantaged Students: Evidence from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point

评估学生能力并提高弱势学生高等教育的附加值：来自西点军校美国军事学院的证据

• 批准号: 1658746
• 负责人: Dennis Epple
• 金额: $ 44.57万
• 依托单位: Carnegie-Mellon University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-08-15 至 2020-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1658746&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Assessing; Student; Abilities; Enhancing; Value

Institutions of higher education confront a common set of challenges: assessing the capabilities of applicants and selecting those best suited to the mission of the institution, fostering diversity, inculcating knowledge, and placing graduates in productive careers. This research provides methods to help colleges and universities evaluate how well they are meeting these challenges and also help them become more effective. The investigators study the U.S. Military Academy at West Point (USMA). The USMA is an excellent setting to study these issues for several reasons: The USMA awards degrees in a range of academic majors comparable to those offered in many colleges and universities. The USMA undertakes comprehensive assessment of capabilities of applicants. Likewise, the measures of progress made over the course of a student's studies are more comprehensive than those obtained by other academic institutions. Finally, assessment of career accomplishments of graduates is enhanced by the fact that the graduates of the service academies all initially work for the same employer. With this comprehensive data, this project assesses current practices and prescribes policies to attract, retain, and improve performance of disadvantaged students. This research will be valuable not only to USMA but also to researchers and policy makers seeking to improve the effectiveness of our nation's colleges and universities.All colleges and universities confront common challenges: assessing capabilities of applicants, deciding which to admit, fostering diversity, inculcating knowledge, and placing graduates in productive careers. Responsibility for these activities is typically dispersed, with little coordination, across different administrative and teaching units. The investigators undertake an integrated analysis of these activities for a selective college, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. The USMA offers a range of majors comparable to that of other undergraduate institutions. It undertakes comprehensive assessments of applicants and comprehensive assessments of performance as students progress through college, obtaining more extensive measures than are obtained by other academic institutions. It has retained these measures for a large number of cohorts as well as measures of career performance. This project assesses the extent to which achievement gaps across demographic groups are narrowed by the college. This research characterizes the relevant dimensions of skills and estimates a model of admission, attrition, and achievement. The investigators examine potential changes in admission and retention policies that may improve achievement, graduation rates, and career success, with particular emphasis on improving access and success in higher education by disadvantaged groups.

高等教育机构面临着一系列共同的挑战：评估申请人的能力，并选择最适合该机构使命的人，促进多样性，灌输知识并将毕业生置于生产力职业中。这项研究提供了帮助大学评估他们如何应对这些挑战的方法，并帮助他们变得更加有效。研究人员研究了西点（USMA）的美国军事学院。 USMA是研究这些问题的绝佳场所，原因有几个：USMA奖励学位与许多学院和大学提供的学术专业的学位相当。 USMA对申请人能力进行全面评估。同样，在学生学习过程中取得的进步衡量标准比其他学术机构所获得的进步量更全面。最后，通过服务学院的毕业生最初为同一雇主工作，对毕业生的职业成就的评估得到了增强。通过这些全面的数据，该项目评估了当前的实践，并规定了吸引，保留和提高处境不利学生表现的政策。这项研究不仅对USMA有价值，而且对寻求提高国家大学和大学有效性的研究人员和政策制定者都有价值。所有学院和大学都面临共同的挑战：评估申请人的能力，决定承认哪些人可以承认，促进多样性，灌输知识并培养毕业生在生产护理中。这些活动的责任通常在不同的行政和教学单位之间几乎没有协调。调查人员对选择学院，西点的美国军事学院进行了对这些活动的综合分析。 USMA提供的一系列专业与其他本科机构相当。随着学生通过大学的进步，它对申请人进行了全面评估，并对绩效进行了全面评估，获得了比其他学术机构获得的更广泛的措施。它保留了许多队列的这些措施以及职业绩效的措施。该项目评估了学院范围内范围内的成就差距在多大程度上。这项研究表征了技能的相关维度，并估计了入学，流失和成就的模型。调查人员研究了可能提高成就，毕业率和职业成功的入学和保留政策的潜在变化，并特别强调了不利的群体在高等教育中的获得和成功。