This "First Look" presents findings from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) spring 2010 data collection. This collection included five components: Student Financial Aid for full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate students for the 2009-10 academic year; Enrollment for fall 2009; Graduation…

A large majority of full-time students pursuing bachelor's degrees at four-year colleges and universities in the United States attend public universities. The struggle, therefore, to improve educational attainment and reduce the marked disparities in outcomes that lead to greater inequalities of all kinds will take place mainly within our nation's…

The purpose of this quantitative research study was to determine the relative impact school culture has on student achievement (specifically AYP status, dropout rates and graduation rates) in select urban and suburban Georgia high schools. To examine this relationship, the researcher reviewed data collected from the School Culture Survey (SCS)…

Opportunity to learn via public education has origins in the mid-nineteenth-century as a response to Horace Mann's argument that educating girls as well as boys would build a collectively more prosperous society. Over the years, educational reform through the judicial and legislative branches of government has continued to balance opportunity to…

With the assistance of the Lumina Foundation, the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) staff has been working to develop a broad, up-to-date database of policy relevant information for the states and to create analytical studies to help state leaders identify priorities and practices for improving policies and performance across the…

This study documents the system of funded interventions employed at three public universities to support minority students studying science and examines targeted students' career paths to discern the general efficacy of these interventions and other factors influencing success toward earning Ph.D.s. Interventions, including supplemental…

A school-family-community partnership to improve student achievement was examined at a comprehensive high school located in a low income urban community in Long Island City, New York. In this causal comparative analyses study, the researcher examines the effect of a school-family-community partnership on the educational outcomes of economically…

A central component in the dialogue on how to accomplish national college completion goals is the role of minority-serving institutions (MSIs). MSIs include Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), Tribal College and Universities (TCUs), and most recently Asian American Native American Pacific…

K12 Inc. enrolls more public school students than any other private education management organization in the U.S. Much has been written about K12 Inc. (referred to in this report simply as "K12") by financial analysts and investigative journalists because it is a large, publicly traded company and is the dominant player in the operation…

Although there has been a surge in the number of adults entering accelerated academic programs at community colleges over the last decade, there has not been a similar increase in the number of adult learners who persist and achieve their degrees. This qualitative inquiry uses a case study methodology to explore in what ways educational…

Tinto, Astin and countless others have researched the retention and attrition of students from college for more than thirty years. However, the six year graduation rate for all first-time full-time freshmen for the 2002 cohort was 57%. This study sought to determine the retention variables that predicted continued enrollment of entering freshmen…

The educational future for Latino male students is in a state of crisis, a trend that has been especially evident at the secondary and postsecondary levels in recent years. The question of why Latino males are struggling to succeed in America's colleges is complex, and this brief explores some key factors that may be perpetuating this trend at…

In accordance with Ohio Amended Substitute House Bill 153, the Chancellor submitted to the state Legislature and the Governor a plan, developed in consultation with Central State University, that assures the Central State Supplement will be used to promote the goals of increasing enrollment, improving course completion, and increasing the number…

It's been a decade since former President Bush proposed and Congress passed the No Child Left Behind law. The goal of this law was to raise student achievement and reduce the gap between different groups of students, especially white and minority students. The law's passage reflected a broad consensus among elected officials, business leaders and…

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of high school administrators in Gwinnett and Cobb Counties, Georgia that have successfully narrowed the achievement gap for high school African-American males as to: (a) why the achievement gap continues to occur in other metropolitan high schools in the United States; (b) what successful…