Students in three sections of introductory psychology, N = 1051, were asked about the utility of traditional, e.g. instructor, lectures and textbook, and nontraditional, e.g., clickers, podcasts and online lecture slides, teaching tools. Students who felt unprepared for college (25.9%) differed from their peers in their perceived utility of these…

This report presents a detailed assessment of the extent to which "The Pittsburgh Promise"--a postsecondary education scholarship intended to remedy the area's population decline, foster high school completion and college readiness among Pittsburgh district students, and prepare a capable and energetic workforce for the city--has met its…

More schools are designing intellectually demanding career/technical (CT) courses--aligned with 21st-century requirements--to prepare students for further study, advanced training and work. They are using effective leadership, embedding essential college-readiness standards into CT courses, making CT courses more intellectually challenging, using…

The purpose of the dissertation is to gain insight into how higher education policies can influence institutional performance in Latino postsecondary degree completion; specifically, through an examination of the college readiness efforts of two Hispanic-Serving Institutions in Texas. Over half of all Latinos in postsecondary education in the…

Concurrent enrollment--defined as high school students enrolling in college coursework--is increasingly being used as strategy to improve the college readiness levels of underrepresented students and to reduce disparities in college-going rates. States have developed policy and analyzed data to evaluate the practice of concurrent enrollment. This…

Research shows that students who take a certain core curriculum are better prepared for college than those students who do not; however, data indicate that taking core courses is not enough: Teachers must assign greater rigor in all courses they teach, especially courses needed for college (Schmeiser, 2007). As early as 1983 the National…

The 2005 Summit on High Schools led to redesigning schools and promoting 21st Century Skills. Consequently, this study assesses the implementation of supplemental online courses, offered through the Virtual High School (VHS), at one suburban New Jersey public high school. The following questions guided this research project: (1) How do the VHS…

During a four-week period (May 23, 2011-June 21, 2011), the Western Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) held a series of public meetings to solicit input and deliberate on key educational needs facing the four states in the region--Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah. A two-day, face-to-face, public meeting was held May 23-24, 2011 in Arlington,…

Recent years have seen the pace of change in education accelerate at all levels as educators and policy makers instigate reforms aimed at raising academic achievement in the United States to a world-class level. Perhaps nowhere has the pace and scale of change been more dramatic than in the realm of K-12 academic standards. In 2009, 48 states, two…

This presentation was presented at the 2011 National Conference on Student Assessment (CCSSO). The focus of this presentation is how to validate the common core state standards (CCSS) in math and ELA and the subsequent assessments that will be developed by state consortia. The CCSS specify the skills students need to be ready for post-secondary…

Effectively meeting the needs of an increasingly diverse population of students presents challenges for educators across the United States, including the Texas and Southeast Comprehensive Center regions. Increasingly rigorous achievement expectations must be supported with flexible, accessible curricula, offering multiple pathways to success in…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Waiving Goodbye to NCLB?: U.S. Education Secretary Discusses Options to Grant Relief from NCLB's Requirements In…

This report provides information on the retention, graduation, and transfer rates of first-time, full-time students at Maryland community colleges from 1998-2008. The report examines retention and graduation data for students two, three and four years after matriculation into a community college. The data are presented for the state, by each…

This study investigated the relationship between commonly used admission criteria, found in a one-year, post Bachelor's degree, initial, teacher education program, and the preparedness of teacher candidates in mathematics for independent teaching. The admission criteria used in this study were grade point average (GPA) and a written profile. The…

In his 2011 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama declared that charter schools are a way to out-innovate and out-educate our competitors worldwide. The President believes that investment in education must be accompanied by reform, including the expansion of high-quality charter schools. President Obama has challenged states to lift…