National and regional trends mask important variation among states in the supply of high school graduates. This profile provides brief indicators for Washington related to: current levels of educational attainment, projections of high school graduates into the future, and two common barriers to student access and success--insufficient academic…

Attrition rates, completion rates, and time to degree are the key areas researchers have sought to examine influencing factors and patterns of behavior that describe the departure process of students in doctoral study. Through the lens of self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), the purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was…

In 2007-2008, approximately 42% of community college students who were eligible to receive Pell grant funding did not file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Using data from the Beginning Postsecondary Student Study, this study examined the relationship between FAFSA filing status and persistence from the fall to spring…

The objective of the proposed systematic review is to summarize the available evidence on the effects of prevention and intervention programs aimed at primary and secondary students for increasing school completion or reducing school dropout. Program effects on the closely related outcomes of school attendance (absences, truancy) will also be…

With the recent increase in accountability due to No Child Left Behind, graduation rates and drop-out rates are important indicators of how well a school district is performing. High-stakes testing scores are at the forefront of a school's success and recognition as a school that is preparing and graduating students to meet society's challenging…

Enrollment management has become a common practice at four-year institutions, but has not been extensively explored at community colleges. As students have more educational options available to them, community colleges have begun to explore ways to grow their enrollment, improve student retention and increase graduation rates. This study explored…

With the increased demands for school accountability from the federal, state, and district levels, many school administrators report limited time available for the critical task of classroom observations. This research examined the relationship between classroom observations using a walk-through procedure and student performance. Building…

The purpose of this research is three pronged: (1) to describe the fall 2000 cohort of community college students in relation to the variables used in Tinto's Model of Student Departure for one multi-campus community college; (2) to determine the variables that lead to 3-year and 10-year graduation and transfer for this cohort; and (3) to examine…

The Coalition for Community Schools, housed at the Institute for Educational Leadership, is an alliance of national, state and local organizations in education K-16, youth development, community planning and development, family support, health and human services, government and philanthropy as well as national, state and local community school…

Even though it often feels like standardized testing is a relatively recent phenomena, it has been around at least since the 1800s, when in China, those that wanted a government job were required to take a test on their expertise of Confucian philosophy and poetry. During the Industrial Revolution, standardized tests were a quick way to test large…

Dozens of organizations around the country share the goal of improving Latino college student success, but there's been little progress in closing the educational-attainment gap. The desire to close the gap is there, but what has been missing, one education advocate believes, are vehicles for collective action. "Excelencia" in Education, a…

Now administered in 27 states and affecting 65 percent of all students, high school exit exams are gaining influence on teaching and learning because they constitute tests with extraordinarily high stakes. But what happens when students fail a high school exit exam? Few studies address the best way to remediate students in these situations.…

Objective: Women who experience sexual victimization, whether in childhood, adolescence, or adulthood, are at elevated risk of sexual revictimization. The mechanism responsible for this robust association is unclear, however. The present study proposed and tested a prospective, mediated model that posited that the association between adolescent…

This study investigates the relationship between family background and both college completion and earnings for a cohort of young adults. The study is based on sample of 8901 respondents from the National Education Longitudinal Study who were first surveyed as eighth graders in 1988 and last surveyed 12 years later and who were working and not…

This report documents the dramatic variation in graduation rates across more than 1,300 of the nation's colleges and universities, even between those with similar admissions criteria and students. Using official U.S. Department of Education graduation rates, this report identifies the top and bottom performers among institutions that have similar…