By 1997, the New York State Board of Regents had required that all students take rigorous Regents exams to graduate from public high schools. A research symposium was called to examine financial system changes necessary for implementing standards and high-stakes tests. Other states' approaches are summarized. (MLH)

This article discusses social hierarchy and uses graduation exit exams to show how social class relations are manifest in school practice. After deconstructing the negative, ideas are put forward for reform and educators are urged to join in a movement to transform hierarchical and excluding relations in school and society. (Contains references.)…

Proposes, on the basis of a host of curricular factors, a stratification of foreign language programs in U.S. institutions of higher learning into two graded and curricularly distinctive phases. The initial phase would be comprised predominantly of nonmajors who enroll in beginning courses to satisfy a language requirement. The professional phase…

Summarizes plaintiffs' and defendants' opinions in the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) case concerning why some minority students fail TAAS, history of racial/ethnic discrimination in Texas schools, students' opportunity to learn TAAS content, teaching-TAAS alignment, adverse impact on minority students, psychometric integrity, decision…

Compares grade point average (GPA) and graduation rates of transfer students and native students at a large university. Reports that: (1) transfer students suffer from transfer shock, but that they recover and graduate at rates comparable with native students; and (2) there was not a significant difference in the cumulative GPAs of the transfers…

Examined the impact of high school graduation examinations on student achievement and dropout rates using data from the National Educational Longitudinal Survey, controlling for prior student achievement and other student, school, and state characteristics. Graduation tests had no significant effect on 12th grade mathematics or reading…

A study of 86 college students with learning disabilities (LD) that received permission to substitute courses for a foreign language (FL) requirement found that there were no differences in cognitive and academic achievement among students with different levels of discrepancy, graduating grade point average (GPA), or college FL GPA. (Author/CR)

Reviews the college completion/graduation rate thresholds developed by several states and discusses advantages and disadvantages of several statistical approaches, including use of the one standard deviation lower bound method, the logit prediction bound method, the linear regression method, and the logistic regression method. (DB)

Chicago, like many cities, suffers from a significant drop-out problem in its public high schools. The Chicago Public School system (CPS) committed itself in 2001 to utilize small schools--intimate learning environments of no more than 300 students built on communication, collaboration and meeting the needs of the community they serve--as a…

One of the most controversial aspects of NCLB is its performance requirements for subgroups within the general student population. In this article, the authors examine the implications of these requirements for English-language learners and offer recommendations to help states, districts, and schools facilitate the progress of these students.

This article presents the results of "The Status of Race Equity and Diversity in Public Higher Education in the South," an analysis of trends in admissions, enrollment and completion at public colleges and universities in the 19 Southern and border states that maintained segregated systems of higher education in 1954. While work on the…

This study identified pre-entry variables related to course completion and noncompletion in university online distance education courses. Four hundred and sixty-four students who were enrolled in online distance education courses participated in the study. Discriminant analysis revealed six pre-entry variables were related to retention, including…

This article offers an exploration of the Asian Pacific American (APA) ethnic groups that show high rates of departure, and presents strategies and approaches to improving their persistence and graduation rates. A detailed examination of the APA population is presented to identify the subgroups that are underrepresented in higher education and who…

This paper explores the links between socio-economic disadvantage, non-completion in higher education and preparation initiatives. It does this through investigating the effectiveness of the Top-Up Programme, a preparation course for 17 and 18 year olds from schools that have low participation rates in higher education. The University of Glasgow,…

Policy makers have initiated a dramatic period of standards-based reform for New York State students, an effort of great relevance across the United States. Although comprehensive high school examinations and state-endorsed Regents diplomas are over 100 years old, the demand that all students must earn college-preparatory diplomas is new. This…