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Over 300 natural disasters affected more than 140 million people in 2014 (Guha-Sapir, Below, and Hoyois 2016). Little is known about the impact of natural disasters on student achievement, an important input into later growth and development. This paper examines the impact of severe flooding on student achievement. By using a difference-in-differences strategy, I exploit the severe flooding in Thailand in 2011 as a natural experiment to measure its effect on the national examination, the O-net. I combine the school-level O-net examination scores from the National Institute of Educational Test Service (NIETS) with school specific data from the Ministry of Education for the academic year 2006-2013. The variation in the impact of the severe flooding allows me to estimate the impact of the flood on the O-net examination scores, a proxy for student academic achievement. The estimates suggest that the flood had a negative and significant effect on all test scores for grade 6, except for social studies. In addition, for grade 9 the flood had a negative and significant effect on all test scores. But, for grade 12 the flood had no significant effect on test scores, except for social studies. The absolute sizes of the change in test score as a result of the flood range from 0.03 to 0.11 standard deviations, depending on the subject and level. My work provides the first empirical evidence of the adverse impact of severe flooding on student achievement. My results suggest that additional support is needed to lower the adverse impact of severe flooding on high-stakes examinations like the O-net examination, because researchers found that a decrease in test scores can lead to lower educational attainment and earnings (Ebenstein, Lavy, and Roth 2016). JEL Classifications: A2, C23, I2, Q54 Keywords: Thailand, Student Achievement, Education, Natural Experiment, INTRODUCTION Natural disasters have become more frequent in the past decade (CRED 2016). While much of the existing literature focuses on the contemporaneous impacts of natural disasters on growth and [...]

Selecting an undergraduate institution in the United States has been one of the most challenging experiences in college students and their families' lives. Students must weigh in both academic and non-academic factors during the college selection process. Once students have selected a 2-year or 4-year institutions, they are required to take a set of general education courses prior to graduation. In addition to the traditional or honors general education curriculum, courses including remedial math, remedial English, academic success, career success, and diversity/multicultural have been implemented in recent decades as part of the general education curriculum in many undergraduate institutions. These additional courses are implemented to ensure college survival and to address college campus and workplace success issues. This paper evaluates previously published literature regarding the general education curricula that influence success, satisfaction, and retention of undergraduate students in the United States., Introduction Higher education institutions in the United States today have offered a number of general education courses required for graduation. General education courses are considered core classes that all undergraduate [...]

Accessing higher education without having to overcome bureaucratic hurdles is a serious concern for refugees. Although empirical studies on the integration and success of refugees in higher education are scarce, the challenges related to this issue are becoming apparent. The Success and Opportunities for Refugees in Higher Education (SUCCESS) research project has been launched to investigate the effectiveness of new online study programs offered on the Kiron Open Higher Education (Kiron) platform that provides refugees with access to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). SUCCESS measures the prior knowledge and skills of refugee students and investigates to what extent their study opportunities, learning processes, and chances of academic success can be improved effectively through different forms of support provided in Kiron. In this paper, we present the assessment framework and study design of the SUCCESS project as well as data on 1,376 students entering the study program in Kiron in summer 2017. As students' language skills, intellectual abilities, and prior study-related knowledge play a significant role in their performance in higher education degree programs, we focus on the crucial introductory study phase and valid diagnostics of students' study preconditions. We analyze refugee students' socio-biographical and educational data such as gender, country of origin, highest level of education achieved etc. and examine their English language skills, intellectual abilities, and previous study domain related knowledge. We find extreme differences in levels of education and preconditions on starting to study in Kiron. Based on these results, we discuss implications for the effective and successful integration of refugee students in higher education.KeywordsIntegration of refugees, higher education, study success, Massive Open Online Courses, Project Objectives and Research FocusParticipation in higher education programs is considered an effective way to integrate refugees into their host country (Colucci et al., 2017; De Wit & Altbach, 2016; [...]

This second paper also takes up the issue of how teachers make judgements of primary students' writing. Once again, we examine the evidence base used by two teachers in their judgements, using qualitative techniques for mapping the inter-relationships among the indexes that teachers rely on to formulate judgements. Of special interest in this paper is how the teachers enacted judgements of student writing in the absence of knowledge about the institutional and pedagogical settings in which the writing had been produced, and also without knowledge of the student writer. The authors recommend that readers consider the discussion and findings offered in this paper in conjunction with paper one which precedes it., The preceding paper discussed how two Year 5 teachers accounted for their judgements of the literate capabilities of students in their own class on the basis of written texts produced [...]

The purpose of this study was to explore key attributes of service quality in the Croatian higher education system. In particular, the study aims to compare student and faculty perceptions of service quality and to identify institutional aspects that may affect the perceptions of these two customers. Principal component analysis is used to define key dimensions of service quality and independent sample t test or one-way between groups ANOVA to analyse the impact of institutional aspects on customer perceptions. The findings of this study showed that students and faculty separate service quality dimensions in a similar manner. The study also provides insight into the effects of institutional aspects on customer perceptions. The results revealed that ownership status, research orientation, and size significantly moderate customer perceptions of the service quality. The findings reported in this paper draw attention to the importance of the customer perceptions in the higher education context and the role of institutional characteristics in the formation of customer perceptions., Author(s): Ines Duzevic[sup.1] , Anita Ceh Casni[sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) Department of Trade, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, J.F.Kennedy Sq. 6, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia (2) Department of [...]

This paper proposes a model of learning-oriented assessment to inform assessment theory and practice. The model focuses on three interrelated processes: the assessment tasks which students undertake; students' development of self-evaluative capacities; and student engagement with feedback. These three strands are explored through the analysis of assessment practice in context. The research method involves in-depth classroom observations of five recipients of awards for teaching excellence across multiple disciplines; and semi-structured interviews with these teachers and a sample of their students. Findings highlight assessment tasks promoting thinking and practicing in the discipline; the use of critical reviews to develop student understandings of quality work; and 'same day feedback' to promote timely dialogues with students. The coherence of the model is discussed and some areas for further exploration are suggested., Author(s): David Carless[sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Introduction The theory and practice of student assessment in higher education has generated a [...]

This paper examined the correlation between social media utilisation, study habit and undergraduate students' academic performance in Tai Solarin University of Education, Ogun State, Nigeria. The study used descriptive survey design. A sample of 2 departments from each of the 4 colleges existed in the university in 2012/2013 session was drawn using simple random sampling technique, Also, a sample 2905 students out 9692 students in the university during the academic session under study was drawn using purposive sampling technique. This comprised the total number of students in all the Departments sampled. The study developed and used a questionnaire tagged 'Social Media Utilisation and Study Habit Questionnaire (SMUSHQ)' with correlation coefficient (r) of 0.79. The final year results of the sampled students were used to assess their academic performance (2015/2016 session). The descriptive statistics of frequency count and simple percentage were used for the research questions generated, while inferential statistic of Pearson's Product Moment Correlation coefficient was employed to analyse the data, and the null hypotheses developed for the study were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that undergraduate students displayed high level of utilisation of social media and there was relatively low study habit pattern of undergraduate students. social media utilisation has significant relationship with study habits of undergraduate students r = .345; (p < 0.01); social media utilisation has significant relationship with undergraduate students' academic performance r = .547; (p < 0.01) and study habit has significant relationship with undergraduate students' academic performance. r = .448; (p < 0.01).It is therefore recommended among others that seminars and conferences should be organised by Univeristy management for students on the significance of social media to academic attainment and also reinforce the adverse effects its abuse could have on undergraduate students academic performance. Also, latest electronic books and databases on varying disciplines should be procured by the University while proper orientation on effective utilization of such media should be provided. Keywords: Utilisation, social Media, Undergraduates, Academic Performance, study habit, Introduction Academic performance is complex student behaviour and underlies several abilities, for example, memory, previous knowledge or aptitude as well as psychological factors such as motivation, interests, temperaments or emotions, [...]

This study analyzes the work values of 2,951 first-year university students in Spain enrolled in degree programs within the five major areas of university studies. For our research, participants were asked to respond to a Scale of Work Values in which intrinsic, social, and pragmatic extrinsic values as well as extrinsic values related to geographic mobility are differentiated. Our findings show these students to have high levels of intrinsic and pragmatic extrinsic values as well as differences that vary according to their gender, major area of study and their chosen study program. By means of cluster analysis, we have also identified seven distinct types of students aligned with the work values under study. This paper explores the implications of this study for the development of work values and the education of students at the university level as well as the study's possible utility as a means of providing orientation to students that will prepare them better for their entry into the labor market. Keywords First-year university students * Work values * Individual differences * Cluster analysis, Introduction Work, as a dimension of human and social reality, entails a set of intrinsic and extrinsic values (Daehlen 2005, 2007). The formation of intrinsic work values is part of [...]

This paper reports findings from an experimental study of the effects of using differentiated screen-captured multimedia tutorials to teach technology integration skills to pre-service educators. A homogeneous set of participants (N=96) were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups. Participants in each group completed a web-based instructional module using screen captured tutorials developed as Graphic plus Text, Video, Video plus Narration, and Video plus Text. A post-test was administered following the module completion to assess both conceptual recall and task performance. Participants receiving video plus narration tutorials outperformed those in other groups, particularly those receiving only video. These findings are supported in the literature through the cognitive load principles of modality and redundancy. These results add to the growing body of knowledge about the design and development of multimedia instructional materials and invite further inquiry into related covariates that potentially influence the design of screen captured tutorials., INTRODUCTION The integration of multimedia technology continues to reshape the field of teacher education. In the age of mobile devices and web ubiquity, and given the widespread acceptance of distance [...]

Abstract Many actors in the field of education assert that principals should pay closer attention to educational activities in order to ensure students' achievement. This paper presents a research conducted [...]

This paper outlines a Biggest Loser (BL) competition for engineering undergraduates. Like the television show of the same name, the BL competition has initial and final 'weigh-ins' as well as 'personal trainers.' The weigh-ins are essentially assessments of students' preliminary and final achievements. Between the initial and final weigh-ins students are required to lose as much 'underachievement' as possible, i.e., they must improve as much as possible, and must enlist personal (peer) trainers to facilitate that improvement. In order to motivate student engagement in the competition, assessment bonuses are made available to those who improve the most. However, these bonuses must be shared equally between the BLs (i.e., biggest improvers) and their peer trainers. The higher achieving students realize that their best strategy for securing a bonus is to help poorly achieving students improve. For this reason, many of the more gifted students willingly commit to mentoring students who need help. Two implementations of the competition for first-year undergraduates have produced impressive and statistically significant improvements in learning. Index Terms--Active learning, curriculum development, engineering education, just-in-time learning, peer mentoring.

The purpose of this paper is to present an argument for understanding the factors that support or constrain the development of Chicana/o students" academic identities and consequently, their academic resiliency […]

Members of the NBER's Education Program met in Cambridge on November 16-17. Program Director Caroline Hoxby of Stanford University organized the meeting. These researchers' papers were presented and discussed: * [...]