Grades are the fundamental currency of our educational system; they signal academic achievement and non-cognitive skills to parents, employers, postsecondary gatekeepers, and students themselves. Grade inflation compromises the signaling value of grades, undermining their capacity to achieve the functions for which they are intended. We challenge the ‘increases in grade point average’ definition of grade inflation and argue that grade inflation must be understood in terms of the signaling power of grades. Analyzing data from four nationally representative samples, we find that in the decades following 1972: (a) grades have risen at high schools and dropped at four-year colleges, in general, and selective four-year institutions, in particular; and (b) the signaling power of grades has attenuated little, if at all.
Students with health impairments represent a growing sector of the college population, but health based disparities in bachelor's degree completion persist. The classes students pass and the grades they receive during the first year of college provide signals of degree progress and academic fit that shape educational expectations, potentially subjecting students to a cooling out process (Clark 1960). Using the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS 04/09), we compare signals of degree progress and academic fit and changes in educational expectations between students with and without health impairments during the first year of college. We find that net of academic preparation, type of institution, enrollment intensity and first year experiences, students with mental impairments are more likely to lower their educational expectations after the first year of college, due partially to negative signals of academic fit. We find limited evidence that gaps in learning are related to the use of academic accommodations for students with health impairments. Our results suggest that students with mental impairments are disadvantaged in reaching first year benchmarks of degree progress and academic fit and are disproportionately cooled out.Bachelor's degrees have become essential for future success in health and the labor market. More people have access to college than ever before, but bachelor's degree completion rates are not equal for all students who hope to complete a degree. College attendance has risen for students with health impairments since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act [ADA], which supports equal opportunities and combats discrimination, but gaps in degree completion remain. i "We have yet to experience the full impact of [ADA]. The dreams and ambitions of many young people with disabilities have yet to be realized" according to Lex Frieden, a disability rights advocate (Frieden, 2014). Four out of five high i ADA defines a disability as "a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities." Both "disability" and "health impairment" are used in the literature (Wells 2003). We use "health impairment" because it coincides with the ADA definition and the BPS questionnaire. HHS Public AccessAuthor manuscript J Higher Educ. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2017 November 01. Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript school students with health impairments hope to go to college, but only one third matriculate (Wagner & Blackorby, 1996;Sanford, Newman, Wagner, Cameto, Knokey, & Shaver, 2011). Of the over two million students with health impairments who do enter postsecondary institutions, only 16% receive a bachelor's degree, compared to over half of students without health impairments (Kochhar-Bryant, Bassett, & Webb, 2009). Without successful early college experiences, dreams of receiving a bachelor's degree may go unrealized. Students who pass classes and earn high grades during the first year of coll...
Students with health impairments represent a growing sector of the college population, but health based disparities in bachelor’s degree completion persist. The classes students pass and the grades they receive during the first year of college provide signals of degree progress and academic fit that shape educational expectations, potentially subjecting students to a cooling out process (Clark 1960). Using the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS 04/09), we compare signals of degree progress and academic fit and changes in educational expectations between students with and without health impairments during the first year of college. We find that net of academic preparation, type of institution, enrollment intensity and first year experiences, students with mental impairments are more likely to lower their educational expectations after the first year of college, due partially to negative signals of academic fit. We find limited evidence that gaps in learning are related to the use of academic accommodations for students with health impairments. Our results suggest that students with mental impairments are disadvantaged in reaching first year benchmarks of degree progress and academic fit and are disproportionately cooled out.
One of the fastest growing groups on college campuses is students with disabilities, but their rates of bachelor’s degree completion remain low. We build on research about barriers to degree completion among historically underrepresented groups on college campuses to examine the extent to which academic preparation before college and processes during college contribute to gaps in bachelor’s degree completion among four-year college students with a mental or physical disability. Using the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study, we find that students with a mental disability are significantly less likely to complete a bachelor’s degree than students without disabilities and students with a physical disability, net of students’ family and academic background. Decomposition of the estimated indirect effect of mental disability on degree completion reveals first-year academic performance as the largest contributor. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications for understanding the barriers faced by college students with a mental disability.
Education plays a fundamental role in society, both because it determines individuals' life chances and because it has the power to reproduce or ameliorate inequality in society. In this entry, research within the sociology of education is reviewed that examines both how schools are shaped by the society in which they are embedded and how schools affect the distribution of opportunities and the intergenerational transmission of social status. The entry begins by discussing theoretical perspectives on education, and then discusses the beginnings of universal education and how universal education varies between developed and developing countries. Finally, the major developments for sociological research on education are reviewed, with an emphasis on explanations for inequality in educational opportunities, including school desegregation, public versus private schooling, charter schools, tracking, summer learning gaps, social and cultural capital, the role of adolescent culture in achievement, and issues related to higher education. Though the structure of education and the distribution of educational opportunities in society continue to evolve as economies and cultures shift, education plays a pivotal role in perpetuating socioeconomic inequality and, for the lucky few, providing opportunities for social mobility.
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