Graduate students across the world in higher education have self-selected themselves into their chosen degree programs, and each student tends to be assigned an advisor, or multiple advisors, to assist them through these programs. Graduate students tend to be self-directed and read most, if not all, of the literature supplied by an institution to…

The purpose of this quantitative, causal comparative study was to examine the extent to which attending an alternative educational program at some point during high school could likely influence the graduation rate of at-risk students in an urban school district in the state of Missouri. Four years of nonrandom samples of graduation data from 2006…

In 1997, policymakers in Kentucky enacted perhaps the most sweeping higher education reform legislation of any state in the past two decades. Kentucky's Postsecondary Education Improvement Act (House Bill 1) has been heralded by many higher education leaders across the U.S. as one of the great success stories--a rare instance when a state's…

Central Falls is, by far, the poorest community in Rhode Island. More than 40 percent of the children under 18 live in poverty, and 40 percent of that group live in severe poverty. At Central Falls High School, low-income Latino students have fallen behind their white counterparts, with shockingly low graduation, poor literacy, and low…

It is widely accepted that postsecondary education has become a necessity for US youth. College access, however, has been found not to be equal for all. As a result, federally funded college-readiness programs, such as Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP), have been established to increase the numbers of…

This study examines the use of Schools of Choice throughout Michigan over the last decade. Nearly 100,000 Michigan students use Schools of Choice to attend a school outside of the district in which they live. Participation has grown steadily, with enrollment growing by 144 percent over the past 10 years. This study finds that students enter…

The "Personnel Development Program to Improve Services and Results for Children with Disabilities" is authorized under Section 662 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and is known as the Personnel Development Program (PDP). The PDP is administered by the U.S. Department of Education's (ED's) Office of Special…

In January 2010, the General Assembly passed the Complete College Tennessee Act (CCTA), a comprehensive reform agenda seeking to transform public higher education through changes in academic, fiscal, and administrative policies at the state and institutional levels. While the higher education landscape has been shaped by the CCTA, it is also…

In compliance with the Indian Education Act (NMSA1976 Section 22), the purpose of the Tribal Education Status Report (TESR) is to inform stakeholders of the Public Education Department's (PED) current initiatives specific to American Indian students and their educational progress. This report examines both the current conditions and recent trends…

The purpose of this study is focused upon retaining distance education learners. Many adult learners are returning to higher education but may not complete their chosen curriculum. Fike and Fike (2008) stated that retention is important for a variety of reasons: (a) from the institution's perspective, the retention of students is necessary for…

This dissertation was designed to determine reasons graduate students do not complete requirements for a Master's in Middle Level Education degree at the southeastern university. Since the program's initial on-campus cohort (2000) the graduation rate has decreased from 80% to 62.96% with the fourth on-campus cohort (2005). The current cohort…

This report describes the characteristics of the 100 largest public elementary and secondary school districts in the United States and its jurisdictions. These districts are defined as the 100 largest according to the size of their student population. The information in this report was provided by state education agency officials to the National…

Title I funds are available to districts and schools with high numbers or percentages of disadvantaged students to provide services, including academic enrichment services through Title I, Part A, so all the nation's children have an equal opportunity to education and can reach proficiency on state academic achievement standards and assessments.…

Called the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) since its inception, the federally funded program provided scholarships of up to $7,500 for low income residents of the District of Columbia to send their children to participating private schools. Overall, low-income students who were awarded vouchers to attend private schools through the OSP…

President Barack Obama's address to the Joint Session of Congress set forth a postsecondary education agenda focused on access and success. In Illinois, as the high school graduating Class of 2002 moves further away from their days in Illinois public education and they begin to take their place in society, trends have begun to emerge as to their…