This study explores students' perceptions of the paths to high school graduation using an ecological framework. Specifically, it identifies the challenges, influences, and motivations differentiating students who remained in school despite being at high risk for dropping out--defined as consistently high levels of aggression--from students at low…

Judicial sanctions are used by drug courts to encourage clients to comply with program requirements. However, few studies have explored the application of sanctions in drug courts or the relationship between sanctions and drug court graduation. This article reports the results of a study of sanctions as applied in a drug court in southwest…

The demands for accountability in education have led to an increase in high-stakes testing practices in public schools. Accountability can be seen at the high school level in the use of exit examinations (hereafter "exit exams") that students must pass to receive a diploma and graduate from high school. One of the most challenging issues…

The completion agenda seeks significant increases in educational attainment, and its goals are quite laudable. The United States is lagging behind other industrialized nations in terms of the proportion of adults holding postsecondary degrees, and states have been challenged to implement policies that ensure improvements in degree completion…

As a first generation immigrant born in Mexico City, academic coaching is one of the keys to success for Juan Arias, a 24-year-old junior at Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, California. The community college transfer student was provided with his own personal coach during orientation who provided weekly visits or calls to guide him…

This report builds upon a series of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reports on high school dropout and completion rates that began in 1988. It presents estimates of rates in 2007, provides data about trends in dropout and completion rates over the last 3 decades (1972-2007), and examines the characteristics of high school dropouts…

A study released last week suggesting that California's high school exit exams are affecting some student demographic groups more than others is the latest in a small spate of studies pointing to trade-offs from policies that require high school students to pass state tests to graduate. Twenty-six states have exit exams in place or will by 2012,…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the Texas Higher Education Assessment (THEA) scores and the Graduation rate of college students attending a Historically Black College or University (HBCU). Using a Regressional analysis that tested the predictability of the Reading, Writing, and Mathematics scores on the THEA…

Over a million of the students who enter ninth grade each fall fail to graduate with their peers four years later. In fact, about seven thousand students drop out every school day. Perhaps this statistic was acceptable fifty years ago, but the era in which a high school dropout could earn a living wage has ended in the United States. Dropouts…

Community colleges lose millions of dollars in potential revenue due to lackluster retention and graduation rates. It is time for change! Bergen Community College (BCC) has made a unique commitment to concentrate solely on this issue. Learn how the establishment of the Department of Retention Services, with its cutting edge initiatives, is…

In response to student requests, and to help celebrate the graduation of our physics majors, we have designed a graduation stole uniquely befitting physics. The design incorporates the four visible spectral lines of hydrogen--the Balmer series. Since the 2002 debut of the design, all our graduates have proudly worn their physics graduation stoles…

After years of debating the idea of national content standards, representatives from 37 states were set to convene in Chicago last week in what organizers hoped would be a first, concrete step toward common guidelines in mathematics and English language arts. The National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers--the…

"Perspective" is a monthly e-newsletter presenting news and views from Achieve. This issue includes a report describing how the American Diploma Project (ADP) Network selected Delaware and Tennessee from among 16 finalists as the winners of the first phase of Race to the Top (RTTT) grants. This issue also reports that: (1) The National…

This paper adds to the considerable literature on low completion rates for apprenticeships and traineeships by looking at whether the reasons given for not completing vary by how far the individual is into their contract of training. The approach the authors take is to calculate the probability of apprentices and trainees giving a particular…

Students who are deaf or hard of hearing and beginning their college years sometimes encounter challenges that, lacking special support, may result in their dropping out of school without any form of certification. Estimates for these students show that between two-thirds and three-quarters of those who begin their studies never graduate. From the…