Predicting incoming enrollment is an ongoing concern for the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) and similar districts with school choice systems, substantial student mobility, or both. Inaccurate predictions can disrupt learning as districts adjust to enrollment fluctuations by reshuffling teachers and students well into the fall semester. This…

The purpose of this paper is to open the methods, construction and assumptions of a new performance benchmark to examination, critique, and improvement by technical experts. The paper begins with known technical questions about this new benchmark. In includes suggestions made by technical advisors. It then details the construction of the…

Reverse transferring, or moving from a four-year institution to a community college, has been depicted in recent research as one of the major forms of student mobility. Since reverse transferring is associated with extremely low rates of degree completion, it is critical to better understand the predictors of reverse transferring and what happens…

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…

Problems associated with school violence include higher than average teacher turnover, increased student dropout rates, students changing schools, and principals/teachers retiring early. There are 19 strategies offered that might reduce school violence.

An important part of the analysis of the expected effects of institutional closure is estimation of redistribution of students attending the closed school. How coefficient estimates from models of enrollment demand can be used to predict the alternative attendance choices of students enrolled at the closed school is discussed. (Author/MLW)

During the last two decades, estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau have suggested that the U.S. high school completion rate was steadily rising and nearing 90 percent. In the last few years, however, estimates from independent researchers have contradicted this rosy picture and found much lower completion rates ranging from 66.1 percent to 74.4…