According to a recent What Works Clearinghouse review, the most effective dropout-prevention strategy is to directly connect schoolwork to students' career aspirations. Towpath Trail High School in Akron is a real life embodiment of that strategy. Author Lyman Millard of the Bloomwell Group offers a fascinating look at a school that engages…

Leadership development, service learning, place-based education, and economic revitalization are topics relevant to Extension. We performed an evaluation to determine whether a place-based leadership program in Clermont County, Ohio, helps students develop leadership skills and encourages their return to the community. Program evaluation data…

Although there is limited research related to the effectiveness of educational courses delivered using an online format in the American prison system, there is evidence that indicates providing education to prisoners reduces recidivism. Reductions in state funding and the need for cost-effective programs to reduce recidivism support the use of…

Issues related to college access and the need for a pipeline of STEM teachers, provided the impetus for the Ohio Board of Regents (OBR) to issue a call for Ohio universities to design pre-college experiences for high school students with three major goals in mind: (a) improvement in mathematics, science, or foreign language learning; (b) increased…

In 2015, the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) collected responses from more than 315,000 first-year and senior students attending 585 bachelor's degree-granting colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. This report presents selected NSSE results from students at 541 U.S. institutions or subsets of that group where…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) The Value of Enhanced Reading Opportunities in High Schools: Report Finds Supplemental Reading Programs Can Improve…

Finds that, among 491 rural tenth and twelfth grade students: (1) over 60 percent expected to attend college; (2) most aspired to occupations with higher status than their parents'; and (3) students' plans for advanced education were strongly related to parental expectations. Contains 18 references. (SV)

This study was conducted to ascertain changes in the aspirations of rural youth in Ohio as they matured during their high school years and entered college or the work force. A Student Information Questionnaire (SIQ) was developed to measure the following variables: (1) sources of influence on curriculum decisions; (2) changes in desired and…

An exploratory study was conducted to investigate the self-concept of 160 disadvantaged black fourth graders attending two elementary schools in East Cleveland, Ohio. Self-concept was studied in relation to children's levels of anxiety, their feelings about school and school subjects, their educational and vocational aspirations, teachers'…

The three studies presented in this document investigated factors that influenced students not to enroll in Ohio joint vocational schools (JVS's) and their nonvocational students in the comprehensive feeder schools for the Springfield-Clark JVS, Lawrence County JVS, and Vanguard JVS during the 1989-90 school year. A student questionnaire acquired…