Every year, millions of high school students sit the Chinese national university entrance exam, and their results determine entry into universities or alternatives such as employment. Limited information about the exam is available in the Western literature even though it determines the future of millions of young people, and is increasingly of…

Congress created Upward Bound in 1964 with the goal of preparing more low-income students for college. A few months later, it created a second college-preparation program, Talent Search. The pair of programs formed the foundation of TRIO, which now includes six outreach and support programs for disadvantaged students and veterans. Upward Bound's…

This article describes recommendations made by participants in a large project of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), in which representatives of "partner disciplines" shared what they would like students to learn in the first two years of college mathematics. The article further suggests implications for high school mathematics.…

This study examined the relationships between first semester participation in a community college developmental writing course and persistence and goal attainment. The study examined whether developmental writing course participants completed more of their credits, enrolled for more semesters, and completed degree/certificates and/or transferred…

Embarking upon a pre-university gap year is an increasingly popular option among British students. Drawing on Brown et al.'s work on positional conflict theory and the increased importance of the "economy of experience", this paper seeks to explore this growing popularity and argues that the gap year's enhanced profile raises important…

The movement of students from community colleges to 4-year colleges or universities has been an area of inquiry that has received attention from researchers and policy makers. A plethora of research has focused on the academic outcomes of transfer students at senior institutions. Specifically, the concept of "transfer shock" has been…

This document contains a transcript of prepared remarks for Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to the House Education and Labor Committee. The Secretary discussed provisions for education in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund to supplement state budgets. The Secretary also noted an expanded…

This document is a one-page summary of "The Condition of Education 2009". "The Condition of Education" is a congressionally mandated report that provides an annual portrait of education in the United States. The 46 indicators included in this year's report cover all aspects of education, from early childhood through…

After three decades of decline, the amount of time spent by parents on childcare in the U.S. began to rise dramatically in the mid-1990s. Moreover, the rise in childcare time was particularly pronounced among college-educated parents. Why would highly educated parents increase the amount of time they allocate to childcare at the same time that…

In an effort to better understand the various economic benefits that a particular urban area could expect were it to reduce its number of high school dropouts, the Alliance for Excellent Education, with the generous support of State Farm[R], has developed a sophisticated economic model in partnership with Economic Modeling Specialists Inc. The…

Students in Germany are tracked into different forms of secondary schooling based on teachers' recommendations. The literature shows that school tracking is largely affected by academic achievement levels, but neglects the influence of individual achievement growth. The authors used data from the Berlin study ELEMENT (N = 2242) to characterize…

The authors do not quarrel with the assumption that increasing financial aid would boost college going. Yet a conundrum exists. Some state agencies have the potential to provide more resources than what college-bound students request. The federal government also has an excess of money in various aid programs. Of course, the authors do not ignore…

Background/Context: A longstanding debate continues concerning whether community colleges democratize education by expanding enrollment or divert students from attaining a bachelor's degree. The extant evidence is contradictory, but recent findings suggest that community colleges are serving to democratize education without a sizeable diversion…

An assessment of the English-as-a-Second-Language curriculum at International Christian University (Japan) looked at: (1) the kind of English language study perceived by students as important for their success; (2) how students' perceived needs compare to the professors' assessments of required academic tasks, as measured by a previous task…

In 1994, the New York State Office of the Comptroller performed an audit of Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) and Supplemental Tuition Assistance Program (STAP) awards at Katharine Gibbs School, a two-year secretarial and business education institution. TAP, the largest student grant and scholarship program administered by the Higher Education…