Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Education Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 8 of 8

Full-Text Articles in Education

Enrollment Yield At Union College 2014, Catherine Ziac Jun 2014

Enrollment Yield At Union College 2014, Catherine Ziac

Honors Theses

This study examines why some admitted students decide to enroll at Union College while others go elsewhere. I use data on nearly nine thousand first-time full-time regular decision applicants admitted to Union starting in the academic years beginning in the Fall 2009 through Fall 2013. There are significant differences between students who enroll at Union and those who enroll elsewhere. First, since Union's financial aid fully meets students’ financial needs, students with large financial need are much more likely to enroll at Union than students with smaller financial need or no financial need. For example, controlling for demographic and academic …


Structuring The Unstructured Note: Automatic Organizing And Formatting For Lecture Notes., Shiqing He Jun 2014

Structuring The Unstructured Note: Automatic Organizing And Formatting For Lecture Notes., Shiqing He

Honors Theses

Note taking is an important practice during lectures. With the rapid development of electronic devices such as smart phones, tablets and laptops, digital note-taking has become an option for many students. In the classroom setting, note takers might fail to record clearly organized notes due to limitations of time and devices. Therefore, users often need to manually organize long paragraphs of notes by dividing or structuring them into appropriate sections based on content. The goal of this research is to develop a system that automatically structures unorganized notes. Using topic modeling and automatic summarization, we detect and analyze the “structure” …


Navigating Education Terrain: Tracing The Black Agenda, Alvaro Peters Jun 2014

Navigating Education Terrain: Tracing The Black Agenda, Alvaro Peters

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the legislative, social and economic development of public education in the United States. Since its inception in the 17th century, American schools have been subject to criticism, yet many of the same issues (rote, homogenous teaching, lack of achievement, educators devoid of passion and purpose) still occupy convoluted dialogue between education reformists and parents alike. However, within this narrative lies the more complex narrative of education for Black Americans. For much of this country’s history, Black Americans have existed in an often intensely segregated environment. Molded by ruthless disenfranchisement, a certain “Black educational agenda” managed to ripen …


Minding The Gap: Analyzing The Role Of Guidance Counselors In High School Ability Grouping, Marisa Underberger Jun 2014

Minding The Gap: Analyzing The Role Of Guidance Counselors In High School Ability Grouping, Marisa Underberger

Honors Theses

This project investigates the role of the guidance counselor in high school tracking and ability grouping. Tracking and ability grouping are controversial topics among high schools because they can create a “school within a school” where the low-income-minority students are in lower tracks while the high-income white students are in the advanced classes. Scholars have debated if detracking, or heterogeneous grouping, is the answer, but the concern is that slower learners will hold advanced students back. When deciding which classes students should be enrolled in, teachers, parents, students, and guidance counselors all contribute their opinions. Guidance counselors play a crucial …


Does Public School Administrative Spending Affect District House Prices?, Catherine Degen Jun 2014

Does Public School Administrative Spending Affect District House Prices?, Catherine Degen

Honors Theses

Public schools are often criticized for the way in which they elect to distribute their limited resources. Perhaps the most critical assets for schools are teachers and administrators, and the compensation of these individuals varies widely amongst public school districts. There exists an optimal level of spending on district administration. Districts that pay administrators above or below this optimal point are likely not allocating their resources in the best possible manner, and educational quality may suffer. We hypothesize that within districts where either of the above situations is the case, home prices will be lower, as homebuyers will be less …


An Evaluation Of The Common Core, Holly Lawrence Jun 2014

An Evaluation Of The Common Core, Holly Lawrence

Honors Theses

Education reform is currently a controversial issue in the U.S. With 45 states’ adoption of the Common Core State Standards in mathematics and English - the first attempt at national standards that reached implementation, public education has become a focal point for the media, educators, and parents. Most criticize the Common Core and advocate its elimination. This thesis, however, looks at the Standards in practice and seeks to use them to address deficiencies in American schools. Using a case study of Schenectady and Niskayuna, a contrast of low- and high-performing schools in the New York State Capital Region, to support …


Toys Don't Have A Gender: Gender Play And Aggression In A Small Co-Operative Play Based Preschool, Bryn Peterson Jun 2014

Toys Don't Have A Gender: Gender Play And Aggression In A Small Co-Operative Play Based Preschool, Bryn Peterson

Honors Theses

In this thesis I explore the relationship between gender and free-play in a small, cooperative preschool in Niskayuna, New York. While psychologists and sociologists have studied gender in young children, I found that children had been largely overlooked in the field of anthropology. While some anthropologists have historically believed that children do not fully understand their culture and cannot be reliable informants, I believe that there is much we can learn by understanding children's games - which often reflect our culture. Through observing children's free play I was able to analyze gender conforming/nonconforming play, aggression, and the themes of the …


The Effect Of Educational Debt On The Probability Of Homeownership For College Graduates: An Empirical Analysis, Cole Ikkala Jun 2014

The Effect Of Educational Debt On The Probability Of Homeownership For College Graduates: An Empirical Analysis, Cole Ikkala

Honors Theses

With the average tuition of both public and private institutions on the rise, students are graduating from college with a higher burden of debt than ever before. In turn this is adversely affecting their post-graduation decisions, specifically the purchasing of their first home. With the simultaneous increase of educational debt levels and tightening of lending constraints for mortgages, it is hypothesized that first-time homeownership is being delayed. The purpose of this study is to analyze what exactly is delaying graduates from purchasing a home, the outstanding total educational debt amount or the monthly educational debt repayment amounts. Both can hinder …