The article describes accomplishments of an advisory panel for exceptional students in one Florida school district. The process of identifying and resolving problems is described in the context of specific issues such as placement of minority students in special education, graduation procedures, and evaluation of the individualized education…

Discusses trend toward minimum competency tests (MCTs) as a requirement for receiving high school graduation. Summarizes criticisms of such testing, and discusses Florida's experience with the MCT, especially in relation to minorities. Concludes that the use of MCTs is potentially discriminatory. (CJM)

Contending that the recommendations of the Commission on Excellence in Education cannot apply to all schools, the author argues against requirements including computer science, foreign language, and additional mathematics and science courses for all students. The quality of United States education is concluded to be higher than recent publicity…

Through a series of tables, this document presents a profile of the system of higher education in Mississippi. The first section focuses on finances, with tables portraying the history of funding for higher education in Mississippi, appropriations per student, faculty salaries, and information on operating budgets and tuition and fees. The next…

The act of going to college and earning a degree is more important than ever to today's youth and our society. Individuals with a bachelor's degree earn much more than high school graduates, and society as a whole also gains from an educated citizenry. Unfortunately, access to a postsecondary education is not equal in America. Students…

The purpose of this study is to describe federal legislation and programs that support higher education and to assess Latino participation in these programs. While there are many programs at the state, institutional, and community levels that facilitate access to higher education for Latinos, the Higher Education Act (HEA), due for reauthorization…

This summary is based on the findings of the full-length report, "Graduation and Dropout Trends in Chicago: A Look at Cohorts of Students from 1991 through 2004." The report was written to disseminate accurate and detailed information on student outcomes in Chicago's public schools. This summary includes information on how the rates in…

Each year our college system gives twice as many bachelor's degrees (BAs) to African American females as males. Large gender gaps favoring women also exist for other groups. Indeed, on average our college system gives 35% more BAs to females than males across all racial and ethnic groups. Traditional explanations for this pattern have focused on…

Iowa's educational system is defined by the strong working relationship between the local school districts and area education agencies. Local districts provide the instructional program and area education agencies provide support services. Area education agencies (AEAs) were created in order to provide equity in the provision of programs and…

This paper presents an exploratory analysis using NLSY97 data of the relationship between the likelihood of school continuation and the choices of whether to smoke or drink. We demonstrate that in the United States as of the late 1990s, smoking in 11th-grade was a uniquely powerful predictor of whether the student finished high school, and if so…

Although numerous quality ratings exist in today's media-centric environment (Money Magazine, and U.S. News and World Report, etc.), it is quite difficult to provide any reasonably meaningful estimates of institutional quality, either qualitative or quantitative. Global ratings of university "quality" abound, despite the fact that there…

This report was designed to examine the influence of a growing Latino enrollment in Minnesota's public schools. Using data from the Minnesota Department of Education, the authors observed that while overall enrollment numbers in Minnesota have declined approximately 3% since 2001, Latino enrollment actually grew by more than 38% during this same…

This information brief highlights the graduation rates for full-time first-time-in-college students in Florida's State University System (SUS) institutions as well above the national average for public four-year colleges, based on early release data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Of those who entered the SUS as…

This information brief examines four factors contributing to Florida's overall high graduation rates in public four-year institutions: (1) Graduation rates for the largest race/ethnic groups were higher than for the nation as a whole; (2) The gaps between racial/ethnic groups were smaller than in the nation as a whole; (3) Florida's largest…

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) began, upon its institution in 2002, to hold states more directly accountable for the progress of all students, including students of color and students of low socioeconomic status (SES). These groups of students have historically performed less well than their White or upper-class peers. In 2001, prior…