Given urban school and district administrators' historical challenges with recruiting and retaining a high-quality, racially diverse teacher workforce, there is a need to better understand the factors shaping why graduates return to teach in their home district. This descriptive study examines the high school students who returned to teach in…

The 2024 Nebraska Higher Education Progress Report is the 18th annual progress report designed to provide the Nebraska Legislature with comparative statistics to monitor and evaluate progress toward achieving three key priorities for Nebraska's postsecondary education system. These priorities were developed by the 2003 LR 174 Higher Education Task…

Over the past decade, the college enrollment rate for Chicago Public Schools (CPS) graduates has steadily increased, but the college completion rate has remained relatively flat. At the same time, practitioners have realized that the "traditional" path through college--enrolling in one institution and remaining enrolled through…

This study investigated the value of ACT Composite scores and high school GPA (HSGPA) in predicting first-year college GPA (FYGPA) and degree completion of students with disabilities who took the ACT with accommodations and enrolled at a two-year or four-year public institution in a single state in the southern US. Descriptive analyses found that…

Developmental education courses have been designed to support underprepared students, as they attempt to bridge the gap in academic knowledge among students who enter postsecondary education underprepared for college-level coursework. The effectiveness of these programs, however, particularly in terms of promoting degree attainment, remains an…

This Research Brief examines the success of Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) 12th grade students in meeting missing assessment graduation requirements through the non-reportable (NR) American College Testing ACT and the College Board SAT exams. 1337 students took either one of the exams or both in the spring of 2024, and most students took…

National research indicates that Deaf, Deaf/Blind, and Hard of Hearing students are less likely to finish high school, enroll in college, or find sustainable employment than their hearing peers. Minnesota is one of the few states that provides data to the National Deaf Center, the leading research center in Deaf, Deaf/Blind, or Hard of Hearing and…

Prior research has shown the importance of the ACT score and high school GPA (HSGPA) in predicting college success. Early college success, as indicated by students' first-year college GPA (FYGPA), plays a pivotal role in later college success and timely degree completion (Demeter et al., 2022; Gershenfeld et al., 2016). The accurate prediction of…

This study examined the effect of the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) Scholarship on college cohort retention, college cohort completion, and college cohort time to completion--important student performance markers in an era of fiscal accountability. Over the six-year span (2006 - 2012) of this one year, renewable) full-tuition…

Effectively predicting academic success is essential for providing students with the resources they need to succeed in their careers and for matching individuals to postsecondary institutions that suit their needs. Despite evidence for ACT scores as meaningful predictors of both first-year grade point average (FYGPA) and degree completion, little…

Post-secondary education enrollment and completion disparities exist for Minnesota's Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Color (BIPOC) and lower-income students. One outcome measure demonstrating the impact of system-fed disparities in K-12 education is a student's level of readiness for college-level courses following high school graduation. Given…

On July 1, 2021, Martin Methodist College (MMC) merged with University of Tennessee System as the University of Tennessee Southern (UTS). The purpose of this supplemental report to the 2023 "Tennessee Higher Education Fact Book" is to provide a data summary and snapshot of UTS in relation to other public colleges across the state. This…

The purpose of this supplemental report to the 2022 "Tennessee Higher Education Fact Book" is to provide a data summary and snapshot of the University of Tennessee Southern (UTS) in relation to other public colleges across the state. This report supplement is reflective of the first enrollment period for UTS, fall 2021, and completions…

This dissertation investigates several topics in state merit-based financial aid research. The main research content includes three separate studies, primarily using the administrative datasets from the Missouri Department of Higher Education. The first study is an empirical paper that examines the effects of the Missouri Bright Flight Scholarship…

Prior work has demonstrated that debate is associated with academic achievement in high school. Whether debate in high school is predictive of better college outcomes beyond its established relationship with promoting college readiness as indicated by the ACT is unknown. This research examines and evaluates the impact of participating in a high…