Papers by Horacio Matos-Díaz
Resumen. En este estudio se modelan las probabilidades de graduación, deserción y retención en la... more Resumen. En este estudio se modelan las probabilidades de graduación, deserción y retención en la Universidad de Puerto Rico en Bayamón. Con este propósito, el expediente académico de cada uno de los 17,814 estudiantes admitidos durante los años académicos de 1995-96 a 2005-06 se rastrea hasta eĺ ultimo semestre del período y se determina su estatus académico: graduado, trasladado, activo, suspendido, dado de baja total o desertor. Basados en la proporción de estudiantes que pertenecen a las primeras tres categorías, se evidencia un limitado desempeño institucional, pues sólo un 44 por ciento tuvo una ejecución académica exitosa. Las probabilidades de graduación, retención y deserción de los estudiantes varían a través del tiempo y están significativamente influidas por su género, sus programas académicos, así como por las escuelas y las universidades de donde proceden.
Social Science Research Network, 2013
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2011
Education Economics, 2009
Prior research suggests that student evaluations of teaching may depend on the average grade expe... more Prior research suggests that student evaluations of teaching may depend on the average grade expected in a class. We hypothesize that, because of risk aversion, student ratings also depend on the distribution of expected grades. As predicted, student ratings at the University of Puerto Rico at Bayamón are significantly and negatively related to the variance of expected grades, implying that
Eastern Economic Journal, 2011
In making admission decisions, many colleges have de-emphasized standardized test scores. Using d... more In making admission decisions, many colleges have de-emphasized standardized test scores. Using data for seven cohorts of applicants to the University of Puerto Rico, we assess the ability of test scores and other proxies of academic potential to predict student GPA. We study sample selection and address a dilemma facing admissions offices: college grades of non-matriculants are unknowable. We find that decreasing the weight on admission tests benefits females and students from public high schools and that college grades can be predicted more accurately by increasing (decreasing) the weight on mathematical aptitude for students choosing more (less) quantitative programs.
The purpose of this paper is to determine the capability to predict academic achievement of the p... more The purpose of this paper is to determine the capability to predict academic achievement of the present admission policy established in 1995-96, at University of Puerto Rico, Bayamon, and its posibl relationship with the "grades inflation" phenomenon. Performing a longitudinal tracking of the 13,202 students admitted to the 11 incoming classes during the period from 1995-96 to 2005-2006 yields a sample of more than 70,500 observations. The change in admission policy eliminated the advantage students from private schools had over those from public schools and reduced to a minimum the gap between genders. Moreover, the results show that by assigning a greater weight to high school GPA in the General Application Index (GAI) formula and therefore reducing the weight of the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) scores, “student quality” was reduced. Nonetheless, the evidence shows that the best predictor of academic success is the previous GAI formula, while the present formula is the worst predictor. Another result is that, independently of the time reference used, the occurrence of "grade inflation" is inversely related to “student quality.”
Finance Educator: Courses, 2008
There are two different positions about student evaluation process. Its defenders argue it is an ... more There are two different positions about student evaluation process. Its defenders argue it is an objective and trustworthy mechanism, and its critics consider it is a biased process that does not fulfil its objective. This study analyses the evaluations of a group of 187 full-time professors of the UPR-Bayamýn during eight different semesters in the periods of 1998-1999 and 2003-2004. Results indicate that evaluation is influenced by professor, student and class characteristics, and they are consistent with the fact that the process could be biased, because there is a significant relation between the student evaluation of the professor and the class grade expected. For instance, professors can "buy" better evaluations promoting higher expecting grades to the students, and stimulate the phenomenon of "grade inflation".
El proposito de este estudio es determinar la capacidad para predecir exito academico de la actua... more El proposito de este estudio es determinar la capacidad para predecir exito academico de la actual politica de admisiones implantada por la Universidad de Puerto Rico en Bayamon en el ano academico 1995-96 y su posible relacion con el fenomeno de "inflacion de calificaciones". A tales fines, se les da seguimiento longitudinal a los 13,202 estudiantes pertenecientes a las 11 clases de nuevo ingreso que comenzaron sus estudios en la UPR-Bayamon durante el periodo de 1995-96 al 2005-06, lo que genera una muestra total de mas de 70,500 observaciones. El cambio en la politica de admisiones equiparo a los estudiantes procedentes de las escuelas publicas con los de las privadas y redujo al minimo la brecha por generos. Ademas, al asignarle ponderaciones significativamente mayores al indice de graduacion de escuela superior, en menoscabo de las pruebas estandarizadas del College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB), se redujo la “calidad de los estudiantes” de nuevo ingreso. Sin emba...
Social Science Research Network, 2021
A rich panel-data comprising 39,337 courses offered at UPR-Bayamon during 41 consecutive terms is... more A rich panel-data comprising 39,337 courses offered at UPR-Bayamon during 41 consecutive terms is used to analyze the distribution of course withdrawals (W). The proportion of W, its variance distribution, and the coefficients of skewness and kurtosis are estimated. Over time, and between and within academic fields, these parameters are significantly influenced by course, faculty and student characteristics, and particularly by unobservable faculty heterogeneity. Evidence points to the conclusion that faculty members and students are engaged in a shopping-around process where both parties improve their well-being at the expense of the academic standards and the quality of the education provided.
The purpose of this paper is to determine the capability to predict academic achievement of the p... more The purpose of this paper is to determine the capability to predict academic achievement of the present admission policy established in 1995-96, at University of Puerto Rico, Bayamon, and its posibl relationship with the "grades inflation" phenomenon. Performing a longitudinal tracking of the 13,202 students admitted to the 11 incoming classes during the period from 1995-96 to 2005-2006 yields a sample of more than 70,500 observations. The change in admission policy eliminated the advantage students from private schools had over those from public schools and reduced to a minimum the gap between genders. Moreover, the results show that by assigning a greater weight to high school GPA in the General Application Index (GAI) formula and therefore reducing the weight of the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) scores, “student quality” was reduced. Nonetheless, the evidence shows that the best predictor of academic success is the previous GAI formula, while the present for...
There are two different positions about student evaluation process. Its defenders argue it is an ... more There are two different positions about student evaluation process. Its defenders argue it is an objective and trustworthy mechanism, and its critics consider it is a biased process that does not fulfil its objective. This study analyses the evaluations of a group of 187 full-time professors of the UPR-Bayamon during eight different semesters in the periods of 1998-1999 and 2003-2004. Results indicate that evaluation is influenced by professor, student and class characteristics, and they are consistent with the fact that the process could be biased, because there is a significant relation between the student evaluation of the professor and the class grade expected. For instance, professors can “buy” better evaluations promoting higher expecting grades to the students, and stimulate the phenomenon of “grade inflation”.
Revista De Ciencias Sociales, 2006
Since the 70s, there has been a tendency in U.S. universities to the increase of students’ grade ... more Since the 70s, there has been a tendency in U.S. universities to the increase of students’ grade point average without a concomitant increase in their achievement. This phenomenon is referred to as grade inflation. This paper develops a new approach in order to analyze whether this tendency also exists at the Bayamon Campus of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR-Bayamon) or not. The methodology in research includes the examination of an unbalanced panel of 4,387 academic records of full-time students who began their studies between 1995/96 and 2002/03. If grade inflation has occurred, the probability of grades in the upper (lower) bounds of the distribution should increase (decrease) over time. The conclusion about the presence or absence of grade inflation depends on the concept of time utilized.
Adopting the geometric concepts of a tangent line and a secant ray allows for determining the cur... more Adopting the geometric concepts of a tangent line and a secant ray allows for determining the curvature (convex, concave, or linear) and the behavior of the marginal and average tax rates of an income increasing tax function. Such information helps to determine whether the tax function is progressive, regressive, or proportional, as well as the possibility that it pro-pends to equity in the distribution of the social tax burden. Thus, several issues of public policy can be rigorously analyzed specifying different income tax functions that satisfy determinate graphical shapes, circumventing the need to use the traditional approach of differential calculus.
education policy analysis archives
Faculty members and their corresponding academic fields at the University of Puerto Rico at Bayam... more Faculty members and their corresponding academic fields at the University of Puerto Rico at Bayamón are classified with regard to grading practices over time. Based on the effects on the intercept of the equations that predict the GPA and the proportion of student withdrawals observed in each of the 39,337 courses offered during 41 consecutive terms, faculty members and academic fields are scaled from the easiest to the most difficult. Evidence points to the conclusion that the courses of the most difficult academic fields are offered primarily by the hardest grading faculty members and attended by the most academically able students, while the courses of the easiest academic fields are offered primarily by the easiest grading faculty members and attended by less academically able students. The conclusion of such self-sorting processes is reinforced by evidence from maximum likelihood models demonstrating that the probability that a randomly selected faculty member behaves like a hi...
EconomiA
Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch ge... more Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your personal and scholarly purposes. You are not to copy documents for public or commercial purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public.
Universidad Colegio Mayor Nuestra Senora Del Rosario Universidad Del Rosario Edocur Repositorio Institucional Disponible En Http Repository Urosario Edu Co, May 28, 2010
Resumen. En este estudio se modelan las probabilidades de graduación, deserción y retención en la... more Resumen. En este estudio se modelan las probabilidades de graduación, deserción y retención en la Universidad de Puerto Rico en Bayamón. Con este propósito, el expediente académico de cada uno de los 17,814 estudiantes admitidos durante los años académicos de 1995-96 a 2005-06 se rastrea hasta eĺ ultimo semestre del período y se determina su estatus académico: graduado, trasladado, activo, suspendido, dado de baja total o desertor. Basados en la proporción de estudiantes que pertenecen a las primeras tres categorías, se evidencia un limitado desempeño institucional, pues sólo un 44 por ciento tuvo una ejecución académica exitosa. Las probabilidades de graduación, retención y deserción de los estudiantes varían a través del tiempo y están significativamente influidas por su género, sus programas académicos, así como por las escuelas y las universidades de donde proceden.
Economics of Education Review, 1987
This paper attempts to ascertain if education reduces the effects of certain socioeconomic variab... more This paper attempts to ascertain if education reduces the effects of certain socioeconomic variables on school performance. The achievement scores at high school and college, separately, are related to family income, family size, parents" education, etc. Two issues are involved. First, do these explanatory variables have predicted effects on measured performance? Second, do these effects change as one acquires more education? If the coefficients for these variables in the college regression are smaller than in the high school regressions, education is said to narrow the gap caused by the differences in these variables. Using survey data from Puerto Rico, it is found that some of these variables have predicted effects on performance and that their effects tend to diminish with the level of education.
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Papers by Horacio Matos-Díaz