The New Mexico graduation rate has lagged behind the national graduation rate in recent years. In 2015 the graduation rate was 69 percent in New Mexico and 83 percent nationwide (New Mexico Public Education Department, 2016; U.S. Department of Education, 2017). Of particular interest to education leaders in New Mexico are differences in graduation…

Competency-based education--also known as proficiency-based, mastery-based, and performance-based education--has received increased attention in recent years as an education approach that may help ensure that students graduate from high school with the knowledge and skills necessary for college and their careers. In competency-based education,…

Several compelling rationales have driven dramatic increases in the number of students that U.S. American postsecondary institutions send abroad each year. The rationales are political, academic, cultural/social, and economic in nature and undeniably integral to developing graduates who are prepared to compete in the global arena. This study was…

Undergraduate student attrition is a major concern in higher education. It is usually explained by the impact of student attributes; however, recent developments in student success literature point to the need of exploring institutional practices that may impact a student's decision to abandon their studies. The current weight of academic quality…

In Europe and all over the world, higher education systems face the challenge of preparing an increasing number of students for the labor market and teaching them discipline-related knowledge and competences as well as generic competences. But what requirements do higher education graduates actually meet on the labor market? To identify higher…

The purpose of this study was to examine how competency-based learning (CBL) is defined across states in the Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands region and gain insight into barriers and facilitators to implementation of this reform. Many states in the region have started to consider and implement competency-based learning as a…

Imagination in Education was a qualitative inquiry that explored the effects the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) had on imagination within high school cultures. The central question for this study was: How do New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) high school principals conceptualize imagination within their…

The National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations were written for the second time in 2009 amid much criticism. In this study, scripts of candidates who wrote the NSC Mathematics examinations (papers 1 and 2) in 2009 were used as data to analyse the marks scored and then polytomous Rasch analysis was conducted for all the sub-questions to…

Objective: In recent years, developmental education (DE) reform has led to a restructuring of the placement process, redesigning of course instructional modalities, or implementing student support services to supplement developmental coursework. In Florida, recent legislative changes allowed students to opt out of placement testing and enroll…

In the 2018 calendar year, 42 states and Washington, D.C., passed a total of 146 policy actions related to Career and Technical Education (CTE) and career readiness, including legislation, executive orders, board of education actions, budget provisions and ballot initiatives. While roughly 100 fewer policies were passed in 2018 than in 2017, this…

In 2015, states continued to invest heavily in career and technical education (CTE), as leaders and policymakers sought to strengthen their state economies, fill the talent pipeline with well-prepared workers in key industries, and provide meaningful educational and career opportunities for citizens at every learner level. More than 125…

"Challenge to Lead 2020 Goals for Education: Refreshed 2016" offers six critical goals. They were designed to help SREB state leaders connect measures of student achievement to essential state policies. Each goal includes background information and the steps states need to take to meet each goal in the years ahead.

Several stumbles by American colleges in setting up programs with foreign partners have called attention to problems inherent in making such arrangements. State University of New York Empire State College has allowed a university in Albania to deliver diplomas in its name. In North Dakota, state auditors issued a scathing review of dual-degree…

As states move to implement the Common Core State Standards, key challenges remain. One is how to make sure a high school diploma acknowledges what students have achieved. Should states adopt a two tiered diploma, in which students who pass internationally aligned Common Core exams at a career- and college-ready level receive an…

There is a growing demand by our society and legislature to educate all students equitably in an inclusive general education setting. Societal trends vary as time progresses, but this does not eliminate the growing debate regarding diploma options, exit requirements and future career planning for high school graduates. What does a future look like…