This study investigates community college skills builders--students who enroll for a short time, take courses concentrated in career and technical education (CTE), are highly successful in their coursework, but typically leave college without a postsecondary credential. Drawing on administrative data from Colorado, Ohio, Michigan, and California,…

This action study investigated the experiences of current female students, recent female graduates, and female dropouts of a rural community college in Appalachian Ohio to determine what factors led to successful college completion. Although female enrollment exceeds male enrollment, females currently and consistently rank below their male…

Situated in the northwestern corner of Ohio, Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is reengaging adult students with "some college, but no degree" (SCND), promoting equitable attainment, and improving students' workforce outcomes. BGSU is a residential four-year university with a vibrant campus culture, NCAA Athletics, and over 200…

Out-of-school factors can significantly impact students' readiness to learn and thrive in school. Preventing dropout is a challenge because students fail to complete high school for a myriad of reasons that involve factors inside and outside of schools. This article describes City Connects, an intervention implemented in schools in Massachusetts,…

In January 1998, the Montgomery County (Ohio) commissioners created the Montgomery County Out-of-School Youth Task Force to identify why 22% of high school students were dropping out. The task force concluded the dropout epidemic was having devastating effects on the local economy. In addition to the obvious problem of local employers having…

America continues to make progress in meeting its high school dropout challenge. Leaders in education, government, nonprofits and business have awakened to the individual, social and economic costs of the dropout crisis and are working together to solve it. This year, all states, districts, and schools are required by law to calculate high school…

The purpose of the study was to examine the positive impact of inclusive high schools on high school students. Educators have expressed concern about the increasing number of high school dropouts and the alarming number of students between the ages of 16 and 24 who graduate without the skills or the knowledge to secure or maintain employment. An…

The "National Dropout Prevention Newsletter" is published quarterly by the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network. This issue contains the following articles: (1) Leading the Way in Dropout Prevention; (2) The 15 Effective Strategies in Action; (3) Technology Changes 1986-2011 (Marty Duckenfield); (4) 25 Years of Research and Support…

Great strides have been made by community school initiatives across the nation in their efforts to impact student achievement, attendance, student engagement, graduation rates, parent involvement and more. Data on community schools is growing and the authors encourage readers to review research reports and syntheses on results. The results…

Few people realize the impact that high school dropouts have on a community's economic, social, and civic health. Business owners and residents--in particular, those without school-aged children--may not be aware that they have much at stake in the success of their local high schools. Indeed, everyone--from car dealers and realtors to bank…

Background/Context: Past studies have consistently found modest academic gains for minorities as a result of desegregation. In addition, school effects have tended to be small or even null once student-level nonschool factors are controlled. However, traditional approaches not only treat desegregation as a policy that may be sufficient by itself…

This report presents the deliberations of the Midwest Regional Advisory Committee (MW RAC), one of 10 RACs established under the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. sections 9601 et. seq.) to assess the educational needs of the region. The committee's report outlines the educational needs across the seven states of Illinois,…

Many journal articles provide success stories of initiatives or programs. However, few outline the lessons learned in the building of those programs that may be beneficial to any reader who is interested in duplicating a similar initiative. Thus, the purpose of this article is threefold. The first section will provide the reader with history of…

This report provides a first look at selected findings from the first follow-up of the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09). HSLS:09 focuses on understanding students' trajectories from the beginning of high school into higher education and the workforce. The core research questions for the study explore secondary to postsecondary…

Building on its previous work examining education and the economy, the Alliance for Excellent Education (the Alliance), with generous support from State Farm[R], analyzed the economies of all fifty states and the District of Columbia to determine the economic benefits that states could see by improving high school graduation rates. Using a…