A study of final student academic outcomes was conducted at Prince George's Community College (PGCC), Maryland, using the lifestyle cluster of PG-TRAK90, the college's proprietary geo-demographic analysis system which targets new educational markets and tracks student needs and performance. Of the fall 1990, first-time-in-college cohort, 90%…

As part of the mandate of the Alberta Government's Student Evaluation Branch to monitor changes in student achievement, the Humanities Diploma Examinations Unit compared the written work from 1984 and the 1990 English 30, Social Studies 30, and English 33 Canadian provincial diploma examinations. Full-length essays written by over 30,000 students…

This booklet outlines policy options that Texas school districts can use to develop consistent credit-granting policies for migrant students who arrive late or withdraw early during the school year. In addition to advocating grading of migrant students consistently and fairly, the goal of the policies is to enhance the graduation rate of migrant…

This digest summarizes selected data from the American Indian supplement to the 1993-94 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). Three Indian school types are compared: schools controlled or funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA/tribal schools), public schools with 25 percent or more Indian enrollment (high Indian enrollment (HIE) public…

The Portable Assisted Study Sequence (PASS) is a program of courses which allows migrant students to make up credit deficiencies and continue to accumulate credits as they migrate to other schools. MINI PASS is an extension of PASS for middle school students (MINI is not an abbreviation). This report contains nationwide PASS and MINI PASS usage…

An overview is provided of the enrollment patterns and academic progress of the fall 1986 new student cohort at St. Louis Community College (SLCC), the first cohort included in the college's longitudinal tracking system. The report highlights the following findings about the 5,993 students who were tracked through spring 1991: (1) 57.6% of the…

The vision of the Goals 2000 program for educational improvement leads to the fundamental question of what we want students to know. School districts throughout the country are beginning to grapple with this question, and some national efforts have been made to help them. The National Council on Education Standards and Testing has recommended…

This document describes South Carolina's progress during 1991-92 toward achieving the six National Education Goals, first formulated at a meeting between the U.S. president and the 50 state governors in September, 1989. The goals, which are listed at the beginning of this report, are targeted respectively at: (1) school readiness; (2) school…

This report presents findings from the 3rd year of a 4-year study of the impact of educational reform on at-risk students in Texas. Specifically, the study examined the effect of four reforms on at-risk students--the attendance policy, the no pass/no play rule, the driver's license law, and the TEAMS/TAAS (Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum…

A profile of graduation rates and time-to-degree was generated for undergraduates entering California State University in fall 1978 or fall 1979, as first-time freshmen (n=53,445) and community college transfer students (n=44,992). The profile analyzes: (1) the proportion of new students who ultimately graduate; (2) the distribution of degrees…

An analysis of 12,000 1982 high school graduates' transcripts, as part of a study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, substantiates the National Commission on Excellence in Education's (NCEE) concern about students' insufficient coursework in the new basics: English, mathematics, science, social studies, and computer…

Competency testing often refers to a system devised to assure successful performance on a specific test, in addition to other mandated criteria as a requisite to obtaining a high school diploma. Minimum competency testing is usually defined in one of two ways: as the acquisition of basic skills or as the demonstrated ability to apply basic skills…

Information on the senior year at Northwestern University, Illinois, and suggestions for providing focus to the last year of undergraduate study are presented, based on a needs assessment conducted by the Curricular Policies Committee of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS). Department heads and other staff were contacted to obtain a profile of…

This survey was requested by the National Commission on Excellence in Education to provide input from schools, colleges, and departments of education (SCDE's) on improving the quality of teacher education. Survey questions sought information on preferences for recommendations to make curriculum more rigorous, raise entrance criteria, and extend…

The problem of setting standards has always been an issue in the educational community. This paper offers an outline of one state's procedure for setting a passing score for a competency-based test in mathematics. The Maryland Functional Mathematics Test (MFMT) becomes a graduation prerequisite for the graduating class of 1987. The procedures used…