Because of concerns that not enough students who start college are completing a bachelor's degree, and in response to a Congressional request, the General Accounting Office (GAO) examined the extent to which students who enroll in a 4-year college complete a bachelor's degree and the factors that affect completion. The study also investigated what…

This white paper was prepared for Staying the Course: High Standards and Improved Graduation Rates, a joint project of Achieve, Inc. and Jobs for the Future. Its goal is to provide policymakers with an overview of research about the dropout problem and the best strategies for building an early warning data system that can signal which students and…

"2P1" is the Carl Perkins label for an institution's graduation performance rate. Systems receiving Perkins funds, like Virginia's 23 community colleges, are expected to meet a federally approved 2P1 target rate. For the 3-year period 1999-2001 Virginia Western Community College (VWCC) was one of seven community colleges in the VCCS…

The legal parameters concerning how and when to properly graduate special education students are examined, through review of the United States Constitution, the Rehabilitation Act, the Education of All Handicapped Children Act, and subsequent case law. Recommendations on how school districts can properly terminate services are also presented.…

One of the greatest challenges that community colleges face in their efforts to increase graduation rates is improving the success of students in their developmental, or remedial, education programs--the courses that students without adequate academic preparation must take before they can enroll in courses for college credit. Emphasizing results…

Graduation and dropout rates are the center of the conversation about high school reform, with President Obama and the U.S. Department of Education leading the charge to boost high school and college graduation rates among our nation's students in the next ten years. Recognizing the need for a comprehensive approach to keeping teens in school and…

Community colleges play an important role in the U.S. economy, providing access to higher education for low-income young people, a path to higher-earning employment for low-income workers, and a supply of well-trained employees for local industry. In order to remain competitive with other major economies, however, the U.S. must sharply increase…

The nation's community colleges share a common and vital purpose: preparing students--young and working adults--for jobs and continued academic study. Today, over 7 million community college students strive to attain a degree that will expand their opportunity, whether they aim to graduate directly into the workforce or continue on to seek a…

The 2011 edition of "Minnesota Measures: Report on Higher Education Performance" reflects a new approach to reporting on the effectiveness of postsecondary education within the state. The report covers key measures of postsecondary effectiveness as in the previous three editions of the report but is grounded in the students' experience…

College completion remains one of the most compelling and vexing policy issues in higher education today. Although access to higher education has increased substantially over the past three decades, student success in college as measured by degree completion has not improved significantly. There is a great disparity in the percentage of low-income…

When the Commission on Access, Admissions and Success in Higher Education (subsequently referred to as the commission) convened in fall 2008, the educational landscape was facing a number of issues that the commission's members recognized as formidable challenges to those students who aspire to enroll and succeed in college. Summarizing the…

The objectives of this research were to identify: 1) promising institutional practices for retaining and graduating low-income, first-generation community college transfer students at four-year institutions, including any transfer-specific support systems; 2) outcomes of transfer students (i.e., graduation rates) at four-year institutions in…

The Carl Perkins Act provides federal support for rigorous career and technical education (CTE) programs that provide students with knowledge and skills to keep the United States competitive. States are provided with funds which are in turn distributed to eligible recipients, such as local educational agencies (LEAs) and postsecondary…

The Board of Governors continues to be committed to achieving excellence in the tripartite mission of its state universities--teaching, research, and public service--for the benefit of Florida's citizens, their communities, and the state economy. In light of the velocity with which the 21st century is moving ahead, however, the Board of Governors…

In California, the typical college-prep course sequence in math includes Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II. Students advance through these courses at different rates. A number of students proceed at a quick pace, with some completing Algebra II by the end of 10th grade and a few even earlier. At the other end of the spectrum, some students…