This report profiles the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) Escalera Program: Taking Steps to Success, a Latino-serving, community-based youth workforce development program, which was developed in 2001 in partnership with the PepsiCo Foundation and PepsiCo, Inc. and expanded in 2008 with the support of Shell Oil Company. The Escalera Program:…

Across the country, large numbers of young people are dreaming about and planning on attending college. A poll released in 2005 showed that 87 percent of all young people want to go to college. Often, however, parents' and students' dreams for the future are not being realized. Many young people never enroll in a postsecondary institution, and of…

This is the second in a series of briefs summarizing findings from the newest and most rigorous research related to racial and socioeconomic diversity in public schools. The studies on which this brief is based were published recently in three special issues of the peer-reviewed journal, "Teachers College Record," edited by Professors…

This is the third in a series of briefs summarizing findings from the newest and most rigorous research related to racial and socioeconomic diversity in public schools. The studies on which this brief is based were published recently in three special issues of the peer-reviewed journal, "Teachers College Record," edited by Professors…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress--commonly called "The Nation's Report Card"--tells a dismal story: Only 2% of high school seniors in 2010 could answer a simple question about the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark "Brown v. Board of Education" decision. And it's no surprise. Across the country, state educational…

This report provides information on the retention, graduation, and transfer rates of first-time, full-time students at Maryland community colleges from 1998-2008. The report examines retention and graduation data for students two, three and four years after matriculation into a community college. The data are presented for the state, by each…

As colleges and universities face pressure to expand enrollments and provide access to diverse students, they find it difficult to recruit and retain first-generation college students (FGS). First-generation college students are significantly less likely to graduate due to lack of family support, financial strains, poor academic preparation, and…

As New Orleans began to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina, Tulane University also began its recovery process. A new initiative in the recovery was the establishment of a public service graduation requirement for undergraduate students. Attitudes toward the requirement were assessed for 290 first-year and 257 advanced students in fall 2006. The…

Over the last decade, New York City has been the site of a systemwide high school reform effort that is unprecedented in its scope and pace. Since 2002, the school district has closed more than 20 failing high schools, opened more than 200 new secondary schools, and implemented a centralized high school admission process in which approximately…

The primary objective of the concierge service at the University of Nevada, Reno is to keep students on track to graduate in four years. The Concierge is charged with helping students enroll in the classes they need, not necessarily want, to graduate. This one charge defines the operational criteria. The service is available to all students,…

In this article, the author examined the AG by noting that the NAEP reported math scores among 17-year-olds is upwardly biased when compared with the scores of this same cohort 4 years earlier when they were 13 years old. It is upwardly biased because an important event happens over the 4-year period between 8th and 12th grade--a large percentage…

In his 2011 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama declared that charter schools are a way to out-innovate and out-educate our competitors worldwide. The President believes that investment in education must be accompanied by reform, including the expansion of high-quality charter schools. President Obama has challenged states to lift…

This paper provides an active discourse on the use of innovative solutions to conduct an in-depth investigation on the success and viability of 9th Grade Freshman Academies, Centers, and Center Models to aid in the retention of at risk students. These types of academic programs provide an active solution for the retention and projected completion…

Nationally, millions of students in grades 7-12 are at risk of dropping out of high school because of low literacy skills, poor attendance, and class failure. The absence of a college- and career-ready education for these students is a civil rights and social justice issue that the federal government cannot ignore. Unfortunately, many of these…

Echoing the words and thoughts of Thomas Jefferson, California's state constitution embraces the noblest of principles in its vision for public higher education. Over the decades, California public higher education has dominated policy discussions as a model of access and excellence and a powerful engine of economic growth. Indeed, it would be…