This essay explores the importance of college access and completion for all students. Two decades ago a ticket to the middle class could be purchased with a high school diploma, but now that ticket requires a college degree. When it comes to college attendance and graduation, statistics show that students of color and low-income students lag…

The educational effectiveness of community colleges is under new scrutiny as a result of both a federal government focus on accountability of higher education institutions and greater competition for the state funds traditionally directed to the colleges. Policymakers, who want to tie public college allocations to their outcomes, and families,…

The study compares the degree completion and persistence rates between two cohorts?students who first enrolled in postsecondary education in academic year 1989?90 and their counterparts who first enrolled in 1995?96. The analysis focuses on the rates at which students in each cohort completed a degree within 5 years or were still enrolled at the…

This report builds upon a series of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reports on high school dropout and completion rates that began in 1988. It presents estimates of rates in 2002 and 2003, provides data about trends in dropout and completion rates over the last three decades, and examines the characteristics of high school dropouts…

The first section of this report describes the context in which America's children live, such as changes in children's family settings and living arrangements. The report indicates that although the majority of children live with two married parents, 32 percent do not. In 2003, 23 percent of children lived with only their mothers, 5 percent lived…

Shows that in the German educational system, boys are at a disadvantage with girls. Explains that boys often leave secondary school without a final degree. Concludes that the smaller the proportion of male elementary teachers and the higher the rate of unemployment, the lower the achievement of boys in secondary schools. (CAJ)

Presents a tracking model for monitoring and reporting student transitions through the college years. Develops and illustrates the model by following a mythical class of 500 freshmen and 380 transfer students from matriculation to attrition or graduation. The model focuses on sequences of semesters rather than on freshman, sophomore, junior, and…

This study evaluates the effect of school district size on public high school graduation rates. The study calculates the graduation rate for each graduating class in each state between 1991 and 2002 and uses a fixed-effects model to examine the relationship between these graduation rates and changes in the size of each state's school districts…

This article reports on the central recommendation of the federal task force for a way to better handle dropout and graduation rates. Made up of 10 academics and government statisticians, the panel comprising the Task Force on Graduation, Completion, and Dropout Indicators was formed in the fall of 2003 to advise the U.S. Department of Education's…

Published annually since 1997, Newark Kids Count tracks key trends in child health and well-being in New Jersey's largest city with the latest statistics available. Newark Kids Count includes the latest statistics, along with five-year trend data, in the following areas: population and demographics, family economic security, affordable housing,…

This applied dissertation described the evaluation of a program designed to provide students with the necessary academic and social skills needed to matriculate and graduate from the university. The problem was that there was no evidence of a formalized program evaluation to determine if the Academic Empowerment Center (AEC) was effective in…

There is abundant evidence that schools with strong reading programs have successful students. But building strong reading skills is a complex task, particularly by the time students reach the middle grades. A survey was conducted that involved all Indiana middle grades schools in May 2009. Two types of data analysis were utilized in preparing the…

This study documents the public costs of high school dropouts in Georgia, and examines how policies that increase school choice, such as the recently-enacted tuition tax credit scholarship program will provide large public benefits by increasing public school graduation rates. The study calculates the annual cost of Georgia dropouts caused by…

More than half of all Denver Public Schools (DPS) students who start in the ninth grade do not graduate within four years. If DPS is to significantly impact this graduation crisis, it must prioritize the implementation of systemic and research-based strategies around prevention, recuperation, and recovery of off-track students. With a 100 percent…

"Charter Schools in Eight States" uses longitudinal data from eight states to evaluate the effects of charter schools on achievement, attainment, integration, and competition. The findings are mixed. "Achievement": The study examines seven jurisdictions and finds insignificant effects on reading and math performance in five,…