In 2002-2003, 1 million students participated in AP by taking at least one exam. Five years later, nearly 1.6 million did--a 50+ percent increase. But is growth all good? Might there be a downside? Are ill prepared students eroding the quality of the program? Perhaps harming the best and brightest? To find out, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute…

The identification of students who are gifted traditionally has been grounded in criteria with an emphasis on unitary measures of intellectual ability. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the performance of elementary school children in a Southeastern state identified as gifted using an assessment process based on MI theory, the Problem…

Inclusion and detracking policies seek to remedy the pervasive inequality of educational opportunities in U.S. schools by building classrooms that are integrated across the lines of race/ethnicity, class, and disability and that offer all students access to a rich and challenging curriculum. In practice, however, teachers often struggle with the…

We use panel data on Florida high school students to examine race, poverty, and gender disparities in advanced course-taking. While white students are more likely to take advanced courses than black and Hispanic students, these disparities are eliminated when we condition on observable pre-high school characteristics. In fact, black and Hispanic…

Background: This investigation is the second paper of a companion set reporting the outcomes of secondary schooling for young people who have been participating in the Manchester Language Study. Aims: To examine the school context of educational results at 16 years of age and to provide information on the adolescents' post-16 activities. Methods &…

Mississippi Delta Community College (MDCC), one of the oldest community colleges in the country, is located in Sunflower County, Mississippi, which was home to both the infamous White Citizens Council and civil rights heroine Fannie Lou Hamer. It serves one of the poorest areas of the country; the unemployment rate in the district is higher than…

This booklet presents seven complete portfolios (each consisting of four pieces of writing) and selections from seven other successful portfolios submitted by 1992 incoming freshmen to Miami University. The portfolios or selections in the booklet were considered to be truly outstanding among the 465 portfolios submitted in 1992. Authors of the…

A survey of college and university career planning and placement directors was conducted in 1987 with a response rate of 67% (N=880). Findings were compared to data from earlier surveys conducted in 1981 and in 1975. Eight-five percent of the offices responding indicated that they had a centralized structure; 58.1% had the word "career" in their…

The 1984-85 age-grade distribution for the New York City Public Schools shows that one-third of the city's approximately 850,000 general education and resource room students were above the standard age for their grade. The proportion of overage students increased in the upper grades; in grades nine, ten, and eleven, over half were above standard…

Students in six Dayton, Ohio, high schools use computers to seek information on jobs, careers, colleges, and financial aid for college. (DW)

This booklet is intended to encourage wider participation by California high schools and colleges in the Advanced Placement Program of the College Entrance Examination Board. It briefly presents a variety of useful information on the Advanced Placement Program for college and school officials interested in the possibility of participating in the…

During the school year 1974-75, a project to place exiting students in an occupational or postsecondary program was conducted by the Tuscaloosa County School System. The project was designed to assist graduating seniors of four high schools and those exiting prior to graduation. In meeting the project goal the following activities were carried…

Discussed in the speech on criteria in the public education of the severely handicapped are historical developments leading to the current situation, the kinds of developing structures emerging in special education, the question of criteria and its ramifications, and major tasks to be accomplished. Identified are four historical stages in special…

This paper briefly summarizes the validation and implementation of three CLEP examinations (humanities, social science/history, and natural sciences) that complement the placement and proficiency system of the University of Illinois. Three groups of juniors in fall 1971 who had completed specific distributional sequences that had satisfied general…

A 2-year project to focus on diverse approaches to placement and followup in vocational education within Indiana included seven sub-projects funded to local educational agencies across the State and targeted to specific problems. Products of the seven sub-projects were developed to provide adaptability to secondary and postsecondary schools…