Achievement testing is the centerpiece of the state accountability systems mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Accordingly, the public attention directed towards achievement scores has largely eclipsed the crucial role that graduation rates play in NCLB accountability, at least until recently. As a new body of research on…

This study uses a widely respected method to calculate public high school graduation rates for the nation, for each state, and for the 100 largest school districts in the United States. Graduation rates are calculated overall, by race, and by gender, using the most recent available data (the class of 2003). While this report builds upon a…

Student success in college has never been more important. The economic advantage to baccalaureate degree holders remains substantial, with college graduates averaging a million dollars more in lifetime earnings than high school graduates. There is also the long list of non-pecuniary benefits of college--intellectual development and critical…

As a result of the increasing number of students with disabilities entering post-secondary education, disability support services offices across the nation are faced with providing more varied and specialized services. Yet there is a limited body of knowledge within the postsecondary education and disability field on what services and specific…

This report summarizes the latest available national statistics on access and attainment by low income and minority community college students. The data come from the National Center for Education Statistics' (NCES) Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) annual surveys of all postsecondary educational institutions and the NCES…

Females are now doing as well as or better than males on many indicators of achievement and attainment, according to a new study by the U.S. Department of Education. On the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), females outperformed their male peers on reading (2003) and writing (2002) assessments at the fourth, eighth and twelfth…

During the past two decades 2-year colleges have become an increasingly important part of the American higher education system, especially for Hispanics who are disproportionately likely to start their careers in 2-year colleges. Given that today's economy rewards college attendance more than every before [Bound & Johnson (1992). "The…

This article evaluates the "mismatch" hypothesis, advocated by opponents of affirmative action, which predicts lower graduation rates for minority students who attend selective post-secondary institutions than for those who attend colleges and universities where their academic credentials are better matched to the institutional average. Using two…

This study takes a close look at the whole cycle of the 9-yr compulsory education in two communities in north China. It reveals that although there are nearly 100% enrollment and completion rates at the primary level, dropouts constitute a serious problem at the secondary level, thus rendering the 9-yr compulsory schooling an unfinished cycle.…

The degree to which SAT scores and high school grade-point average (GPA) predicted first-year college GPA (FGPA) and college graduation was examined for four groups: Hispanic students whose first language was Spanish and Hispanic, Black, and White students whose first language was English. The percentage of variance in FGPA jointly explained by…

Cox (1972) proposed a discrete-time survival model that is somewhat analogous to the proportional hazards model for continuous time. Efron (1988) showed that this model can be estimated using ordinary logistic regression software, and Singer and Willett (1993) provided a detailed illustration of a particularly flexible form of the model that…

Students with higher achievement scores and high school grade point averages are more likely to succeed in college as measured by their retention and graduation rates. Furthermore, an institution's ability to attract better prepared students results in a better academic reputation of the institution. The fact that better prepared students are…

This study describes the characteristics, enrollment, and completion rates of students with disabilities and the support services they received over a three-year period. Between 1998 and 2001 a total of 604 students with disabilities enrolled in undergraduate courses at Athabasca University, which represents 1.5% of the student population. More…

Whether the dropout rate is a good measure of a quality education is debatable. One could probably make a case that a high dropout rate is just as credible an indicator of a quality education program as a low dropout rate. As with any high-stakes measure of performance, those being evaluated scramble, sometimes frantically, for strategies that…

Waukesha North High School in Wisconsin is perhaps much like most schools in the United States. It was considered by the community to be a good school, one that always generated above-average scores on state assessments, graduation rates, and attendance averages. Its students drew community recognition for their service and for their performances…