Features: Shaping Pathways to Higher Education

Abstract

The 1999 AERA report The Dynamics of Race in Higher Education: An Examination of the Evidence (www. aera.net/reports/dynamics. htm) concluded that: "(1) there is clear evidence of continuing inequities in educational opportunity along racial categories; (2) test-based definitions of merit are incomplete; (3) race is a major social psychological factor in the American consciousness and behaviors; and (4) racially diversified environments, when properly This article describes the efforts at the University of California, San Diego to increase campus diversity by developing collaborative school-university partnerships with 18 local elementary and secondary schools in low-income, urban communities. Education research on school reform and sociology of education are drawn from to help examine the process of developing partnerships. This research provides a theoretical lens to study how multiple contexts (e.g., schools, districts, and the university) shape partnership work

Individual and school factors affecting students’ participation and success in higher education

“…As no evaluations of these programmes were available, it was impossible to explain these effects, particularly since no data on individual participation in these outreach programmes were available. Previous studies suggest that university outreach programmes increase the likelihood of students, particularly those from under-represented groups, to gain secondary school qualification (Perna 2002;Quigley 2002) and enrol in tertiary education (Brandes et al 1997;Jones et al 2002). It is suggested, then, that the schools who engaged in these outreach programmes may have been targeted or invited for specific reasons, such as low decile, low achievement levels, or low university enrolment rates.…”

“…The range of activities offered by individual outreach programmes affects the role of the programme and may vary from a purely recruitment role, to one more focused on increasing the diversity of applicants to increase the diversity of the institutions' student body. In the short term, however, the outreach activities should focus on increasing the number of the eligible students-not only through increasing student achievements in school but also by establishing constructive collaborations between schools and tertiary institutions (Jones et al 2002;Outreach Task Force 1997). Whether these programmes achieve their goals is not known, particularly in New Zealand (Ringold 2005); however reports from USA indicate that outreach programmes operated by universities do increase student achievements and their enrolment in higher education (Quigley 2002;Rodriguez et al 2004).…”

When Reforms Travel: The Sequel

“…The technical, cultural, and political dimensions of reform Oakes (1992) and her colleagues (Jones, Yonezawa, Ballesteros & Mehan, 2002;Oakes, Quartz, Ryan & Lipton, 1999;Oakes, Wells, Jones & Datnow, 1997; propose that it is productive to see school change as a multi-faceted process with technical, normative (what we will henceforth call cultural), and political dimensions. In the final analysis, reform efforts often activate actions on all dimensions, but often reformers lead with or emphasize actions on one dimension.…”

Changing identities and performance of post-compulsory educational providers

“…One thing that is clear is that there is an urgent need for research to better identify how far (if at all) the boundaries between education levels, sectors and providers are being broken down through the formation of enhanced and flexible credentialing and qualifications pathways and changes to young people's lives, study and work choices (Dwyer & Wyn 1998, Carnegie 2000, Jones, Yonezawa, Ballesteros & Mehan 2002, Harris, Rainey & Sumner 2007. Educational policy and practice in Australia as well as internationally currently is marked by the push towards vocational education and training in higher education.…”