“It’s More Us Helping Them Instead of Them Helping Us”: How Class Disadvantage Motivates Asian American College Students to Help Their Parents

While considerable attention has been given to the ways that parents contribute to undergraduates’ success, far less attention has been given to what these students do for their families, variation in students’ provision of help, or the consequences of giving. Drawing on 61 interviews with Asian American college students from diverse ethnic and class backgrounds, this paper extends conventional understanding of families and college by analyzing the financial assistance and translation support Asian American undergraduates give their parents. Using a trichotomous model of class—comparing disadvantaged, advantaged, and ambiguous students—I show that class disadvantage motivated students’ helping, advantage deterred it, while the ambiguous fell in between. Culture (i.e., filial piety) and a broad view of family (i.e., siblings’ contributions) also influenced students’ help. Finally, based on interview data combined with partial support from analysis of participants' grade point averages data, I demonstrate that helping had positive and negative implications for students’ college experience.

School engagement and school climate of students with high and low grade point averages

For adolescents, school life and learning is one of the most important domains of their lives. School achievement, depending on whether it is high or low, can motivate students to learn or make them reluctant to engage in school learning. Students' engagement in learning is closely related to their perceived school climate. The present study set out to investigate how these two variables distinguish between groups of students with high and low grade point averages. The participants in this study were students from secondary schools from among whom the students with the lowest and the highest grade point average were selected. It is found that students with higher grade point average are more engaged in learning and perceive their school climate as more positive than students with low grade point average.

Examining the validity of chiropractic grade point averages for predicting National Board of Chiropractic Examiners Part I exam scores

ABSTRACT Objective The main objective of this study was to evaluate the validity of grade point average (GPA) for predicting the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE) Part I exam scores using chiropractic GPA. Methods Data were collected during the January 2019 computer-based testing administration of the NBCE's Part I exam. The sample size was n = 2278 of test takers from 18 domestic and 4 international chiropractic educational institutions. Six regression models were developed and tested to predict the Part I domain scores from chiropractic GPA while controlling for self-reported demographic variables. Residuals from the models were disaggregated by pre–chiropractic GPA. Results Chiropractic GPA revealed a positive, statistically significant correlation with sex. The chiropractic GPA was found to be a significant predictor of the Part I domain scores. A different perspective was obtained when residuals (observed minus predicted) were collected and split by the pre–chiropractic GPA. Very good students tended to be underpredicted, while other students were overpredicted. Conclusion This study builds on the cascading evidence from educational literature by providing additional results suggesting that undergraduate (prechiropractic) GPA as well as the GPA obtained in doctor of chiropractic programs are related to the future performance on the NBCE Part I exam. The results provide a first glance at the connection between the standardized test scores, which are often used for instructors' and institutional evaluation and the GPA obtained in a doctor of chiropractic program.

A Domino Effect

Education during the early years of life lays the groundwork for educational trajectories over the course of life. A college degree has a profound effect on Americans over the life course, including how much they earn and how long they live. This chapter argues that religious restraint has a domino effect. Teenagers raised with religious restraint earn better grades in high school, and their higher grade point averages help them go on to complete more years of college than nonabiders. Abiders from working-class and middle-class families see the biggest educational attainment bump. However, abiders from poor families and from the professional class do not see a strong educational attainment bump.

International Undergraduates’ Academic Performance During Onset of the Coronavirus Pandemic

How did international undergraduates perform academically during onset of the coronavirus pandemic’s educational disruptions? The present study addressed this question by testing the hypothesis that an American public university’s entire population of international undergraduates who were enrolled throughout academic year 2019–2020 would struggle academically (term grade point averages [GPA] below 2.0) to a greater extent in spring 2020 term (coinciding with the pandemic’s onset) than in fall 2019 and winter 2020 terms (pre-pandemic). Five different analyses of GPAs yielded disconfirmatory, counterintuitive evidence; for example, whereas the hypothesis leads to the prediction that the number and percentage who struggled academically should increase from fall 2019 and winter 2020 terms to spring 2020, the values instead decreased. This report’s results are consistent with these international undergraduates’ resilience and their institution’s beneficial support. Reasons for ruling out alternative explanations (widespread cheating, instructors’ leniency, and grade inflation) are discussed.

OPINIONS OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORTS TEACHER CANDIDATES ON THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF THE PROFESSION

The main purpose of this research is to determine the views of physical education and sports teacher candidates about the current situation and future of their profession. The current study employed the phenomenological design, one of the qualitative research designs. This study was conducted with twenty-four physical education and sports teacher candidates living in different regions of Turkey, of different genders, ages, and academic grade point averages between the years 2020-2021. The participants of the current study were selected by using the maximum variation sampling method, one of the purposive sampling methods. The data were collected by using the personal information form prepared by the researchers and a semi-structured interview form administered online. In the analysis of the collected data, content analysis method was used. The findings obtained as a result of the research were examined within the framework of four main themes: the importance of physical education and the sports teaching profession, the image of the profession, the features required by the profession, and the opinions on the profession depending on technological developments. These findings obtained in the current study were discussed in reference to the literature and suggestions were made in light of the findings.

Critical Pedagogy and Children’s Beneficial Development

Ongoing controversy debates whether public schools should implement critical pedagogy—curricula centering on the perspectives of marginalized peoples. Despite much contention, students (particularly racially marginalized students) enrolled in courses that employ critical pedagogy demonstrate more school engagement, higher grade point averages (GPAs), and more civic engagement than students who do not. Building on previous reviews, this article briefly summarizes the history and controversy of critical pedagogy, evaluates the scientific evidence surrounding it, and offers suggestions on how to make the most of critical pedagogy in academic curricula.

The Relationship Between Life Satisfaction of the School of Physical Education and Sports Students and Their Levels of Sports Engagement

This study aims to investigate the correlations between the life satisfaction of students of study sport sciences and their levels of sports engagement according to a number of variables. The study group was composed of 116 undergraduate students attending the School of Physical Education and Sport of Adıyaman University.The participants were administered “Sports Engagement Scale (SES)” and “Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS)” in addition to a personal information form prepared by the researcher. The data collected were analysed on SPSS statistics programme and 0.01-0.05 significance level was accepted for the statistical validity of the data.Weak and positive correlations were found between physical education and sport school students’ life satisfaction with life and their sports engagement. In addition to that, weak and negative correlations were found between the participants’ grade point averages and their scores of sports engagement. The female students’ grade point averages were significantly higher than the male students’.In conclusion, university students’ sports engagement results in more satisfaction with life. The increase in sports engagement and life satisfaction of university students causes a decrease in their academic success.

Predicting Academic Failure: Estimating Semester Grade Point Average with Data Mining Methods

This study proposes a new model to analyze the grade point averages (GPAs) in the previous semester using data mining algorithms and to predict the final GPAs that students may receive in the following semesters in three gradually expanding categories (department, faculty, and university). The performances of the Random Forest, Linear Regression, Support Vector Machines, and k-Nearest Neighbors algorithms, which are among the data mining algorithms, were calculated and compared to estimate the GPAs of the students at the end of the semester. This study focused on three parameters. The first was to predict academic performance with a single independent variable. The second was to compare the performance indicators of four algorithms. The third was to compare the predictions made in three different categories. All algorithms applied correctly classified the samples at rates varying between 92% and 94%. The proposed model correctly estimated students’ grade point averages at the end of the semester with an average deviation of 0.28 points over a 4 with a single variable. Students with a high risk of failure can be determined in advance by estimating their final grade point averages.

Ethnic gaps in Swedish upper secondary school completion: Is ‘immigrant optimism’ the problem?

In many Western countries, researchers have documented ‘immigrant optimism’ in education, i.e., the tendency for immigrant-background students to choose academically more demanding routes than others at given levels of grade point averages (GPA). For some, this indicates structural integration, while others alert against an ‘immigrant optimism trap’ when ambition trumps ability, leading to high risks of non-completion. Using longitudinal Swedish population data (n≈90,000), we estimate the upper secondary ‘completion gap’ to 12% to the detriment of immigrant-background students. We then address the ‘trap hypothesis’ via two counterfactual analyses. The first shows that if immigrant-background youth made similar educational choices as other students at the same GPA, the completion gap would shrink by 3.4 percentage points. The second analysis suggests that restricting admission to programmes based on prior GPA, which would lead to a massive relocation of low- and mid-GPA students to vocational programmes, would reduce the completion gap by 2.2 percentage points. These changes must be considered marginal in view of the substantial restrictions of choice that either of these measures would entail. We conclude that completion gaps are not primarily a result of immigrant optimism, and optimistic choices are likely to be a net positive for structural integration.