The purpose of this study was to conduct a quantitative exploration of accreditation actions issued by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges' Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (WASC-ACCJC) since 2002, in order to examine their relationship to a dataset of common student and institutional variables. This exploration…

Teen motherhood is a problem in the United States, resulting in higher drop-out rates, lower GPAs, and worse attendance rates than for female teens without children. To address issues that teen mothers face, the California Department of Education implemented the Cal-SAFE program; however, budget cuts have closed many of the Cal-SAFE sites. While a…

This study examined Missouri's A+ Schools Program and its impact on school improvement. Effective schools research combined with the mission learning for all provided a conceptual foundation for guiding research development. A mixed-method design allowing a triangulation of qualitative and quantitative data was applied using telephone interviews…

"Education Indicators in Focus" is a recurring series of briefs that highlight specific indicators in "OECD's Education at a Glance" that are of particular interest to policy makers and practitioners. They provide a detailed look into current issues in pre-primary, primary and secondary education, higher education, and adult outcomes from a global…

States and districts are under increasing pressure to ensure all students complete high school in four years; however, many students who fall off-track on the way to graduation take longer than the traditional four years to earn a high school diploma or its equivalent. Unfortunately, those schools and districts serving overage, under-credit…

There is increasing demand on the education sector to produce high-quality, actionable information to inform decisions aimed at improving student achievement. Unfortunately, every state currently lacks the out-of-state data necessary to follow individuals systemically and efficiently across state lines. The absence of appropriate out-of-state data…

States are grappling with a federal requirement that is forcing them to use a new, more uniform method of calculating high school graduation rates--a method that, in some states, is yielding rates that are 20 percentage points lower than those states have reported in the past. Under a 2008 update to federal education rules, the states were…

The Canadian education system is failing its Aboriginal students as evidenced by the significant proportion not completing high school. The Aboriginal population has experienced a significantly greater proportion of people living in poverty and higher rates of unemployment than has the non-Aboriginal population. These factors can be linked to the…

This article focuses on a small urban high school that developed a culture devoted to caring for their historically underserved students. Interviews with school founders, teachers, and alumni, as well as observations of classrooms and professional activities, revealed the high school attended to the affective needs of their students, which…

Every college and university, whether public or private; two-year, four-year, or graduate; traditional or online, depends on recruiting and enrolling new students and strives to have as many of those students as possible complete their educational programs. Knowing how effectively an institution is managing the various stages of enrollment is…

Results link lower student-to-school-counselor ratios to better graduation rates and lower disciplinary incidents across Missouri high schools. An interaction favorable for promoting student success in school was found between increasing percentages of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch and smaller student-to-school-counselor ratios.…

Research was undertaken to determine whether comparable grading standards are used in evaluating student performance at two-year community colleges and four-year universities. Examination of academic records of 417 students who took college level math at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in fall 2009 compared the performance of those who…

This year's "Tennessee Higher Education Fact Book" consists of five sections and an appendix of additional resources and terminology. The five main sections of the report provide data on Student Participation, Student Success, Academic and Fiscal Trends, Quality Assurance Funding, and Outcomes-Based Funding. Each section begins with…

In the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in the northwest corner of South Carolina, high schools' attempts to curb student dropouts may not match what many people picture when they hear talk of the nation's "dropout factories." Yet one-fifth of the 2,000 high schools nationwide categorized that way by researchers at Johns Hopkins…

To attract and retain more academically qualified students to science and mathematics, we developed a merit-based scholarship program for incoming students with STEM interests. Scholarship recipients participate for the first two years in an interdisciplinary learning community and declare a STEM major by the sophomore year. STEM Learning…