Teachers who work together to blend academic and career/technical (CT) instruction have found a key to motivating students to complete high school and prepare for college, advanced training and careers. This newsletter highlights key strategies schools are using to join academic and technical studies to advance student motivation and achievement.…

This article presents questions and answers about ACT's College Readiness Benchmarks. ACT's College Readiness Benchmarks are the minimum ACT test scores required for students to have a high probability of success in credit-bearing college courses--English Composition, social sciences courses, College Algebra, or Biology. Colleges can use the…

Despite the proliferation of data about student performance, secondary school educators have had difficulty accessing data on their former students' post-high school employment and earnings in the formal economy. This article describes how one community used state unemployment insurance data, merged with student record data, to investigate the…

To provide a progress report on efforts to increase access to minority students and diversify the teaching and administrative ranks, a study was conducted at San Joaquin Delta College (SJDC), in California, of recent trends in minority student attendance and graduation rates and the ethnic composition of faculty and administrative staff. Results…

This publication presents findings of a study that examined high schools with competency-based graduation systems. Data were obtained from interviews with officials at 29 schools in 17 states. Many of the schools were members of the Coalition of Essential Schools. Four schools are described in detail: Central Park East in New York City, New York;…

"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) Four More Years: Bush to Focus on High Schools During Second Term; (2) Education Funding Still in Limbo: Congress to…

This document is intended to help foreign language teachers prepare students for the exit exam of essential skills required by the Student Accountability Standards enacted by the North Carolina State Board of Education. The North Carolina High School Exit Exam (NCHSEE) focuses on skills across all disciplines K-12 rather than content areas. This…

This bimonthly newsletter provides information about the progress of the Honor States Grant Program, a governor-led effort to improve college- and work-ready graduation rates. This issue explores science, technology, engineering, and math education (STEM), a priority for governors as they try to enhance workforce competitiveness in a global…

Students who are well prepared academically and highly motivated tend to do well in college and persist to graduation. But for various reasons--some of which are beyond their control-- many students lack the requisite academic background for college-level work. As a result, most colleges and universities enroll students with a wide range of…

This report describes educational programs and opportunities available to Washington state's high school students, emphasizing changes brought about by the state's education reform. Information came from surveys and interviews with teachers, students, and parents and state and national data. The study examined whether high schools were increasing…

"Education Week" provides a weekly review of state and federal K-12 education policy news. In this issue it offers detailed data on graduation rates across the 50 states and the District of Columbia, and in the nation's 50 largest school districts. The analysis is based on the Cumulative Promotion Index developed by Christopher B. Swanson, the…

The authors analyzed student data from the U.S. Department of Education's "Annual Reports to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act" to asses patterns and trends in the educational placement of students with emotional or behavioral disorders (E/BD), as well as their means of school exit and the…

This document presents statistics about higher education in Maryland for 2011. The tables in this document are presented according to the following categories: (1) Students; (2) Retention and Graduation; (3) Degrees; (4) Faculty; (5) Revenues and Expenditures; (6) Tuition and Fees; (7) Financial Aid; (8) Private Career Schools; and (9) Distance…

"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) House Passes FY 2011 Spending Bill: Bill Cuts U.S. Department of Education Funding by $5 Billion; Title I, School…

Federal education policy in recent years has encouraged state and local education agencies to embrace data use and analysis in decision-making, ranging from policy development and implementation to performance evaluation. The capacity of these agencies to make effective and methodologically sound use of collected data for these purposes remains an…