The Common Core State Standards Initiative is the latest effort to reform education through standards. This article examines how the Standards promise to prepare students for the changing world of the 21st century, yet do not consider the changing nature of literacy--especially the centrality of the Internet as a 21st century text, and online…

Purpose: To advance a framework of indicators that promotes implementation of math standards under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), we tested a conceptual model of the resources and processes within schools that influence the opportunity to learn mathematics (OTL) in the classroom using a recent administration of the 2011 Trends in…

This report provides the Nebraska Legislature with comparative statistics to monitor and evaluate progress toward achieving "three key priorities" for Nebraska's postsecondary education system: (1) Increase the number of students who enter postsecondary education in Nebraska; (2) Increase the percentage of students who enroll and…

This study hypothesized that HISD prekindergarten participation consistently correlated with better educational outcomes for students. Taking into account students' age differences through kindergarten enrollment, propensity score matching controlled for students' background characteristics. Three cohorts of students in this study were eligible or…

This study was a grounded theory investigation of the LatinoJustice PRLDEF LawBound participants. The research was conducted using the grounded theory method developed by Glaser and Strauss (1967) and Glaser (1978, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2005) to discover an explanatory theory directly from the data. The discovery of the…

Concern about college and career readiness has been expressed in both the business and education arenas. Employers are calling for entry-level employees with basic academic skills and educators are being held accountable for student achievement in academic areas similar to those required by employers. In this environment, WorkKeys has emerged as a…

Dual enrollment programs offer high school students the chance to enroll in college courses and earn transferable college credit while they are still pursuing a high school diploma. Research shows that dual enrollment participants are more likely to enroll and persist in college, earn higher GPAs during college, and accumulate more college credit.…

Maryland's College and Career Act of 2013 recognized the potential of dual enrollment and called for the expansion of it in the state. According to a December 2016 report to the Maryland General Assembly, however, only 2% of Baltimore City public 12th grade students participated in dual enrollment opportunities in 2015 as compared with a state…

Remediation has become one of the greatest barriers to student success and disproportionately affects the persistence and retention rates of African American community college students. Nearly 70% of the African American students at community colleges required remediation, which results in low persistence and graduation rates for these students.…

This report looks at the progress of the 2017 ACT®-tested graduating class relative to college and career readiness. This year's report shows that 60% of students in the 2017 US graduating class took the ACT test, up from 54% in 2013. The increased number of test takers over the past several years enhances the breadth and depth of the data pool,…

This brief encourages leaders to utilize their influence to help alleviate the long-standing achievement gaps in the education system, because when students flourish, entire communities can flourish as well. The authors want to ensure that grasstops are intentional in their advocacy for black students. The "Lift Every Voice and Lead…

Houston Independent School District (HISD) District and School Profiles provides parents, staff, community members, and other interested parties summary information regarding student performance and outcomes, demographics, and school programs for each HISD school. These profiles are divided by instructional level: elementary, middle, high,…

This report presents Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) examination participation and performance results in Texas public schools for the 2014-15 school year. Data are provided by student characteristics, including race/ethnicity; gender; and economic, at-risk, English language learner, immigrant, and migrant statuses.…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) opened up new possibilities for how student and school success are defined and supported in American public education. States have greater responsibility for designing and building their assessment and accountability systems. These new opportunities to develop performance assessments are critically important…

In 2007 Georgia instituted a flexibility policy through which school districts enter into performance contracts with the state, receiving waivers from state rules, provisions, and guidelines in exchange for agreeing to meet annual accountability targets. The performance contracts are intended to incentivize innovations that increase achievement…