Over the course of developing Consolidated State Plans, states have spent time evaluating their accountability systems. Many of the accountability requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, such as the inclusion of academic measures of students' proficiency on annual assessments, graduation rates, and English learners' progress toward…

Students learn or progress at their own paces. Each needs different amounts of support, at different points in a school career and at different times of the school year. Some need very little help to stay on track, while others are facing serious challenges in learning, in their behavior, or at home, and need significant interventions. It would…

Boosting high school graduation rates is a growing concern to educators and policymakers. Researchers stress that, although graduation rates have varied little in recent years, "[w]hat makes current graduation rates alarming is a reality of the new U.S. economy: It is practically impossible for individuals lacking a high school diploma to…

The second year of college can be as important as the first year but far fewer studies have been conducted on second-year students. About 12% of students leave California State University - Fresno during or after their second year. In this report, we examined second year students to find the differences between those who graduate and those who…

A high-performing school is described as one where student achievement is high and student and teacher absenteeism is low. Student behavior is such that teachers seldom have to control them or tell them what to do. This results in greater time on task, higher teacher morale, low teacher absenteeism, and improved parental support. One other…

This study examined the relationship between instructional expenditures and the annual dropout rates of special populations. Per-pupil instructional expenditures by school district and targeted special populations included students identified as ELL (English language learner), economically disadvantaged, at-risk and special education students. All…

"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) Deficit Committee's Failure Triggers Automatic Spending Cuts: Education Programs Could Face $3.5 Billion in Cuts; (2)…

Achieving positive postschool outcomes continues to be a challenge for many students. These challenges are compounded for students with disabilities, even years after the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (1990; IDEA) required systematic transition planning. In this era of accountability through high-stakes testing, schools and families…

Between national and state budget cuts in education and an ever increasing push toward the English Only movement, a rise in dropout rates for Hispanic students is imminent. National data show the percentage of Hispanic students who drop out of high school to be nearly 60% in some states including Michigan, South Dakota, West Virginia, Alabama,…

This study explores substance use, psychosocial problems, and the relationships to educational status in 193 adolescents (school dropouts, 63; alternative education, 46; mainstream students, 84) who attended a substance abuse treatment facility in Dublin, Ireland, within a 42-month period. For each adolescent, data on demographics, family…

There are many benefits for emerging adults, both financial and personal, in obtaining a General Education Development (GED®) credential (Ou, 2008). However, little is known about the correlates of GED® credential attainment in "disconnected" emerging adults attending GED® programs. Our goal was to examine whether externalizing…

The authors focused on high school students who were at risk of dropping out and examined why some of these students persevered and graduated while others ended up dropping out of school. Sixty resilient students and 80 dropouts participated in the study. Our results indicate that although learning difficulties were shared by participants, 4 types…

The Office of Shared Accountability (OSA) in Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools (MCPS) conducted a study of the MCPS Regional High School Summer School Program. Academic intervention programs (AIPs) in MCPS, including the Regional High School Summer School Program, aim to help students gain lost credits and earn credits needed for…

Educators and policymakers are concerned about high student mobility, especially because mobility is associated with negative academic performance outcomes for students in particular and for schools more generally. Furthermore, student mobility may lower educational performance for at-risk and low-performing students compared with peers who remain…

The Optional Flexible School Day Program (OFSDP) is approved by the Texas Commissioner of Education and is offered by the Houston Independent School District (HISD) to provide students with flexible school hours and days of attendance. The program offers opportunities for students to make progress toward completing high school if they are unable…