"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) Architects for Change: National Association of Secondary School Principals Releases New Report on Reinventing High…

In February 1990, the nation's governors adopted a set of goals designed to shape education reform efforts for the 1990s. The six goals address such pressing national education issues as early childhood education; school completion; student achievement and citizenship; math and science; literacy and lifelong learning; and safe, disciplined, and…

The paper describes the development and implications of Chapter 688 in Massachusetts which which provides for a 2-year transitional process to plan for habilitative services for severely disabled young adults who will lose their entitlement to special education upon graduating or reaching the age of 22. The law requires an individualized…

This document reports on a study undertaken to compare the academic achievement of athletes, identified as members of University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) intercollegiate teams, with that of male students not engaged in intercollegiate sports. Academic achievement was measured by the cumulative grade-point average (GPA) for spring quarter,…

This study tabulated U.S. Census Bureau survey data to track changes in the educational profile of the adult foreign-born population from 1970-2000. The data measured completed education for individuals over the age of 24 years. A comparison of native-born Americans of any race or ethnicity to Hispanic foreign-born adults from 1970-2000 showed a…

To graduate from High School in the state of Texas students must pass the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test. Many states are beginning to administer state exams as requirements for graduation. Schools continue to fall short of the basic philosophy of Existentialism that emphasizes, "starting where the student is".…

This study explored the phenomenon of dropping out of high school from the perspective of those who strayed. The voices of four recent dropouts were audiotaped and examined through an interpretive ecological lens designed to explore dropping out within the context of the school community. Informants were asked to describe their school histories,…

First-year students completed surveys on their study habits and grade predictions, which were compared to final course grades and retention, and then to enrollment status and cumulative grade point average (GPA) 8 years later. Found that graduates earned higher course grades and higher cumulative GPAs and more accurately predicted their course…

Study explores high school completion among African Americans. Students completed a theory of planned behavior questionnaire early in their 2nd year. Intentions to complete the year were accurately predicted from attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. Intentions and, to a lesser extent, perceived behavioral control,…

The intercollegiate sports system fosters an environment in which eligibility for sports participation takes priority over educational objectives. One outcome of the athletic-academic conflict is the low graduation rate of intercollegiate football players. Analysis of graduation rates of various universities reveals a regional pattern of academic…

Describes a model for the delivery of programs and services for recruiting, retaining, and graduating African-American students. Notes that piecemeal programs neither increase the enrollment of African-American students nor slow their rate of attrition. (DM)

Investigates the relationship between family structure and 4-year college enrollment and completion. Uses 1980 High School and Beyond Sophomore cohort and its subsequent followup surveys. Finds that family-income differences can explain much of the differences in college attendance and completion rates between students from disrupted families and…

An increasingly important performance measure for university administrators is mean time to graduation at the department level. In this study, the authors examined whether a student's major is a significant variable in predicting time to graduate. If students in one major take much longer to graduate than do those in another major, administrators…

While nearly half of all school districts have adopted middle schools, there is little quantitative evidence of the efficacy of this educational structure. We estimate the impact of moving from a junior high school system, where students stay in elementary school longer, to a middle school system for on-time high school completion. This is a…

Latinos/as in the United States are the fastest growing segment of the population. In light of this fact, many education researchers and practitioners have turned their attention towards efforts designed to develop an understanding of the Latino/a educational experience. Unfortunately, the research reveals that Latino youth have excessively low…