Debates about the national high school graduation rate have heated up as various national high school graduation estimates based on the Common Core of Data (CCD) and the Current Population Survey (CPS) do not coincide with one another partially due to different assumptions about graduation age. This study found that (a) while graduation rate by…

The nation has achieved an 82.3 percent high school graduation rate--a record high. Graduation rates rose for all student subgroups, and the number of low-graduation-rate high schools and students enrolled in them dropped again, indicating that progress has had far-reaching benefits for all students. This report is the first to analyze 2014…

This study explores the extent to which community colleges succeed in assisting students to transfer to four-year colleges. The study uses data from the California Community College system to test hypotheses about overall transfers and transfers of underrepresented students, It utilizes a framework based upon social reproduction theory (Bowles…

The goal of the study was to provide empirical findings on the effects of different types of parents' school involvement (PSI) on their children's mathematics performance. For PSI, we explored parent participation in parent-teacher conferences, voluntary parental involvement in school activities, parent informal contact with school or teachers,…

Nationally, more than one million youth drop out of high school each year. One in four young people do not graduate with their age mates. Thus, in recent years, national leaders have directed sustained attention to what they term the "dropout crisis," particularly in high schools that are graduating less than two-thirds of their…

Using data from the Monitoring the Future study, this article presents historical trends in U.S. high school seniors' work values across 30 years (1976-2005). Adolescents across three decades highly valued most aspects of work examined. Recent cohorts showed declines in the importance of work, values for job security, and various potential…

One literature documents a significant, black-white gap in average test scores, while another finds a substantial narrowing of the gap during the 1980's, and stagnation in convergence after. We use two data sources--the Long Term Trends NAEP and AFQT scores for the universe of applicants to the U.S. military between 1976 and 1991--to show: (1) the…

The Illinois High School Class of 2002 is part of the third generational wave of American students following the landmark Supreme Court decision in "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka," which outlawed segregation in public education. This longitudinal study allows the authors to examine the long-term impacts of this monumental…