This paper examines the relationship between excellence scholarships and research productivity, scientific impact, and degree completion. Drawing on the entire population of doctoral students in the province of Quebec, this pa- per analyzes three distinct sources of data: students, excellence scholarships, and scientific publications. It shows…

Have efforts to improve schools neglected high achievers? A growing chorus of critics is voicing concern for the achievement gap, but not the gap between well-to-do and poor students, or white and non-white students. The gap that most worries them is the one between U.S. students and students in other industrialized nations. Among the 34 nations…

This policy brief presents results from a random assignment evaluation of the City University of New York's Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP). An ambitious and promising endeavor, ASAP provides a comprehensive array of services and supports to help community college students graduate and to help them graduate sooner. The evaluation…

Over the last decade, high school dropout rates have declined to single digits nationally. However, the U.S. only ranks 22nd in high school graduation rates and 14th in college attainment among industrialized countries. Furthermore, graduation gaps persist among students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and minority racial groups. Reducing…

Georgia law mandates that students who fail the state Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) twice in grades three, five, and eight be retained, unless a committee is convened including a subject-area teacher, an administrator, and the student's parent or guardian. If the committee unanimously decides the student may be successful in the…

The purpose of this study was to analyze the Tennessee State University (TSU) fall 2005 Freshmen Cohort (N = 1205) based on the variables of race, gender, persistence, retention and graduation, as well as to examine the impact of the newly implemented Complete College Tennessee Act's (CCTA) funding formula component on the university's budget…

The purpose of this study was to look at mission driven school district leadership in Massachusetts public schools and attempt to identify any relationship, or lack thereof, between district mission statements and student achievement. In this study, 288 Massachusetts public school districts are ranked according to their 2011 high school graduation…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine how students experience and respond to Michigan's increased graduation requirements. The study was conducted in a large, suburban high school that instituted a change to a trimester system in response to the state mandate. A criterion-based sample of 16 students, both college bound and…

The current nursing shortage has challenged colleges to educate nurses at a faster pace than in previous times. Successful completion of the nursing programs and passing the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) exam is important for the students, faculty, and nursing programs. The purpose of this retrospective…

At the beginning of the 20th century, there were essentially two types of organizational structures for primary and secondary education in the United States. There were either one-room K-12 schools or in larger systems K-8 buildings feeding into four-year high schools. Despite numerous experiments since then in reconfiguring schools resulting in a…

Recent stories of soaring student debt levels and under-placed college graduates have caused some to question whether a college education is still a sound investment. In this paper, we review the literature on the returns to higher education in an attempt to determine who benefits from college. Despite the tremendous heterogeneity across potential…

Adult students are enrolling in postsecondary educational programs in record numbers, but many are not completing their programs. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the perceptions of adult students enrolled in a nontraditional undergraduate evening program at a selected liberal arts college to gain insights into the factors…

This quantitative, cross-sectional correlational study sought to explore whether the perceived caring behaviors of online nursing faculty were related to students' intent to persist in the educational program. A quantitative, cross-sectional correlational survey methodology was employed to assess student perception of online faculty caring…

Based on an extensive analysis of state waiver plans, this report shows that recent progress in holding schools accountable for how many students they graduate from high school--the ultimate goal of K-12 education--may be slowed in some states based on waivers recently granted under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), currently…

Every year a group of graduates from high schools enter the engineering programs across this country with remarkable academic record. However, as reported in numerous studies, the number of students switching out of engineering majors continues to be an important issue. Previous studies have suggested various factors as predictors for student…