Supporting College Choice Among International Students through Collaborative Filtering.

In this paper we use historic score-reporting records and test-taker metadata to inform data-driven recommendations that support international students in their choice of undergraduate institutions for study in the United States. We investigate the use of Structural Topic Modeling (STM) as a context-aware, probabilistic recommendation method that uses test-takers' selections and metadata to model the latent space of college preferences. We present the model results from two perspectives: 1) to understand the impact of TOEFL score and test year on test-takers' preferences and choices and 2) to recommend to the test-taker additional undergraduate institutions for application consideration. We find that TOEFL scores can explain variance in the probability that test-takers belong to certain preference-groups and, by accounting for this, our system adjusts recommendations based on student score. We also find that the inclusion of year, while not significantly altering recommendations, does enable us to capture minor changes in the relative popularity of similar institutions. The performance of this model demonstrates the utility of this approach for providing students with personalized college recommendations and offers a useful baseline approach that can be extended with additional data sources.

Skill levels and gains in university STEM education in China, India, Russia and the United States.

Universities contribute to economic growth and national competitiveness by equipping students with higher-order thinking and academic skills. Despite large investments in university science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, little is known about how the skills of STEM undergraduates compare across countries and by institutional selectivity. Here, we provide direct evidence on these issues by collecting and analysing longitudinal data on tens of thousands of computer science and electrical engineering students in China, India, Russia and the United States. We find stark differences in skill levels and gains among countries and by institutional selectivity. Compared with the United States, students in China, India and Russia do not gain critical thinking skills over four years. Furthermore, while students in India and Russia gain academic skills during the first two years, students in China do not. These gaps in skill levels and gains provide insights into the global competitiveness of STEM university students across nations and institutional types.

Computer science skills across China, India, Russia, and the United States.

We assess and compare computer science skills among final-year computer science undergraduates (seniors) in four major economic and political powers that produce approximately half of the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics graduates in the world. We find that seniors in the United States substantially outperform seniors in China, India, and Russia by 0.76-0.88 SDs and score comparably with seniors in elite institutions in these countries. Seniors in elite institutions in the United States further outperform seniors in elite institutions in China, India, and Russia by ∼0.85 SDs. The skills advantage of the United States is not because it has a large proportion of high-scoring international students. Finally, males score consistently but only moderately higher (0.16-0.41 SDs) than females within all four countries.

Is a Computerized Adaptive Test More Motivating Than a Fixed-Item Test?

Computer adaptive tests provide important measurement advantages over traditional fixed-item tests, but research on the psychological reactions of test takers to adaptive tests is lacking. In particular, it has been suggested that test-taker engagement, and possibly test performance as a consequence, could benefit from the control that adaptive tests have on the number of test items examinees answer correctly. However, previous research on this issue found little support for this possibility. This study expands on previous research by examining this issue in the context of a mathematical ability assessment and by considering the possible effect of immediate feedback of response correctness on test engagement, test anxiety, time on task, and test performance. Middle school students completed a mathematics assessment under one of three test type conditions (fixed, adaptive, or easier adaptive) and either with or without immediate feedback about the correctness of responses. Results showed little evidence for test type effects. The easier adaptive test resulted in higher engagement and lower anxiety than either the adaptive or fixed-item tests; however, no significant differences in performance were found across test types, although performance was significantly higher across all test types when students received immediate feedback. In addition, these effects were not related to ability level, as measured by the state assessment achievement levels. The possibility that test experiences in adaptive tests may not in practice be significantly different than in fixed-item tests is raised and discussed to explain the results of this and previous studies.

The influence of student perceptions of school climate on socioemotional and academic adjustment: a comparison of chinese and american adolescents.

This study explored students' perceptions of 3 dimensions of school climate (teacher support, student-student support, and opportunities for autonomy in the classroom) and the associations between these dimensions and adolescent psychological and academic adjustment in China and the United States. Data were drawn from 2 studies involving 706 middle school students (M = 12.26) from Nanjing, China, and 709 middle school students (M = 12.36) from New York City. Findings revealed that students in China perceived higher levels of teacher support, student-student support, and opportunities for autonomy in the classroom than students in the United States. Furthermore, students' perceptions of teacher support and student-student support were positively associated with adolescents' self-esteem and grade point average but negatively associated with depressive symptoms for both Chinese and American adolescents.