"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Bush Budget Proposes Spending Freeze for U.S. Department of Education: Title I, Striving Readers, Statewide Data…

The "Graduate Information Booklet" provides directory-type information on Montgomery County (Maryland) services for disabled students who are graduating from high school. The first section on practical information explains armed services registration, acquisition of school records, personal identification cards, social security cards,…

This report consists of two volumes, the first takes an in-depth look at the various graduation indicators, with a description of the computational formulas, the data required for each indicator, the assumptions underlying each formula, the strengths and weaknesses of each indicator, and a consideration of the conditions under which each indicator…

Because of concerns that not enough students who start college are completing a bachelor's degree, and in response to a Congressional request, the General Accounting Office (GAO) examined the extent to which students who enroll in a 4-year college complete a bachelor's degree and the factors that affect completion. The study also investigated what…

This white paper was prepared for Staying the Course: High Standards and Improved Graduation Rates, a joint project of Achieve, Inc. and Jobs for the Future. Its goal is to provide policymakers with an overview of research about the dropout problem and the best strategies for building an early warning data system that can signal which students and…

The legal parameters concerning how and when to properly graduate special education students are examined, through review of the United States Constitution, the Rehabilitation Act, the Education of All Handicapped Children Act, and subsequent case law. Recommendations on how school districts can properly terminate services are also presented.…

The objectives of this research were to identify: 1) promising institutional practices for retaining and graduating low-income, first-generation community college transfer students at four-year institutions, including any transfer-specific support systems; 2) outcomes of transfer students (i.e., graduation rates) at four-year institutions in…

Admission policies and practices in higher education, including those in nursing programs, are diverse; yet administrators have traditionally relied upon preadmission academic achievement for selection of qualified students. Higher education administrators have the responsibility to serve the institution and all of its constituents, ensuring that…

Through the support of the National Science Foundation,, The Community College of Baltimore County has begun two separate initiatives to increase the number of women and underrepresented minorities enrolled in technological majors. Started in 2003, the Grace Hopper Scholars Program targets specifically women interested in careers in technology,…

The purpose of this study was to explore, track, and predict longitudinal differences (over the course of six years beginning fall semester 2001) between and among ISU low income, first generation, or the combination of low income and first generation freshman students; regarding persistence rate, and associated persistence factors, such as ACT…

This report comprises summations and brief case descriptions of some of the effective programmes and other support mechanisms that New Zealand Tertiary Learning Advisors (TLAs) provide for students in universities, polytechnics, institutes of technology, and other tertiary institutions. The programmes demonstrate tangible impact on student…

The Abell Foundation commissioned this study to examine the potential of dual college enrollment and similar learning options for students enrolled in Baltimore City Public School System (BCPSS) high schools. What is the potential of dual enrollment as a strategy to improve high school completion rates, ease the transition to college for…

The globalization of economies, the digitization of work, pressing health and security issues, and changing demographics have dramatically changed our world. Unlike previous generations, U.S. high school graduates will routinely buy from the world, sell to the world, work for international companies, manage employees from other cultures and…

In May 2008, the Center for Evaluation & Education Policy (CEEP) issued the Education Policy Brief, "Calculating High School Graduation Rates," which discussed the importance of accurate and reliable high school graduation data, various graduation rate calculation methods, the history behind the use of particular methodologies, and…

This report provides information on states' progress in implementing the graduation rate all 50 governors agreed by signing the Graduation Counts Compact in 2005 to adopt. The governors undertook this commitment because they understand the imperative to gather more accurate, comparable data on how many of their students graduate from high school…