A multiple-probe-across-problem-sets (tasks) design was used to evaluate the effects of the Detect, Practice, and Repair (DPR) on multiplication-fact fluency development in seven third-grade students nominated by their teacher as needing remediation. DPR is a multicomponent intervention and begins with a group-administered, metronome-paced…

In this paper we investigate how participation in the Early Assessment Program, which provides California high school juniors with information about their academic readiness for college-level work at California State University campuses, affects their college-going behavior and need for remediation in college. Using administrative records from…

To ensure that more American students attend college and are prepared to participate in a global economy, secondary schools have increased academic rigor and raised standards. By emphasizing vertical alignment of courses from preschool through college, secondary schools can help close the expectation gap that exists between high school and college…

This paper estimates the causal effect of taking a course in quantitative reasoning on students' academic performance and classroom peer-group composition at a liberal arts college. To identify effects, the paper compares the outcomes of otherwise similar students who barely passed a baseline quantitative skills assessment (not taking the course)…

In January 2010, the General Assembly passed the Complete College Tennessee Act (CCTA), a comprehensive reform agenda seeking to transform public higher education through changes in academic, fiscal, and administrative policies at the state and institutional levels. While the higher education landscape has been shaped by the CCTA, it is also…

West Virginia Code §18B-1D-8 statutorily mandates the "West Virginia Higher Education Report Card." This annual accountability report provides year-end higher education statistics for both of the state's higher education systems, the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission (Commission) and West Virginia Council for Community and…

In 2007, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) funded 22 colleges to establish developmental summer bridge programs. Aimed at providing an alternative to traditional developmental education, these programs involve intensive remedial instruction in math, reading, and/or writing and college preparation content for students entering…

"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) Senate Help Committee Passes Legislation to Rewrite No Child Left Behind; (2) Remediation Exasperation: New York…

This is a review of evidence for contextualization, defined here as an instructional approach connecting foundational skills and college-level content. Two forms of contextualization are identified, "contextualized" and "integrated" instruction. Despite methodological limitations, the available studies suggest that contextualization has the…

This article focuses on historical admissions policies and offers a more nuanced and more substantial treatment of the relationship between Populism and higher education. Prior accounts of admissions in the late nineteenth century have sensibly focused upon the tension between secondary school leaders who were mindful of their multiple…

For the past three years, the faculty and administrators of Diamond Fork Junior High School--a large junior high in Spanish Fork, Utah--have been on an amazing journey of examining the school's educational practices with the intent of improving learning opportunities for all its students. In March 2009, the administrators and the faculty…

The intentions were noble. It was hoped that remediation programs would be an academic bridge from poor high school preparation to college readiness. Sadly, remediation has become instead higher education's "Bridge to Nowhere." This broken remedial bridge is travelled by some 1.7 million beginning students each year, most of whom will…

In April 2012, more than 100 educators and administrators from across the nation came together in Reston, Virginia, for a full day of meetings and discussions to launch the College Board Advocacy & Policy Center Affinity Network. The Affinity Network's mission is to facilitate students' successful transition from high school to college by: (1)…

Research on academic achievement has demonstrated the important role that teachers play in improving student outcomes and has also revealed wide variation in teachers' qualifications and experiences across schools. Schools serving low-income students in urban areas, for example, have fewer well-qualified teachers than schools in nonurban settings…

Over-reliance on prescriptive pedagogies, such as explicit instruction, could hamper students with learning difficulties from sense-making and thus limit their acquisition of conceptual understanding. To help them in constructing mathematical knowledge, manipulative and drawing could be used to solve problems in a meaningful context. Using a case…