The Maine Community College System is providing this letter in accordance with 20-A MRSA §10013. This law requires the Maine Community College System (MCCS), University of Maine System (UMS), and Maine Maritime Academy (MMA) to provide the following information about first-generation college students by January 15th of each year: (1) Data…

Nearly 39 million adults in the United States lack a valid high school credential and face a significant barrier to both higher education and employment opportunities. High school equivalency exams, primarily the General Educational Development (GED) exam, are the primary gateway to college for high school dropouts, but relatively few people are…

Graduation rates from community colleges in the United States are quite low overall, but they are even lower for the many entering students who need some remediation. This brief provides a first look at an evaluation of CUNY Start, an innovative developmental education program at the City University of New York (CUNY) that was designed to improve…

The state of California has recently emerged from deep recession and associated reductions in early childhood programs and has moved into a period of reinvestment in child care, preschool, and transitional kindergarten (TK). In fiscal year (FY) 2014-15, the Budget Act included over $273 million for early learning and child development and restored…

Every year, the Student Transitions Project (STP) collects post-secondary enrollment and credential completion data from the twenty-five British Columbia (B.C.) public post-secondary institutions and links this data to secondary enrollment information via encrypted personal education numbers (PENs). Now comprising fourteen full years of…

The intentions were noble. It was hoped that remediation programs would be an academic bridge from poor high school preparation to college readiness. Sadly, remediation has become instead higher education's "Bridge to Nowhere." This broken remedial bridge is travelled by some 1.7 million beginning students each year, most of whom will…

Among the diverse and varied missions of community colleges is the provision of instruction for students who have either been underserved by their previous educational institutions or not had the opportunity to complete high school. Included under this umbrella are low-performing high school students, individuals with low basic skills, and those…

Elizabeth Redden, author of the "Inside Higher Ed" article, "Lost Men on Campus," succinctly articulated the growing concerns about many college men at postsecondary institutions. Her review of results and issues presented at the "ND Conference on College Men" highlighted decreased rates of enrollment for men, underrepresentation of men in campus…

As state and national policymakers look for ways to improve the rigor of the high school curriculum and enhance student readiness for college, many are turning their attention to increasing course requirements in core academic high school subjects. Existing research shows that students who take high-level course sequences learn more in high school…

For most high school non-completers, the GED[R] credential provides a bridge to postsecondary education, but little is known about how successfully GED (General Educational Development) Test candidates make that transition and whether enrollment rates change with time. The American Council on Education (ACE) has begun a three-year longitudinal…

As the American economy becomes increasingly knowledge based, attaining a postsecondary education is more important than ever. Projections for the next decade suggest that the strongest job growth will be in occupations requiring postsecondary education. This article examines changes between 1987 and 2003 in the postsecondary education enrollment…

To ensure reliable, accurate, and timely data, which are necessary to monitor the progress of education in the United States, Congress has mandated that the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) produce an annual report, "The Condition of Education." This year's report presents 59 indicators of important developments and trends…