The federal requirements of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) have placed a new focus on increasing graduation rates and reducing dropout rates. While the dropout problem has generated research and new programs over the last 30 years, the dropout rate has remained relatively unchanged. Students drop out of school for many reasons, and 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) U.S. Department of Education Holds High School Summit: Diploma Should Be a "Road Map to a Prosperous, Purposeful…

Data on the Y95 cohort (first interviewed in 1995 when in Year 9) of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth were analyzed to identify the effects of student employment on participation and attrition in secondary school and tertiary study and on young people's activities after secondary school. Working between 1 and 5 hours during Year 9 of…

This report uses a unique set of data obtained from the Kids Integrated Data System (KIDS), which is housed at the University of Pennsylvania's Cartographic Modeling Laboratory. The KIDS system merges individual-level data on young people from the School District of Philadelphia and the city's social service agencies, including the Department of…

This module, the first in a three-volume series, deals with dropout prevention, and is organized in two parts: a trainer's manual and a participant's resource manual. It is designed for inservice training of teachers, counselors, and administrators in vocational schools. Addressed in the individual chapters of the trainer's module are the…

The 11th International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM 2018) is held under the auspices of the International Educational Data Mining Society at the Templeton Landing in Buffalo, New York. This year's EDM conference was highly competitive, with 145 long and short paper submissions. Of these, 23 were accepted as full papers and 37…

With a national high school graduation rate, hovering around 70 percent, far too many of the nation's students are falling through the cracks of the education system and leaving high school without the skills necessary for success in college, work, and life. By preventing students from falling through the cracks and ensuring that they receive 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) "What Happened to Dropouts from the High School Class of 2004?": Brief Finds Over a Third Not Working and…

The Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) project is the most comprehensive effort thus far to ascertain which approaches help welfare recipients and other low-income people stay steadily employed and advance in their jobs. Launched in 1999 and slated to end in 2009, the ERA project encompasses more than a dozen demonstration programs and…

Distance education has dramatically increased the educational opportunities for underserved populations. This is evidenced by the fairly recent proliferation and success of online universities, and it is happening in spite of criticism of e-learning and online degree programs among academia and the popular press. As a result, many institutions,…

This article reports that several colleges and universities like Purdue University are mining data they have about students to try to improve retention. The institutions analyze years' worth of data on which students did well and which did poorly, and what variables--whether they be SAT scores, financial-aid status, or attendance at the dining…

This article presents findings from the evaluation of the Caring Equation, a Department of Health and Human Services-funded project established in 2003 in Arlington County, Virginia, public schools. The program is a multifaceted intervention program and is one of about 20 programs currently operating in school districts around the United States.…

Student departure from postsecondary institutions has been one of the central topics of concern discussed widely by policymakers, institutional personnel, and educational researchers at various levels. However, many existing studies have failed to address issues related to the timing of student departure from college. This article discusses the…

School engagement is a multifaceted psychosocial process that functions as a key mediator of academic achievement, motivation, and school dropout. This study investigated the effects of vocational exploration and racial identity on behavioral (attendance, attention, time spent on class work) and psychological (identification with school) factors…

This "Report Card to the Public" is published in accordance with Alaska Statute 14.03.120 for the school year 2012-2013. Under state law, each school district is required to report information about its plans and performance to its community. This report includes a statewide summary of performance results. Public knowledge of the school…