Little is known about the leadership practices and behaviors of the building leaders of dropout recovery schools and how these behaviors correlate with the ability of their student population to pass state-required standardized tests. This study analyzed the responses of 8 building leaders of dropout recovery schools regarding their leadership…

In this article, the author shares her experience in assisting seniors and two teachers at Kalamazoo (Michigan) Central High School when they joined a national contest to have the President of the United States deliver the commencement address to the class of 2010. One of the author's favorite memories surrounds the distribution of commencement…

The educational accountability systems of both the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 and the state of Florida (as of 1999) were modeled after Texas' system, despite its flaws. NCLB reaches for all students to achieve academic proficiency and designates students with limited English proficiency (LEP) as an important subgroup. As we work with…

Accelerated programs, also referred to as dual enrollment and concurrent enrollment, provide an opportunity for high school students to earn both high school and college credit by enrolling in specified college courses. These programs provide high school students with the opportunity to experience the college atmosphere, get an early start on…

Boys have a slight advantage in the number of live births in the US (about 101:100), so, all things being equal, it is reasonable to assume that they would populate institutions at about the same rate as girls. However, institutions are social structures, and in social systems all things are almost "never" equal, so, clearly, there are other…

Students from rural and low socioeconomic backgrounds do not pursue university education at the same rate as those from metropolitan areas or from higher socioeconomic backgrounds. This has been a long-standing issue for government. This study explores the aspirations and intentions for university education among low socioeconomic status (SES) and…

Research indicates that programs designed to target first year students increase their likelihood of success during that year and their chances of completing an undergraduate education (Bureau & Rromrey, 1994; Conner & Colton, 1999). Theoretically, such programs should help in part because they foster integration into campus communities…

Parents and caregivers are often faced with the daunting task of assisting students with disabilities in selecting a work program to attend after graduation. Finding the right program to suit the unique needs of each individual can be trying and frustrating as parents and teachers attempt to prepare students for life after school by providing work…

A national study of rehabilitation counseling graduate students and state-federal rehabilitation counselors investigated whether there were differences between (a) what graduate students preferred to do upon graduation and what they believed vocational rehabilitation counselors did, (b) what graduate students preferred to do upon graduation and…

Studies continue to reveal major concerns with discipline issues, such as referrals, detentions, and suspensions, involving Latino/Hispanic students. This problem particularly affects immigrant students in urban neighborhoods that may be characterized by high poverty and crime rates. The purpose of this study was to explore the intersection of…

Using official school data, this study examined a sample of 447 at-risk students enrolled over a 10-year period in a youth-based mentoring program. The primary objective of the program was to ensure high school graduation. Participants were identified by indices of academic and school behaviors that rendered them less likely to graduate from high…

While higher education personnel continue to be challenged in fostering student persistence, they are especially perplexed with how to promote higher persistence and retention rates among African American men. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to understand how African American male undergraduate students persist at a…

This dissertation examines the student academic achievement through various mechanisms, put in place by the public school district, classroom student behavior, and negative external shocks to the students' living environment. I examine the impacts of various treatments on student short and long run academic outcomes such as math and English test…

This study of graduation outcomes in Baltimore uses multivariate analysis of longitudinal student cohort data to examine the impact of factors identified in previous research as early warning indicators of a dropout outcome. Student cohort files were constructed from longitudinal administrative data (following all first-time 2004-2005 and…

This study was designed to investigate Southern Appalachian, first-generation students' expectations of higher education. Research indicates that many first-generation students drop out of college after only 1 semester; however, little research exists concerning the expectations and experiences of first-generation college students from Southern…