This report uses a newly defined version of the Greene Method to calculate graduation rates for the public school class of 2000, comparing results to those of 1998. It calculates state and national figures using data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Common Core of Data. The 2000 national graduation rate was 69 percent (76…

The annual "U.S. News and World Report" "America's Best Colleges" issue has become the nation's de facto higher education accountability system, evaluating colleges and universities on a common scale and creating strong incentives for institutions to do things that raise their ratings. But, says the author, the "U.S. News" ranking system is deeply…

Howard Bowen (1996) wryly observed decades ago that colleges and universities raise all the money they can, and then they spend it. His point was that institutions have more good ideas than they can fully fund. As a consequence, they are constantly making choices as to how to best use their finite resources. Where and how resources are allocated…

Starting a new position is exhilarating. The key challenge is to make the strange familiar as soon as possible. There are new policies to learn, new colleagues to get to know, and new surroundings to adapt to. All these aspects and more need to be understood and managed well in order to focus on the primary task at hand--teaching and learning. Of…

More than 300 tribal representatives and educators from across New Mexico met at Ohkay Owingeh on December 19, 2005, to discuss ways to improve education for American Indian students in New Mexico. The Summit was a collaborative effort by New Mexico's Office of Indian Affairs, Public Education Department, Higher Education Department, and tribal…

These essays by former Governor James B. Hunt Jr. and business leader Thomas J. Tierney lay out in succinct fashion the requirements of both our nation and our states for new and higher levels of performance from America's colleges and universities. The authors of these essays are not theorists writing from an ivory tower. Quite the contrary,…

Despite the large number of children in stepfamilies, there is little research on the implications of large families for child well-being. This paper used three traditionally representative data sets--the National Commission on Children Survey (NCC), the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) and the National Survey of Children…

This article explores some of the complexities of the question as to whether or not American Sign Language (ASL) is a foreign language. It reviews the historical oppression of the deaf, the development of ASL and its defining value to proponents of deaf culture, mentions other language systems (including foreign sign systems) used by the…

Educational Testing Service (ETS) research highlights more similarities than variations in gender differences among student racial/groups, though variations exist in how the differences are manifested. This digest presents highlights from Richard Coley's findings in "Differences in the Gender Gap: Comparisons across Racial/Ethnic Groups in…

National data indicate that many differences remain between Hispanics and non-Hispanics regarding baccalaureate attainment, even though the general status of Hispanics in higher education has improved. Official data on California students suggest that there is no single point in the California educational pipeline that accounts for the entire gap…

Arizona's high school dropout rate is nearly double the national average of 9 percent, with a significant number of its dropouts being students from economically and socially disadvantaged ethnic minority backgrounds. The Arizona Minority Education Policy Analysis Center conducted a series of roundtable discussions with school administrators,…

The Jobs for Florida's Graduates (JFG) program targets high school students and provides services to help these students graduate and to continue their education or find meaningful employment within one year of graduation. School managers and "job specialists" serve as mentors, identify at-risk high school students, and provide them with…

This document reports the levels of skill achievement by Florida students as measured by the High School Competency Test (HSCT) and explains the purpose, reporting, and use of HSCT test results. This test measures the ability of students to apply basic skills in communication and mathematics successfully in everyday life situations. Students in…

This report provides statistical data on retention and graduation patterns of first-time, full-time undergraduates at Maryland's public four-year colleges and universities from 1977 to 1997. Among major findings were: (1) the second-year retention rate of all first-time, full-time undergraduates was 82 percent for the cohort of students entering…

To support states in improving the quality of their Perkins accountability data, the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE), US Department of Education, invited State Directors of Career-Technical Education to submit requests for individualized technical assistance. In response to a request by the New Mexico Public Education Department…