L. Cronbach has made the point that for validity arguments to be convincing to diverse audiences, they need to be based on assumptions that are credible to these audiences. The interpretations and uses of high stakes test scores rely on a number of policy assumptions about what should be taught in schools, and more specifically, about the content…

This document is intended to help mathematics teachers prepare students for the "exit exam of essential skills" required by the new Student Accountability Standards enacted by the North Carolina State Board of Education. Unlike current End of Grade and End of Course tests, the North Carolina High School Exit Exam (NCHSEE) focuses on…

The purpose of this study was to examine the proportion of students in the cohort class of 2000 who completed Arizona high school graduation requirements within 4 years. The cohort class of 2000 comprises students who entered 9th grade in fall of the 1996-1997 school year, and were expected to graduate from 12th grade by the end of the 1999-2000…

The purpose of this study was to examine the proportion of students in the cohort class of 2001 who completed Arizona high school graduation requirements within 4 years. The cohort class of 2001 comprises students who entered 9th grade in fall of the 1997-1998 school year, and were expected to graduate from 12th grade by the end of the 2000-2001…

This study was an attempt to provide information about the growing number of adult students who leave postsecondary education without a degree. Little has been done to improve the success rate of adult students, largely because so little information is available about why these students do not persist to graduation. The study looked at 295…

This document reports the graduation and retention rates at the University of Hawaii community colleges and compares the graduation and retention rates of students with other institutions. The three rates that are examined in this report are as follows: (1) retention/continuation rate; (2) graduation rate; and (3) success rate (defined as the sum…

This chapter addresses the plight of migrant secondary students moving across district lines and encountering challenges such as credit accrual and lack of academic resources. Although graduation requirements differ from state to state, they all amount to a kind of bookkeeping that determines whether a student graduates from high school. The…

This report, based on data from Follow-up Information on North Dakota Education and Training (FINDET), describes the employment status of North Dakota University System (NDUS) graduates for the year 2000 who were employed in the state 1 year after graduation. Approximately half of these graduates were either employed in North Dakota or re-enrolled…

Legislation mandating public disclosure of graduation rates was adopted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its 1990 convention. The legislation stipulates that the Association's national office publish annually admissions and graduation-rates data on an institution-specific basis. Member institutions are required to…

This report presents summaries of data collected from Division I, II, and III National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) member institutions. Tables are provided to offer meaningful summaries of the graduation-rates and enrollment data that Division I, II, and III institutions have provided to the NCAA and the federal government. The…

This paper estimates the effect of education on participation in crime and incarceration, using data from the U.S. Census and changes in state compulsory attendance laws. Increases in compulsory schooling ages are not correlated with increases in state resources devoted to fighting crime. Research suggests that additional years of secondary…

The National School Boards Association (NSBA) and the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) are pleased to present a copy of the fourth annual Jacqueline P. Danzberger Memorial Lecture, presented at NSBA's Annual Conference (March 2004). The lecturer, Mrs. Melinda French Gates, Co-Founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, asserted…

The North Carolina Competency Tests of Reading and Mathematics requirement is a result of legislation enacted initially by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1977. In response to the legislation, the State Board of Education requires high school students in North Carolina public schools to meet the competency tests requirement in order to…

In 2003, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 5135, which directed each public four-year college and university and the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) to develop policies to ensure that undergraduates complete their degree and certificate programs in a timely manner. These policies were to address students who do the…

Raising graduation rates for students attending schools in the United States is a national priority. As part of the No Child Left Behind Act, schools are required to track and report the percentage of students who graduate with a regular diploma in four years. The magnitude of the problem for student subgroups (including students of Hispanic and…