The purpose of this article is to examine student retention rates and graduation among a doctoral program at a Mid-Atlantic institution. This qualitative study found that faculty encouragement, self-motivation, the cohort model, and the structure of this program contributed to its success. The authors recommend a universal model of retention, as…

In America today, families in almost every urban community have some kind of public school choice. This report focuses on "public school choice," under which families are able to choose from both an array of traditional public schools and public charter schools. Public school choice has grown rapidly in the past 20 years; new charter…

Often the frontline campus representatives who interact with undecided students, academic advisors receive the opportunity to offer academic support and guidance during the academic journey, which especially benefits first-year students trying to navigate this new and challenging endeavor. As a result of their unique position, advisors have the…

Students from farmworker families are often cited as having deficits that prohibit completion of undergraduate degree program. Statistics regarding graduates of the College Assistance Migrant Program in a southwestern university have shown graduation rates that are similar to the general population of graduates at that university. This qualitative…

A mainstay in NCLB and the Obama administration education plan is turning around low-performing schools. This study utilized surveys and interviews with school leaders from four turnaround urban high schools in Texas to understand student outcomes before and after school restructuring and reconstitution. Although some organizational changes were…

What kinds of challenges do educators face in increasing Native American high school graduation rates, and what kinds of adaptations to a traditional high school are understood as necessary to achieve this outcome? This case study explored these questions as part of a larger multiple case study that investigated practices and processes related to…

Global research has shown the persistence of inequality with regard to accessing curriculum with a view to obtaining suitable work and making useful contributions to society. The intersection of race, gender, language and low socio-economic levels creates situations which often marginalize ethnic minorities in school settings (Freire, 1968; Nieto…

Since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the retention of African American students at predominately White colleges and universities continues to be problematic. Although many of these institutions have implemented retention programs for African American students, few have incorporated a comprehensive program that utilizes multi-program…

Students with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) entering U.S. schools in grade 9 face a tight timeline to simultaneously learn English and graduate from high school in four or five years. This study focuses on student outcomes and progress indicators for the cohort of ninth graders new to WCPSS in 2008-09 who had limited English proficiency. Based…

Distributed learning (DL) is a key element of the Army's training strategy, and the Army has ambitious goals for expanding the future use of DL and for changing how it is developed and delivered. Program-level evaluation of DL can play an essential role in accomplishing those goals and in identifying strategic directions for the overall program.…

The "Personnel Development Program to Improve Services and Results for Children with Disabilities" is authorized under Section 662 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and is known as the Personnel Development Program (PDP). The PDP is administered by the U.S. Department of Education's (ED's) Office of Special…

Concerned about the persistently high dropout rates from big-city secondary schools, education leaders are trying a new approach to increasing the graduation rate--multiple pathways to graduation. Multiple pathways initiatives are relatively new and far from proven. Even the most advanced examples face significant issues, i.e., the need to…

This study examines the role of the college access intervention program College Bound as a means of building human capacity in underserved youth. The need to prepare underserved youth to remain competitive in a global economy gained momentum as a consequence of diminished national high school graduation rates and ineffective education public…

Background: This study involves 50 participants from a rural county in S.W. Georgia and examines the conditions and settings that existed at the target school as to the increase in student attrition at the alternative school. Purpose: To take a closer look at the student attrition problem in the target school and make contributions to begin to…