Adjustment in university students admitted based on their high school counselors' or advisors' recommendation is an issue for revealing the appropriateness and fairness of the nontraditional admissions procedure. The newly-issued admissions procedure in Hong Kong has not been subject to empirical investigation. To evaluate the procedure, the present study surveyed 21 new students admitted by high school principals' recommendation and 29 of their classmates admitted by traditional means. They generated 93 cases from three waves of surveys over one year. Analysis of the data controlled for all available background and academic factors and random disturbances due to students and their groupings with their classmates. It revealed no significant effect due to nontraditional admissions on the student's grade-point-average, attachment, and adjustment in academic, social, and personal-emotional aspects. Moreover, detailed analysis discovered only a few significant differentials in the admissions effect due to background and academic factors. Thus, the nontraditional admissions procedure appears to be effective and fair.
[Copyright of Journal of Marketing for Higher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J050v15n01_03]

Ability grouping is supposedly undesirable because it leads to deficits in academic self-concept and academic achievement. However, it appears to be justifiable for its improvement of teaching and learning in schools, perhaps more so in a collectivist culture. In view of the paucity of data examining the controversy in Hong Kong, the authors collected data from 2,720 junior high school students with a random sampling procedure and obtained teachers' reports about the students' subsequent academic achievement, ability grouping, and the ability level of the class. The authors maintained students' past academic achievement as a control variable in predicting their subsequent academic achievement and self-concepts. Results revealed no significant detrimental effect caused by the ability-grouped class and the ability level of the ability-grouped class. Rather, students in classes that were more homogeneous according to past academic achievement tended to have significantly higher subsequent academic achievement and self-esteem. Results revealed no variation attributable to each student's gender and IQ in the effects of ability grouping.
[Copyright of Journal of Educational Research is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00220670309598813 ]