scholarly journals Academic Peer Effects with Different Group Assignment Policies: Residential Tracking versus Random Assignment

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Garlick
Keyword(s):  
Academic Performance ◽  
South African ◽  
Treatment Effect ◽  
Peer Effects ◽  
Peer Groups ◽  
Random Assignment ◽  
Cautionary Note ◽  
Group Assignment ◽  
Random Variation

I study the relative academic performance of students tracked or randomly assigned to South African university dormitories. Tracking reduces low-scoring students' GPAs and has little effect on high-scoring students, leading to lower and more dispersed GPAs. I also directly estimate peer effects using random variation in peer groups across dormitories. Living with higher-scoring peers raises students' GPAs, particularly for low-scoring students, and peer effects are stronger between socially proximate students. This shows that much of the treatment effect of tracking is attributable to peer effects. These results present a cautionary note about sorting students into academically homogeneous classrooms or neighborhoods. (JEL I23, I24, I28, O15, Z13)

scholarly journals Identification of Social Interactions through Partially Overlapping Peer Groups

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giacomo De Giorgi ◽  
Michele Pellizzari ◽  
Silvia Redaelli
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Academic Performance ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Peer Effects ◽  
College Major ◽  
Peer Groups ◽  
Relative Ability ◽  
Standard Linear

In this paper, we demonstrate that, in a context where peer groups do not overlap fully, it is possible to identify all the relevant parameters of the standard linear-in-means model of social interactions. We apply this novel identification structure to study peer effects in the choice of college major. Results show that one is more likely to choose a major when many of her peers make the same choice. We also show that peers can divert students from majors in which they have a relative ability advantage, with adverse consequences on academic performance, entry wages, and job satisfaction. (JEL I23, J24, J31, Z13)

scholarly journals Peer Effects in the Workplace

2017 ◽  
Vol 107 (2) ◽  
pp. 425-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Cornelissen ◽  
Christian Dustmann ◽  
Uta Schönberg
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Real World ◽  
Peer Effects ◽  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Peer Groups ◽  
Knowledge Spillover ◽  
Social Pressure ◽  
Local Labor Market ◽  
Estimation Strategy

Existing evidence on peer effects in the productivity of coworkers stems from either laboratory experiments or real-world studies referring to a specific firm or occupation. In this paper, we aim at providing more generalizable results by investigating a large local labor market, with a focus on peer effects in wages rather than productivity. Our estimation strategy—which links the average permanent productivity of workers' peers to their wages—circumvents the reflection problem and accounts for endogenous sorting of workers into peer groups and firms. On average over all occupations, and in the type of high-skilled occupations investigated in studies on knowledge spillover, we find only small peer effects in wages. In the type of low-skilled occupations analyzed in extant studies on social pressure, in contrast, we find larger peer effects, about one-half the size of those identified in similar studies on productivity. (JEL J24, J31, J41, M12, M54)

Gender Peer Effects in a Predominantly Male Environment: Evidence from West Point

2018 ◽  
Vol 108 ◽  
pp. 392-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Huntington-Klein ◽  
Elaina Rose
Keyword(s):  
Peer Effects ◽  
Peer Group ◽  
West Point ◽  
Military Academy ◽  
Group Assignment

There is considerable interest in the success of women in overwhelmingly male environments. One hypothesized determinant of success is the increased presence of other women. However, the theoretical direction of this effect is uncertain. Previous studies of heavily male contexts have had mixed results. We take advantage of random peer group assignment at West Point military academy to identify gender peer effects in the first years in which women were admitted. We find that women do significantly better when placed in companies with more women peers. The addition of one woman peer reduces the gender progression gap by half.

scholarly journals The relationship between the National Senior Certificate and the National Benchmark Test for accounting students at a South African university

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
Riley Carpenter ◽  
◽  
Lily Roos ◽  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Academic Performance ◽  
Black Students ◽  
South African ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Accounting Students ◽  
Strong Correlations ◽  
Benchmark Test ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
The Relationship

The South African accounting profession needs racial transformation. Consequently, students pursuing the chartered accountant (South Africa) (CA(SA)) designation, especially at-risk Black students, require adequate support. To be successful, the support must be driven by factors influencing students’ academic performance. As prior academic performance is one such factor, this study examines the relationship between the National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams and the National Benchmark Test (NBT) for students enrolled in an accounting degree at a South African university. Due to numerous moderate and strong correlations between NSC and NBT results, without multicollinearity, it was concluded that both sets of results should be considered as factors contributing to students’ academic performance. The findings highlight the need for further empirical research on NSC and NBT results as determinants of success for accounting students.

scholarly journals A preliminary inquiry on the association between pre-admission assessments and academic performance of first year dental technology students’ within a South African university of technology

2021 ◽  
Vol 76 (04) ◽  
pp. 187-193
Author(s):  
Anisa Vahed ◽  
Subhadranalene Naidoo ◽  
Deepak Singh
Keyword(s):  
Academic Performance ◽  
Academic Success ◽  
South African ◽  
First Year ◽  
Technology Curriculum ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Technology Students ◽  
Admission Tests ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
Dental Technology

The use of selection, diagnostic, proficiency, placement, admission, manual dexterity and aptitude tests can reportedly predict students’ academic success. Predictive admission procedures help to reduce dropout rates, improve academic performance, increase success rates, and selectively exclude applicants who are unlikely to be successful in the course. There is an absence of research, however, in this area of work in Dental Technology. To examine the association between pre-admission assessments and Dental Technology students’ academic performance in a South African University of Technology. A quantitative and cross-sectional study design was used. The target populations were the 2018 and 2019 first-year Dental Technology students. Retrospective data extracted from academic records and programme files were statistically analysed to measure the correlations against students’academic performance. Despite there being no significant differences between pre-admission tests and students’ academic performance, there were significant positive correlations between first year university subjects. There are indications of horizontal coherence between the discipline-specific subjects in the first-year Dental Technology curriculum. Examining the association between pre-admission tests and students’ academic results through to graduation, together with the horizontal and vertical alignments of all subjects in the undergraduate Dental Technology curriculum, can facilitate the learning pathways for students to succeed academically at universities.

Creating epistemic access through a scaffold approach: Academic literacy skills development for South African first-year public administration students

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 156-174
Author(s):  
Gerda HG van Dijk ◽  
Brenda A Vivian ◽  
Lianne P Malan
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Academic Performance ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
South African ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Academic Literacy ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
First Year ◽  
Epistemic Access

For higher education institutions to produce graduates capable of contributing to society and the economy in a productive manner, educational emphasis is placed on the development of critical thinking. The above necessitates that higher education institutions are able to engage in responsive curriculum design and delivery for enhanced student success and access. Public Administration programmes focus on equipping students to work within the broader government sector, able and capable of delivering public functions responsive to the needs of society. Literature suggests that there are a number of factors which influence the success ratio of any undergraduate programme in the South African context, including, inter alia, increased enrolments, student–staff ratios and the overall decline of professional and intellectual life in the country. Further complicating matters are classes too big to be participatory and crammed syllabi preventing in-depth discussions. The notion of embedding academic literacy development in curriculum design through a scaffolded approach aims to influence the academic performance of students through engaged and active learning in order to attain a higher level of achievement as well as benefit from the process of scaffolding. The research comprises a mixed method approach using a case study of the first-year students enrolled for a Public Administration degree. Data collected included an analysis of 2015, 2016 and 2017 student cohorts in: determining their academic literacy level upon registration (set as a baseline before any academic literacy intervention); tracking their academic performance through their formative and summative assessments (through a scaffolded approach); and reflecting upon their learning through their completion of a semi-structured survey. The research intends to argue that the use of a scaffolded approach to learning enhances epistemic access, which sees students moving beyond propositional, or foundation knowledge to epistemic or reflexive knowledge.

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