Showing papers by "Alexander W. Astin published in 1977"
TL;DR: The SAT Verbal plus Mathematical score (SVMMS) as mentioned in this paper is a measure of selectivity for 2,601 institutions that combines the SAT and ACT scores of entering freshman scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the American College Test (ACT).
Abstract: Institutional averages of entering freshman scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the American College Test (ACT) were combined and edited to produce a single institutional measure of selectivity for 2,601 institutions. Older scores were adjusted to reflect decreasing performance over time, and ACT scores were converted to SAT equivalents, resulting in a final measure that reflects 1973 performance levels and is expressed as an SAT Verbal plus Mathematical score (range 400–1,600). Actual scores were available for 1,803 schools; the remaining schools with missing values were given an imputed score based upon means from similar institutions among the 1,803. Correlations between scores from different years and between the final measure and 19 institutional attributes indicated substantial reliability and validity for the selectivity measure.
97 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the failures of educational failure in the context of higher education, and propose a method to identify the failures in higher education and to correct these failures.
Abstract: (1977). On the Failures of Educational Ploicy. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning: Vol. 9, No. 9, pp. 40-43.
8 citations
TL;DR: This paper found that eliminating sex bias in faculty pay within individual institutions will not achieve salary parity for academic women until higher-paying institutions recruit more women faculty, or until institutions with higher proportions of women faculty upgrade their pay scales.
Abstract: Affirmative action and other efforts to combat sex discrimination in higher education have focused on rank and salary differences within institutions. Academic women, however, tend to receive relatively low pay in part because they are concentrated in the lower-paying institutions. Since multivariate controls of factors such as institutional type, control, size, selectivity, and curricular emphases do not eliminate this negative relationship, the hypothesis of a direct link between institutional pay scales and faculty sex ratios is strengthened. These results suggest that eliminating sex bias in faculty pay within individual institutions will not achieve salary parity for academic women until higher-paying institutions recruit more women faculty, or until institutions with higher proportions of women faculty upgrade their pay scales.
7 citations
TL;DR: This paper conducted a five-year analysis of the behavioral impact of modern management procedures on private liberal arts colleges and found that most administrators are reasonably accurate in their estimates of basic institutional facts, with the exception of student dropout rates.
Abstract: As part of a larger five-year analysis of the behavioral impact of modern management procedures on private liberal arts colleges, data were collectedfrom administrators at twenty-two institutions of various enrollment size, admissions selectivity, and religious affiliation. The study demonstrates how accurately administrators recalled basic informational items such as total and first-time enrollments, measures of academic ability, faculty size, and the percentage of students obtaining baccalaureate degrees in four years. Data tabulations suggest that most administrators are reasonably accurate in their estimates of basic institutional facts, with the exception of student dropout rates, but case studies reveal that administrators in some institutions are seriously misinformed.
4 citations