Why do so many independent schools fail? And what are the chief causes of death? When they can be performed, institutional "autopsies" are illuminating, but it should be noted that many schools disappear with few clues about their final undoing. However, when schools do leave paper trails that help understand the reasons for their…

"Fresh start" or amnesty policies have made their way across American universities and colleges. As the Director of Student Enrollment Services/Registrar at Polk State College, in Winter Haven, Florida, the author, who was not a proponent of amnesty, set aside time for several weeks to research amnesty policies and related best…

South African universities confront a situation that most advanced countries face : the increasing enrollment of the so-called "new students" ("non-traditional" in SA) from disadvantaged milieus, less prepared for the requirements of the traditional university culture. They are urged to respond to this challenge within a moral…

This research brief provides highlights from the full report (published separately). In the report on AISD students, with a focus on the graduating class of 2009, the most powerful predictors of overall student dropout risk were having an 8th-grade attendance rate of less than 90% and failing both the 8th-grade reading and math TAKS tests. [For…

Good enrollment managers know that keeping current enrollment must be Job Number One and that maintaining enrollment must be the concern of all campus constituencies. However, a large number of students are "lost" during registration due to closed classes. Lost enrollments are a largely invisible phenomenon that represents frantic and…

Texas state assessment (TAKS) data in reading/English language arts and mathematics from 2006 and 2007 for AISD students enrolled in Fall 2007 were examined to find out how many students failed both tests, passed both tests, or failed one but not the other, for two consecutive years.

Three decades of mounting academic and testing requirements are snagging growing numbers of students in the 9th grade. "The bulge" is the name education researchers give to the percentage increase in students in the 9th grade over the same period. This article reports on factors that might explain the growing 9th grade bottleneck and…

Prerequisite courses are essential tools in many university curricula, but some educators have suggested that they may be detrimental if applied too stringently to exclude students from courses. A measure of the value of prerequisites is whether or not they promote student success. The strongest way to test the value of prerequisites is to compare…

Discusses the drop out rate and the at-risk youth problem. Summarizes what some implemented federal and state programs are doing and what some will do. Lists goals of several states. (MVL)

This bulletin includes: (1) a general statement of present thoughts and trends, covering the accepted philosophy of purpose, influence of modern educational psychology, trends in enrollment, and the nature and trends of the present social order; (2) secondary pupil population, addressing enrollment, chronological age representation in secondary…