Indian Education Formula Grants represent the U.S. Department of Education's largest investment in addressing the unique academic and cultural needs of American Indian and Alaska Native students. The program is aimed at supporting services that are responsive to the unique cultural, language, and educational needs of these students and help them…

Educational access in developing countries has improved significantly in recent years, but less evidence is available on learning and learning progress in comparative perspective. This paper employs data from Young Lives to examine levels and trends in cognitive skill development and the links to enrolment in school across the four study countries…

This paper examines the achievement levels of students undertaking the Tertiary Enabling Program (TEP) at La Trobe University. The TEP is an alternative pathway program that traverses multiple institutions, campuses, and disciplinary areas, and is designed to prepare a diverse student cohort for tertiary study. The Program integrates several…

MDRC hosted a recent colloquium to celebrate their 40th anniversary and the contributions of former Board Chair Robert Solow. This paper summarizes a panel presentation featuring Frank Levy, Richard J. Murnane, Cecilia E. Rouse, and Ronald F. Ferguson, who discussed current challenges in education and how MDRC's research can help address them.

Federal education funding has often been overlooked by districts in search of sources of support for prevention. This guide is intended to help school districts take advantage of those funds by identifying K-12 grant programs in the U.S. Department of Education (ED) that could be used to implement prevention efforts in elementary and secondary…

This manuscript addresses learning communities (LCs) as a strategy to retain graduate students until program completion. Definitions of LCs and their early development are presented. The benefits of LCs to groups of students with common interests are discussed. In addition, reasons for early graduate student attrition are included. Common models…

During his 2012 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama offered several recommendations on education policy, including one specifying that all states increase the age of compulsory school attendance to 18. Approximately 25 percent of public school students in the U.S. don't obtain a regular high school diploma, a tragedy for them and a…

The question, as individuals slowly dig out from under the wreckage left by the Great Recession, is unavoidable: "Is college worth it?" The authors' answer: "Yes, extensive research, ours included, finds that a college degree is still worth it." A Bachelor's degree is one of the best weapons a job seeker can wield in the fight for employment and…

The purpose of this research study was to describe and analyze at-risk high school students' perceptions of their experiences with online academic credit recovery classes offered to them through an urban school district's dropout prevention department. The review of literature concerning curricula for online programs revealed that the variety of…

"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) To Be Continued: Congress Enacts Temporary Funding Mechanism to Keep Government Operating Until March 2013; Bill…

The Federal government is seeking to increase the proportion of Australians with bachelor degrees and to increase the proportion of low SES students in higher education. This will focus attention on degree completion rates for all students, including non-traditional students who have previously been reported as having lower higher education…

Over the past 25 years, the total number of students in college has increased by about 50 percent. But the number of students graduating with degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects has remained more or less constant. In 2009 the United States graduated 89,140 students in the visual and performing arts, more…

This study examined program outcomes of student problem behavior and social skills, based on teachers' perspectives, before and after early behavioral intervention services. The study targeted students in kindergarten through grade 5 who were identified by the school system as being at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders. Students…

For students, the financial ramifications of not graduating are eye-opening: Over the course of their lifetimes, students without a degree will earn an average of $800,000 less than their cap-and-gown brethren, according to the nonprofit College Board. The number is even more depressing in light of another statistic: In 2009, only 55 percent of…

Educational concepts, such as enrolment, attendance, passing or failing students, school retardation, and school desertion, which made it possible to describe the course of children through the school system, went through a gradual process, beginning in the second half of the nineteenth century and throughout the first decades of the twentieth. In…