Nearly one-quarter of students in community colleges leave school during the first year of enrollment for reasons other than transfer or credential completion. Generally, nontraditional community college students drop out within their first year at higher rates than do traditional students. Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges…

As societal expectations about attending college have grown, professors report increasing numbers of students who are unprepared for the rigors of postsecondary education--not just more students with learning disabilities (whose numbers have more than tripled), but students (with and without special admission status) who are academically at-risk…

This article is a report of a qualitative case study of the beliefs and practices of three White public primary school teachers. The teachers were nominated as effective by key members of the Black community in which they teach. The purpose of the study was to understand effective teaching of Black children by White teachers in light of community…

Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count for this issue of "Data Notes," we examine the relationships between course attempts, completions, and attainment - and found results that countered our expectations. The analysis examines the number of credits attempted and completed for the 2002 Achieving the Dream cohort's first…

High parental involvement has been linked to increases in student achievement and engagement in school (Moore, 1992; Swap, 1993; Henderson and Berla, 1994; Fuller and Olsen, 1998). Schools with large populations of low-income students or students of color often have difficulties in engaging a majority of parents due to a variety of social and…

In popular culture, the age of 40 is sometimes considered "over the hill." This is decidedly not the case for the Perry Preschoolers--a cohort of low-income, predominantly African American children who 37 years ago were randomly assigned to attend a high-quality preschool program. The latest findings from the well-known longitudinal study of this…

In November of 2005, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers gathered at a national invitational conference in Washington, D.C. sponsored by the Laboratory for Student Success. The event took place just blocks away from the Capitol Rotunda where, days before, Rosa Parks' body laid in state as the nation mourned her passing. The conference…

Health promotion and community building strategies are increasingly using the arts as a basis for engaging young people. Through involvement in arts activity, participants have been shown to develop supportive social networks and report increased feelings of well-being (Jermyn, 2001). In particular, drama strategies and programs have been used as…

One need not look hard to find evidence of concern related to the nature of student behavior in our schools. School violence, aggression, bullying, and harassment (e.g., racial or sexual) are often cited as challenging behaviors confronting educators and community leaders. Unfortunately, most schools address these concerns with aversive…

Teacher retention has been of interest to educational researchers for over three decades. Various reasons for teacher attrition have been cited, including student discipline and motivation problems, working conditions, low salary, and a lack of administrator support. This descriptive survey research sought to determine the present status of…

Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community College Count, this issue of Data Notes compares students in the 2002 Achieving the Dream cohort in terms of achievement and persistence over three academic years based on Pell Grant receipt. The results reveal a complicated relationship between Pell Grant receipt and measures of student success.…

Retention is defined as when a student is required to repeat the grade in which they were enrolled the previous year. This report provides important information on statewide student grade retention statistics, including retention data by grade level, race/ethnicity, gender, in special education status, limited English proficiency status, and…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Secretary Spellings Defends Bush Budget on Capitol Hill: Congress Expresses Concern over Education Cuts, Proposal to…

Using large-scale surveys from nine states, the Community Childhood Hunger Identification Project (CCHIP) estimates that 8% of American children under the age of 12 years experience hunger each year. CCHIP operationalizes child hunger as multiple experiences of parent-reported food insufficiency due to constrained resources. The current study…

This is the 1886-1887 report of the Commissioner of Education. It begins with the Commissioner's statement of the work of the Office. Topics of the report include: (1) Statistics of State Common-School Systems; (2) Digests of State School Reports; (3) Discussions of Educational Questions by State Superintendents and Others; (4) City Schools…