Presents statistical data that reveals the progress of African Americans in postsecondary education. The data cover racial inequality, graduation rates for black students in general, and graduation rates for black athletes in particular, and the black presence in the fields of engineering, performing arts, and fine arts. (GLR)

A study investigated the extent to which college student commitment to promoting racial understanding is related to the characteristics of entering students and of the college environment. Variables examined include demographic characteristics, living arrangements, institutional characteristics, peer attitudes, faculty attitudes, cocurricular…

Describes the development and impact of a fine arts high school graduation requirement. Discusses how music, drama, and art teachers relinquished some of their independence to form a fine arts department. Includes six strategies that might be used to institute a fine arts graduation requirement in other schools. (CFR)

This legal analysis examines a federal appeals court decision which found three student theses written as graduation requirements and filed in a library did not constitute printed publications and thus bar the patent application of the college professor involved. Institutions are urged to develop comprehensive patent policies for student and…

Transcript data were analyzed to determine changes in course taking among graduates of high schools including mostly lower achieving students in California, Florida, Missouri, and Pennsylvania, which adopted high graduation requirements in the 1980s. Average credits per student increased in all academic subjects, as did the courses' difficulty…

Describes Erie Community College's computerized system to help curriculum advisors better assess each student's reading and writing competency level and track their completion of required courses. Illustrates the system's provision of information on placement tests and developmental courses taken, and whether a required composition course has been…

A recent project collected and analyzed student success indicators generated by six high schools from a large, midwestern school corporation. Schools with clear student goals and enhanced professional-development opportunities made more successful transitions to block schedules. High achievers remained successful; low-achievers struggled under…

Alternative high schools whose power emanates from variety, choice, and personal relationships are hindered from succeeding by sending schools' practices. Alternatives lack control over who attends, student diversity, time of entry, who teaches, program definition, and graduation policies. They often have inferior facilities and insufficient…

Upward Bound is a federally funded program designed to prepare economically and educationally disadvantaged high school students for postsecondary education. Each year, approximately thirty-three thousand students are served by the more than four hundred Upward Bound programs. Several studies have documented the success of Upward Bound programs in…

Historically, rural schools have been geographically and politically isolated to the extent that some might say that they have been the victims of, or beneficiaries from, an unstated government policy of benign neglect. Recently, conditions and relationships have changed with the enactment of state and federal accountability legislation and legal…

The purpose of this study was to examine the variables that are associated with the percentage of students who pass Tennessee's Gateway exams in high school. Associations were examined between the Gateway exams and variables such as: socioeconomic status, ethnicity, dropout rate, graduation rate, attendance, average daily membership, per-pupil…

The "Help! Kit" for elementary school teachers was produced in 1989 by a task force of Virginia migrant educators who were getting an increasing number of requests for information about and assistance with their English language learners (ELLs). This secondary version of the "Help! Kit" provides helpful information to busy…

This report describes the effects of Project Graduation Really Achieves Dreams (GRAD) on student progress at three high schools in Houston (the initiative's original site) and at high schools in two other school districts (Columbus, Ohio, and Atlanta, Georgia). MDRC--a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization--conducted a third-party…

The colleges in the Illinois Community College System submit detailed credit student records twice during each fiscal year. This year's report is based on fiscal year 2005 enrollments and completions. Comparative information is supplied from four previous fiscal years (2001-2004). Detailed tables comparing fiscal year 2004 and fiscal year 2005…

This report describes the best practices described by national experts, some of the actions that are currently being taken by Colorado institutions of higher education and recommendations for improving programs to retain and graduate minority and low-income students. Over the course of the taskforce's meetings, it became clear that Colorado's…