College Admissions Policy in Post-pandemic America

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the systemic racism problems in the United States. Minorities, with rights and opportunities taken away from them, face inequities in education, medical care, work, economy and many more aspects. Income disparity and social class barriers have continued to widen in the past decades. Education is supposed to drive social mobility, yet class reproduction continues to be the reality. Issues of inequitable distribution of education resources and unequal higher education opportunity caused by family resources have been discussed over and over. College admissions have long used standardized test scores to screen students, yet these tests have been criticized of their predictive validity and their manifestation of race and class discrimination. The global pandemic led to a largescale adoption of test-optional policy, allowing college applicants to choose whether they want to submit standardized test scores, while colleges and universities analyze institutional data for a more extensive examination of their admissions policy. It remains to be seen whether inequities can be eased and social justice can be achieved.

An Interview with Jeffrey Selingo

For the graduating class of 2023, more than two years of high school has been impacted by the COViD-19 pandemic and the accompanying virtual learning, uncertainty, anxiety, and concerns about their own health or the health of family members. According to the college admissions consulting firm College Transitions, there are 31 colleges and universities listed as the "most selective," institutions that accept fewer than 15 percent of all applicants. There were eleven million applications filed the year Steinberg wrote his book even though there were essentially the same number of high school graduates. DeHaemers: When I was reading your book, I was thinking about how many institutions in the country are not the top-flight, elite, or selective institutions upon which you focus in the book.

Bolstering Graduate Healthcare Student Success Through Emotional Intelligence

Identifying Areas of Need at the Graduate Level WesternU is a comprehensive graduate healthcare university with eight colleges and 27 programs enrolling approximately 3,800 students on two campuses (Pomona, California and Lebanon, Oregon). Since the university's founding, interprofessional and active support for student success has been a key theme. [...]students are more likely to rely on "what got them here" and accept certain ingrained self-concepts. Establishing the Components Needed to Meet These Needs LEAD services are available to any enrolled student, and include: academic counseling, tutoring, workshops and events, college performance committee representation, and a summer program for incoming enrolled students. Across all years and colleges with about 3,800 students, 990 students had visits, for a total of 3,203 sessions. Because of the COViD-19 pandemic, academic counseling is now offered online using Zoom rather than in-person appointments.

Who Sends Scores to GRE-Optional Graduate Programs? A Case Study Investigating the Association between Latent Profiles of Applicants’ Undergraduate Institutional Characteristics and Propensity to Submit GRE Scores

Many programs have made the submission of GRE scores optional. Little research examines differences in propensity to submit scores according to applicants’ characteristics, however, including the type of undergraduate institution they attended. This study’s purpose was to examine the degree to which the type of undergraduate institution applicants attended predicted score submission to GRE-optional programs, including when controlling for covariates (demographics, program degree and discipline, undergraduate grades). We used data provided by a doctoral degree–granting university to answer our research question. We indexed differences in GRE score submission using odds ratios. Both individually (1.93) and after controlling for covariates (2.00), we found that applicants from small, bachelor’s degree–granting schools were more likely to submit scores than applicants from large, doctoral degree–granting schools. Men were more likely to submit scores than women (1.55). Larger effects were observed for program characteristics: Ph.D. versus master’s (2.94), humanities versus social sciences (3.23), and fine arts versus social sciences (0.16). Our findings suggest that there may be differences in propensity to submit GRE scores to test-optional programs and that some of these differences may be associated with variables (undergraduate school, program type) that have not been widely discussed in the literature.

Inflection Point: Is Test-Optional the Future?

As the pandemic was grinding through nearly every facet of higher education, it also was forcing higher education institutions to find the answer to a key question that had been rattling around among colleges and universities for decades. What would college admission be like without the requirement that students submit scores on big national standardized tests? Out of necessity, institutions quickly found some answers to that multifaceted concern amid the height of the COVID-19 crisis. This fall, as normalcy further returns, many in higher education are now sifting through the data and anecdotal information from that period as they decide how to finetune new testing policies or, in some cases, reinstate previous policies requiring testing. That's all taking place while admission professionals counsel students who may be pleased by the new policies and feel more fairly assessed and free to apply at schools more broadly, but also may feel confused--and perhaps even suspicious.

INCREASED COMPETITION: HOW THE PANDEMIC HAS AFFECTED STUDENT-ATHLETES

Student-athletes have always had additional steps in the college admission process, but the COVID-19 pandemic has brought increased competition and new NCAA rules that impact admission. Here is what counselors and admission professionals working with student-athletes need to know.

NACAC Report Analyzes Standardized Testing

NACAC has long been interested in the issue of testing and undertook a study of its effect on international students in 2019, appointing a task force of experts to examine the issue. Then COVID-19 hit, which changed how officials at many colleges and universities thought about the entire topic. The task force working on the project delayed its report so that it could respond to changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, while still addressing the need for fairness for students from other countries and the need for diversity in admission policies. NACAC CEO Angel B. Pérez called the report a "much-needed call on colleges and universities to examine their ACT and SAT policies and practices."

College admissions in the time of COVID-19: Technology, training, and the secondary school counselor

The ever-changing role and expectations of school counselors have required the acquisition of many new skills. Technology is essential in their daily tasks, especially as guides through the college admissions process. The onset of COVID-19 has suddenly and quickly added a new need and use of technology to support students. The combination of resources required in completing the college admissions process, the knowledge needed by school counselors to provide adequate support, and the effects of COVID-19 on the overall process require attention in determining best practices and future research needs. This qualitative study focuses on school counselors' experiences using technology to assist in the college admissions process while also looking at these experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Twenty school counselors were interviewed regarding the research topic, and data was then coded and analyzed to identify themes, insights, and future recommendations. The analysis results indicated that technology is essential in their everyday role and is becoming increasingly important in facilitating the college admissions process, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the part of constructive training and professional development plays a large role in the successful use of various technologies. Updated graduate school curriculum and a productive internship experience is another result of the data analysis. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

MONITOR AND FAIL

This article addresses the following question: what Is the Impact of the use of eProctoring programmes on the privacy of university students? A case that occurred in a Peruvian university in 2020 is used here to examine concepts related to eProctoring, namely privacy and personal data protection. The level of adoption of these technologies is also assessed, with a special focus on the Latin American region. The article ends with an analysis of the interaction between eProctoring and personal data protection rules, including the most recent case law on the matter.

SEM Endorsement Program: Ten Years of Growing Enrollment Management Competency

[...]a call for national leadership and approved career preparation was sought. The topic went on to be discussed in professional AACRAO circles for years but was met with the realities of logistics, costs, ownership, and management. [...]the AACRAO annual conference and SEM sessions continued to be the response for enrollment management role preparations, but fell short of satisfying the credentialing question. [...]the idea was tabled until circumstances were more favorable. Through the capstone requirement of the credential, our graduates have studied and produced reports that have addressed some important topics in our field: shifting institutional scholarship budgets, the future of enrollment leadership, SEM project management, evaluating the impact of timely outreach on re-registration, public-private partnerships, as well as SEM in law school and medical school settings.

Individual innovativeness, self-efficacy and e-learning readiness of students of Yenagoa study centre, National Open University of Nigeria

Purpose>The purpose of this study is to explore the role individual innovativeness along with e-learning self-efficacy play in predicting the e-learning readiness of first- and second-year students of an open and distance education institutions in an African context.Design/methodology/approach>Therefore, building on previous related research in this area, a quantitative approach was adopted to address the research questions and to establish whether a statistically significant relationship existed between individual innovativeness, e-learning self-efficacy, the independent variables;and e-learning readiness, the dependent variable. In total, 476 first- and second-years students of the university participated in the four-Likert-type scale survey. The research instrument which comprises 74 survey items was completed by 217 of the students. Statistical tools used for analysing data included both Pearson Product Moment Correlation coefficients and t-tests.Findings>It was discovered that a strong positive and significant relationship was observed between individual innovativeness and e-learning readiness of first- and second-year students of the Yenagoa Study Centre of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN);a statistically significant relationship was also found between e-learning self-efficacy scores and the e-learning readiness of the first- and second-year students of the Yenagoa Study Centre of NOUN;there was a statistically significant joint relationship between the three variables under investigation;findings equally revealed that male respondents had higher e-learning readiness than their female counterparts.Research limitations/implications>Like every other study of this nature, this one also suffers some limitations. First, NOUN is a very large university with over half a million students spread across almost 78 study centres. This means that observation from just one study centre amounts to a very small sample size. This according to Schweighofer, Weitlaner, Ebner and Rothe (2019) jeopardises the generalisability and validity of study results. The authors also maintain that empirical data generated from surveys that usually rely participants' abilities to read and select responses without further interpretation by the researchers suffer from cognitive biases like social desirability. To address the above limitations, detailed studies involving all studies centres of NOUN be undertaken and other qualitative and or mixed research methodologies be adopted in the future.Practical implications>The implications for this study are that people who are innately innovative will willingly accept technology and by extension, learning in technology-rich environments like those found in like NOUN whose mode of study is blended learning inherently found in open and distance learning (ODL) institution. Therefore, this study is significant as it will provide relevant information to the management and administrators of NOUN, policymakers and regulatory institutions for the development, deployment and implementation of e-learning strategies. Findings will also benefit e-learning initiatives undertaken by similar institutions that adopt the ODL mode of education in Nigeria and other developing countries.Originality/value>Even though, studies on the antecedents of e-learning readiness have been widely conducted across diverse contexts, studies exploring the associations between individual innovativeness, e-learning self-efficacy and e-learning readiness are relatively hard to come by. The above two variables as predicting the e-learning readiness in the study context are comparatively new. This study thus focuses on the relationships between the individual innovativeness levels, e-learning self-efficacy beliefs of students and their e-learning readiness which ultimately determines their ability to sustain studies in an ODL institution.

Commentary: Comment on college admissions tests and social responsibility

Comments on an article by M. Koljatic et al. (see record 2021-40254-001). COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the process of teaching and learning at every conceivable level, it had been hard to ignore a growing sentiment that standardized testing seems to do more to worsen inequality of opportunities than it does to expose it. Although the validity of this sentiment is a matter for debate, if ever there was an occasion for the individuals and organizations involved in the national and international testing industry to engage in some introspection about the value proposition of large-scale assessment across a variety of use contexts, that time would seem to be now. As the 2021-2022 president of the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME), this is something and find myself pondering quite seriously. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Advancing Pharmacy Education and Workforce Development Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Report of the 2020-2021 AACP Academic Affairs Committee

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The 2020-2021 Academic Affairs Committee was charged to (1) Read all six reports from the 2019-20 AACP standing committees to identify elements of these reports that are relevant to your committee's work this year;(2) Determine what changes made in colleges and schools of pharmacy during the COVID-19 pandemic should be continued to advance pharmacy education;(3) Develop a realistic model for colleges and schools of pharmacy to share resources to meet the curricular needs of member schools;(4) Create strategies by which colleges and schools of pharmacy can meet current and future workforce development needs particularly in light of the changes in healthcare delivery as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic;(5) Identify salient activities for the Center To Accelerate Pharmacy Practice Transformation and Academic Innovation (CTAP) for consideration by the AACP Strategic Planning Committee and AACP staff. Keywords: virtual learning, curriculum, workforce, technology, practice advancement INTRODUCTION AND COMMITTEE CHARGES According to the Bylaws of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), the Academic Affairs Committee (AAC) is to address intellectual, social, and personal aspects of pharmacy education and identify practices, procedures, and guidelines which aid faculties in developing students to their maximum potential. From your work on this year's charges, identify salient activities for the Center to Accelerate Pharmacy Practice Transformation and Academic Innovation (CTAP) for consideration by the AACP Strategic Planning Committee and AACP staff. Respondents also noted how hybrid teaching models at schools and colleges of pharmacy have helped student pharmacists with self-directed learning, allowed for more adjunct faculty to teach within curricula, and opened opportunities for alumni and other healthcare providers to participate in interprofessional activities.

Business Methodology for the Application in University Environments of Predictive Machine Learning Models Based on an Ethical Taxonomy of the Student’s Digital Twin

Educational institutions are undergoing an internal process of strategic transformation to adapt to the challenges caused by the growing impact of digitization and the continuous development of student and labor market expectations. Consequently, it is essential to obtain more accurate knowledge of students to improve their learning experience and their relationship with the educational institution, and in this way also contribute to evolving those students’ skills that will be useful in their next professional future. For this to happen, the entire academic community faces obstacles related to data capture, analysis, and subsequent activation. This article establishes a methodology to design, from a business point of view, the application in educational environments of predictive machine learning models based on Artificial Intelligence (AI), focusing on the student and their experience when interacting physically and emotionally with the educational ecosystem. This methodology focuses on the educational offer, relying on a taxonomy based on learning objects to automate the construction of analytical models. This methodology serves as a motivating backdrop to several challenges facing educational institutions, such as the exciting crossroads of data fusion and the ethics of data use. Our ultimate goal is to encourage education experts and practitioners to take full advantage of applying this methodology to make data-driven decisions without any preconceived bias due to the lack of contrasting information.

Flipping out for probability

In the fall of 2020, we flipped the probability classroom with an increased emphasis on the ability of students to apply probability in real-world contexts. Lectures are delivered asynchronously, and synchronous class time focuses on Q&A and case studies that provide highly relevant context in which students can apply concepts learned from the preceding lectures. Case study contexts include college admissions, COVID-19 testing, wind turbine output, and portfolio analysis. Cases and discussion sessions are structured to promote community development and relationship building among students in remote offerings of the course. Relevance is further reinforced through incorporation of Probability Stories, developed by an undergraduate course assistant, highlighting additional newsworthy applications of probability, which are of particular interest to students. We describe the structure and development of the course, summarize the cases, and present lessons learned from implementation. © 2021 IISE Annual Conference and Expo 2021. All rights reserved.

Editor's Note

The AACRAO Speede Committee shares a look back, reviews current practices, and predicts the future of standardized data formats and representations of student learning like the Comprehensive Learner Record (CLR). Tana Miller distills the essence of a recent American Council on Education (ACE) report on international students and enrollment. According to Miller, this is a must read for anyone who is interested in maintaining or growing international student enrollment.

The Relationship Between Institutional Budget Models And Graduate Strategic Enrollment Management Structures

Graduate strategic enrollment management (SEM) professionals must become fluent in the mechanics of their institution's budget model in order to better understand how graduate enrollment headcount and tuition revenue translate into the resources that power the institution and fortify it to withstand a potentially uncertain future. This article provides a primer on common institutional budget models and the potential implications of these models on graduate SEM.