This white paper was prepared for Staying the Course: High Standards and Improved Graduation Rates, a joint project of Achieve, Inc. and Jobs for the Future. Its goal is to provide policymakers with an overview of research about the dropout problem and the best strategies for building an early warning data system that can signal which students and…

This report is the fulfillment of the reporting requirement of the Oklahoma Educational Indicators Program in which the State Board of Education was instructed to report on the performance of public schools and school districts. It reports on 548 school districts and 1,801 conventional school sites. The report covers data on classroom teachers,…

For most young people, living standards are increasing, educational opportunities are expanding, and job opportunities in high-level occupations are rising. Other aspects of the economic context have worsened, however, and social problems persist. Marriage rates have plummeted, and child poverty is higher than during the late 1970s. Some of the…

Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC) conducted a student survey to identify causes of first-time student attrition between fall 1999 semester and the following spring semester. A Non-Returning Student Survey was mailed to 2,026 such students, 185 of whom responded by mail, and 494 more of whom were contacted for telephone interviews. Reasons…

This paper aims to develop strategies for retaining at-risk students. At-risk students can be defined as being deficient in specific skills; having low incoming grades; having an expectation of failure; lacking familiarity with academic requirements; and having an absence of role models, among other negative characteristics. The paper suggests…

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 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…

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) commissioned a review of the available literature on the impact of the introduction of means-tested contributions to tuition fees for full-time undergraduates from 1998-1999. The overall objective was to provide evidence to assist the HEFCE's ongoing assessment of future levels of student…

The study reported in this document examined the relationship between block scheduling (class periods longer than 50 minutes) and overall student performance. Performance was measured in terms of dropout rates, grade-level retention rates, campus-level results for the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills, and participation in and performance on…

This report describes the status of Texas public education in six chapters. The first chapter is a summary compilation of overall student performance on the state performance assessments. Over 78 percent of all students taking the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) passed all tests taken compared to 73 percent in 1998. This is impressive…

This project investigated the learning support needs of post-secondary Australian students with a psychiatric disability for the purpose of maximizing student retention. Fifteen focus groups were held throughout Australia with students, prospective students, teachers, support staff, and management. In addition, three surveys were completed by 256…

This report summarizes a selection of school system characteristics and performance indicators collected since the 1991-92 school year for the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS), North Carolina, and comparable local education agencies (LEAs) in North Carolina. Data are presented in figures to reveal longitudinal trends in the Wake County…

This novel and accompanying workbook tell the story of a young girl who had an awakening that made her realize that dropping out of school was wrong. It tells her story of achieving her dream, realized through sacrifice and determination, of graduating high school and attending college. The accompanying workbook presents vocabulary exercises,…

This bulletin is the report of the Second Commission on Life Adjustment Education for Youth. It consists of an account of the activities of the Commission carried on during its 3-year (1950-53) tenure (Chapter One), descriptions of related activities carried on in the different States and dioceses (Chapter Two), and an analysis of secondary…