The mission of the Houston Independent School District's (HISD) Career and Technical Education (CTE) program is to empower students with the academic and technical skills needed to strengthen the economic and social foundation of the city of Houston and beyond. The program's goals and objectives focus on preparing students for success in their…

If states are to achieve their postsecondary education attainment goals they must take direct and immediate action to address the equity gaps between underserved populations and white and Asian students who are succeeding at higher rates. Not only is earning a postsecondary credential essential for individual economic vitality, but it is necessary…

The purpose of this report is to summarize the key elements of school and district level Performance Index scores (PI scores) for the 50 states and the District of Columbia (D.C.) across the United States. PI scores are partial or overall summative ratings of schools or districts currently used across US state accountability systems to assess…

This rubric can help schools or districts address success gaps that exist between groups of their students, such as gaps in test scores or graduation rates between students with disabilities and other students. The rubric allows a team of users from a school or district to systematically examine the root causes of a success gap by focusing on…

It has been over 60 years since the U.S. Supreme Court declared education "a right which must be made available to all on equal terms." In ruling that separate was in fact not equal, "Brown v Board of Education" forced federal, state and local governments to open public schools to all children in the community. The decision…

This publication presents early estimates of apprentice and trainee commencements for the December quarter 2011. Indicative information about this quarter is presented here; the most recent figures are estimated, taking into account reporting lags that occur at the time of data collection. The early trend estimates are derived from the National…

This publication presents early estimates of apprentice and trainee commencements for the March quarter 2012. Indicative information about this quarter is presented here; the most recent figures are estimated, taking into account reporting lags that occur at the time of data collection. The early trend estimates are derived from the National…

The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) collects institution-level data from postsecondary institutions in the United States (50 states and the District of Columbia) and other U.S. jurisdictions (see appendix A for a list of other U.S. jurisdictions). This "First Look" presents findings from the preliminary data of the…

In 2009, President Barack Obama announced the 2020 College Completion initiative. The goal: By 2020, the United States will have the greatest proportion of citizens who are college graduates, compared with the rest of the world. On a national level, however, the average six-year completion rate hasn't changed much in the more than five years since…

This quantitative study provides evidence of the benefits of learning contracts in online higher education. In this study, data were gathered from doctoral students who had completed all course work and comprehensive exams, but failed to make expected progress on dissertation. The students were given the opportunity to participate in a voluntary…

Online education has been steadily growing during the last decade. This growth has mainly taken place in the non-laboratory science fields. This essay describes some of the best practices to increase and maintain student retention, increase student engagement and increase graduation rates for college running online laboratory science courses. This…

Community colleges increase college access, extending postsecondary educational opportunities to underserved students, yet, these students exhibit low rates of program completion and transfer to 4-year colleges. Sociological research on community colleges focuses on the tension between increasing educational opportunity and failing to improve…

Church-related small private liberal arts baccalaureate minority-serving institutions like Wesley College have modest endowments, are heavily tuition-dependent, and have large numbers of financially-challenged students. In order to sustain the level of academic excellence and to continue to build student demographic diversity in its accessible…

This article presents three lessons from research by the Community College Research Center (CCRC) on strategies community colleges can use to improve completion rates while maintaining broad access and keeping costs low for students and taxpayers. I also identify two sets of data pointing to the potential returns to students and society that could…

Few college experiences elicit as much controversy as racial/ethnic student organizations. Critics argue that these student groups promote racial division and segregation, whereas supporters counter these claims and suggest instead that they facilitate college adjustment, learning, and growth. Clearly, some students are quite predisposed to…