Minnesota's Intervention for College Attendance Program (ICAP) is a program of competitive grants awarded to postsecondary institutions, professional organizations and community-based organizations. Funded programs focus on increasing the access and success of groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education by strengthening their…

One of the most pressing issues facing American universities is the number of students who fail to graduate. Nearly one out of five four-year institutions graduate fewer than one-third of its first-time, full-time degree-seeking first-year students within six years. Although there are various explanations for attrition, students often leave for…

This study uses a widely respected method to calculate graduation rates, both nationally and for each state, for each public school graduating class from 1991 to 2002. It also combines graduation rate calculations with data provided by the U.S. Department of Education to calculate the percentage of all students who left high school eligible for…

This study addresses Waukesha County Technical College's (WCTC) 5-year retention and graduate rates. Some of the key findings of the report are as follow: (1) overall, 35.4% of cohort students graduated; (2) a 4-year combined graduation rate for ethnic minorities was 26%, well below the overall average; (3) the percent of cohort that graduated…

This study examines graduation rates at public two-year, public four-year and private four-year colleges in the United States. Its major purpose is to account for the variance in graduation rates taking into account several institutional and institutionally-related student financial aid predictor variables. United States colleges and universities…

This report discusses the outcomes of a study that investigated state appeals processes for students with disabilities who fail state-mandated graduation exams. State Web sites were studied to determine the extent to which there are other options for demonstrating skills, to check the availability of these to students with disabilities, and to…

Over the past 20 years, major transformations have occurred in educational, social, political, and economic areas that continue to have an impact on the education and development of youth with disabilities and the institutions that support them. Approximately half of all students with disabilities in 2003-04 spent 80% or more of their day in a…

Superintendents often mourn the "good old days" when they were educators and did not need to worry about the managerial and political aspects of their districts. Linda Hanson shows how effective a superintendent can be in the role of educator as she and her reading staff help their school board understand the implications of a mandatory graduation…

Recent studies have argued that there is a dropout crisis in the U.S. But the authors in this article, find that this contention is based on flawed analyses of inadequate data. Using a much wider range of sources, they conclude that the situation is not nearly so dire as is commonly believed. (Contains 14 endnotes.)

Writing across the curriculum has been a pedagogy associated with faculty development since the earliest days of the movement. Carleton College, an early adopter of WAC pedagogy and faculty development, has, in the last decade, added portfolio assessment to the combination with positive results. Among the unexpected consequences has been a…

The purpose of this study was to determine the retention rate of students who had received academic scholarships versus students who had not received academic scholarships but met the qualifications to receive the scholarships and the effects of emotional intelligence on these students. The data collection mechanisms for this study included the…

"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) Time to "Learn": Comprehensive Literacy Bill Introduced in Congress; (2) "Teaching for a New…

"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) Urban Renewal: New Alliance Research Shows U.S. Urban Economy Will Grow By Billions of Dollars If High School Dropout…

In this report, the authors look at the freshman year course performance of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students who receive special education services and ask whether grades, course failures, absences, and on-track status are useful for identifying students who are at risk of dropping out. They also examine how academic behaviors, such as…

In an effort to better understand the various economic benefits that a particular urban area could expect were it to reduce its number of high school dropouts, the Alliance for Excellent Education, with the generous support of State Farm[R], has developed a sophisticated economic model in partnership with Economic Modeling Specialists Inc. The…