"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) "The Nation's Report Card": Too Many High School Seniors Unprepared for College-Level Math and Reading; (2)…

This exploration into competency-based innovation at the school, district, and state levels suggests that competency-based pathways are a re-engineering of this nation's education system around learning--a re-engineering designed for success in which failure is no longer viable. This discussion draws on interviews and site visits with innovators…

This is the 13th annual report on the conditions affecting the Racine Unified School District (RUSD). This year, the analysis again focuses on the long-term historical trends in RUSD and compares the district to nine peer districts across the state. The peer districts are those with the most similar enrollments to RUSD. The report is configured in…

For 24 consecutive years, the Public Policy Forum has compiled and analyzed data from southeastern Wisconsin's public school districts in order to better inform policymakers and the public about the effectiveness of the region's K-12 education system. This analysis of the 2009-10 academic year, like many of the previous reports, indicates cause…

In 2003, the Illinois Education Research Council (IERC) began to follow the members of the Illinois public high school class of 2002 (the Class of 2002) on their journeys through postsecondary education. There is a wealth of higher education information on these students, including enrollment and the completion of certificates and degrees. Also, a…

This brief takes a broad look at low-income young adults in an effort to contribute to the national discussion on improving degree completion by increasing participation among all disadvantaged populations--especially those who attempt to succeed in postsecondary settings under financial stress. Understanding the linkages between low-income young…

This descriptive report is part of a broader project collecting, organizing, and analyzing multiple sources of data from the four-state REL Appalachia region, comprised of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The purposes of that broader project are: (1) to increase awareness of and understanding about critical education issues in the…

This curriculum was developed in response to a need expressed by parents and parent groups across the country. It is intended to help parents learn strategies that will encourage their youth to remain in school and to graduate with peers. In preparation for presenting this workshop, you will need to have a clear understanding of state initiatives…

This report paints a collective portrait of the Baltimore City Schools dropouts of 2008-09 to summarize some of the commonalities that join their individual stories together. After examining the surface level demographic characteristics of these dropouts, researchers probed more deeply into their behavioral characteristics in the years preceding…

This policy statement presents a vision for a "new deal" to guide reauthorization of the Elementary & Secondary Education Act (ESEA). First, states must continue to lead the way with bold, thoughtful education reforms to ensure that all students graduate from high school ready for college and career. This includes developing and…

U.S. social programs, set up to address important problems, often fall short by funding specific models/strategies ("interventions") that are not effective. When evaluated in scientifically-rigorous studies, social interventions in K-12 education, job training, crime prevention, and other areas are frequently found ineffective or…

Learning outcomes are described as written statements of what a learner is expected to know, understand and/or be able to do at the end of a period of learning. At the beginning of the 90s, a EU pilot project on ECTS showed that study programmes were much easier to compare if they were described in terms of outcomes, instead of inputs. The…

One prohibitory component to graduation rates in college is the lack of student success in college algebra. The current national passing rate of college students enrolled in college algebra is approximately 40 percent. Lack of success in college algebra creating higher enrollments in remediation courses for students has also been linked to…

Most studies focus on the effects of charter attendance on short-term student achievement (test scores), using either data sets that follow students over time or random assignment via school admission lotteries to control for differences between students in charter and traditional public schools. Beyond measuring achievement effects, however,…

This article presents the state education finance and governance profile of Tennessee. The 17th largest state, Tennessee is home to 2.01% of the nation's inhabitants. Funding of K-12 education in Tennessee is accomplished via a formula known as the Basic Educational Program (BEP). This plan primarily utilizes school district enrollment numbers to…