MDRC's Opening Doors Demonstration is measuring the effects of various combinations of curricular reforms, enhanced academic advising, and increased financial aid intended to increase the persistence and improve the academic achievement of students at six community colleges across the United States. To determine the impact of the Opening Doors…

This cumulative report presents the synopses of the major articles, research notes, and publications from the Transfer and Retention of Urban Community College Students (TRUCCS) project. After a Letter from the Director and sections on the people and origins of TRUCCS, and a synopses, the report contains the following sections: (1) Transfer…

Postsecondary education in California includes public community colleges and universities, private nonprofit colleges and universities, and private proprietary and for-profit schools. While small in number compared with public and private nonprofit institutions, proprietary and for-profit schools and career colleges are growing and serving an…

Professional development for teachers of mathematics is changing dramatically. It is changing, in terms of content and pedagogy--because of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics standards, which imply a more collaborative, constructive, and student-centered approach to instruction--and in terms of format--because of research on the…

One of the major barriers to making good on this promise is the broad set of misconceptions framing most discussions of the dropout issue. Too often, both public perception and public policy seem based on the notion that dropping out is confined to a small--and particularly unmotivated--group of young people. A related assumption, although rarely…

This study examined the profile of community college dropouts, in an attempt to identify how this cohort differs from university-level dropouts and to identify reasons for community college students' withdrawal from school. The authors argue that the profile of a typical community college student--a person who has a full- or part-time job, lives…

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002 directed the U.S. General Accounting Office to determine whether the Department of Defense (DOD) overseas teachers' compensation package is adequate to recruit and retain qualified teachers. The Act also required GAO to determine whether or not any revisions to the law governing DOD…

This report uses data from the base year and first follow-up to the 1995-1996 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study to answer questions about college student employment and the persistence of employed students in higher education. Findings from the study show that among those who expect to earn a certificate from their first…

This report on outcomes of education for Pima Community College (PCC) in Arizona discusses 10 of PCC's success indicators: (1) PCC students and employees will reflect the diversity of the community; (2) students will find the college's programs and services accessible and competitively affordable among Arizona community colleges; (3) college…

Tribal Colleges were created over the last 30 years in response to the higher education needs of American Indians, and to serve geographically isolated populations that have no other means of accessing education beyond the high school level. Tribal colleges combine personal attention with cultural relevance in order to encourage American Indians…

Despite advances in primary school enrollment and completion in recent years, school completion in rural areas of Guatemala is low. The problem is especially severe among indigenous female students, where only about one in eight completes primary school. In 1997, the Guatemalan government launched an ambitious program designed to assist poor…

This report examines the current status of teacher quality in the city and what the School District of Philadelphia is now doing to ensure that all classrooms have highly trained, motivated, and knowledgeable teachers ready to boost the achievement of the district's 188,000 students.The report shows that teacher quality in Philadelphia has not…

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards has developed and made available sophisticated teaching assessments in nearly two dozen fields. This paper draws on an array of research evidence, and data gathering in four urban communities with large representations of National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs), to describe three major…

The school systems of Tennessee are continuing to make efforts to recruit and retain African-American and other minority teachers. As school systems in the state become more and more diverse, these efforts must increase. The number of classroom teachers with 30+ years of experience further emphasizes the accelerated need to establish and implement…

Due to the unusually high number of adolescent mothers in the United States, public concern surrounding the issue of teenage motherhood has accelerated. In order to understand this birth trend, an ecological framework which considers multiple aspects of the lives of teenage mothers is presented here. The study, which uses the National Education…