This survey updates the efforts of all 50 states to align their high school standards, graduation requirements, assessments, and accountability systems with the demands of college and work, and finds that at least 48 states are now actively engaged in reform efforts of some kind. There is more momentum in the states now than at any time since…

The Common Core of Data (CCD) is an annual universe collection of public elementary and secondary education data that is administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and its data collection agent, the U.S. Census Bureau. Data for the CCD surveys are provided by state education agencies (SEAs). This report presents findings…

SREB states were among the first in the nation to implement statewide high school exams. Today, these exams are a key component of each state's accountability system. This report identifies which states use comprehensive exams and which use end-of-course exams, how students perform on them, and whether achievement gaps have narrowed. It also…

This paper uses multiple data sources and a unified methodology to estimate the trends and levels of the U.S. high school graduation rate. Correcting for important biases that plague previous calculations, we establish that (1) the true high school graduation rate is substantially lower than the official rate issued by the National Center for…

This article discusses a program at John Adams High School in New York City that helps students who have fallen behind acquire the credits they need to graduate, while still enabling them to hold a job and meet family obligations. The program is one of 20 Young Adult Borough Centers operated by the New York City Department of Education in…

The "Saf" (threshold) exam is the entry exam taken by approximately 40% of the students enrolled in teacher training colleges in Israel. Students with learning disabilities may apply and be granted testing accommodations on this exam. This study examines the percentage of students with testing accommodations among the testees and those…

This article describes Fisk University's drive to improve its graduation and retention rates. Fisk's six-year graduation rate is more than 10 percentage points above the national average for four-year institutions. Seventy percent of Fisk alumni go on to graduate or to professional schools. No other institution produces as many black doctorates in…

Following the Japanese attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the nation was thrown into a state of fear and hysteria. On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order No. 9066 which resulted in more than 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry being either interned in relocation centers, drafted, or…

The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) is a cross-curricular literacy test issued to all secondary school students in the province of Ontario. The test consists of a reading and a writing component, both of which must be successfully completed for secondary school graduation in Ontario. This study elicited 16 first language and second…

The aim of the present study was to explore the educational background of the total population of inmates in Norwegian prisons. The sample consisted of all 3 289 inmates over 18 years of age in Norwegian prisons. The response rate was 71.1 percent. Ninety four percent of the participants were men and mean age was 35 years. A questionnaire…

It has been suggested that growing interest in curriculum assessment and development in higher education is the result of a number of external and internal factors. External factors include increasing government interest in quality assurance, accessibility, and degree completion rates; growing recognition of the important role university graduates…

Since 1995, efforts to prohibit affirmative action have intensified, perhaps most strikingly in higher education. In 1996, California voters adopted Proposition 209 (Prop. 209), an amendment to the state constitution that banned both discrimination and affirmative action programs that give preferences to groups or individuals based on their race,…

In this study, the long-term academic effects of mentoring relationships in higher education are explored, with particular emphasis on students in ethnic categories with a low first-year retention rate. A sample of 339 undergraduate students in a student-faculty mentor program was statistically paired with 339 nonmentored controls on gender,…

Obesity is a major public health epidemic in the United States. During the past decade, obesity has increased across all education levels, including college graduates. The purpose of this research was to study the health decisions that young women, post-college graduation make regarding their food intake. The subjects in this study completed a…

There has been a surge of attention to issues of access and success in higher education. The U.S. Education Secretary's Commission on the Future of Higher Education has discussed it. State policymakers are proposing new goals and accountability systems to address these issues. Even the mainstream press has been increasingly critical of higher…