Dropouts pay a steep price for leaving high school without their diplomas. In terms of wages, unemployment rates, and career mobility, the grim statistics have been lamented for decades. Society also suffers--more crime and welfare, fewer tax dollars, and lower voter turnout. Not every dropout faces a bleak future. But on balance, the…

Researchers target 9th grade as the make or break year for completing high school. During the 9th-grade year, many students for the first time have to earn passing grades in core courses, and these core courses are typically some of the toughest and most rigorous academic classes a student must take in high school. Furthermore, the rising use of…

For the 2003-04 school year, 73% of Florida schools were identified as in need of improvement under criteria of the "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) Act, President Bush's 2001 renewal of President Lyndon B. Johnson's Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. One year later, that figure had been cut almost in half, to 37.4%. California…

In this paper, the authors discuss the new academic eligibility policy for at-risk students of Cato-Meridian, a small rural school district in New York State. The traditional eligibility policy that was in place at Cato-Meridian and surrounding school districts required student athletes to pass all but two of their courses. If they failed two…