Grades are the fundamental currency of our educational system; they signal academic achievement and noncognitive skills to parents, employers, postsecondary gatekeepers, and students themselves. Grade inflation compromises the signaling value of grades and undermines their capacity to achieve the functions for which they are intended. We challenge…

Higher education is a critical element of the American economy, because of both its benefits and its costs to individuals and taxpayers. Yet we know very little about the relationships between the things colleges and universities do and the resources they need to do them. Currently, shrinking public support and increasing tuition make it urgent…

This mixed methods study focused on the relationship between dropout prevention programs and graduation rates in one school district in Florida during the 2010-2011 school year. The dropout prevention program data analyzed included high school principals' perceptions in regard to perceived effectiveness, fidelity of implementation, cost efficacy,…

The purpose of this study was to examine the academic performance of the first-time, full-time, traditional-aged students in the Student Support Services program at East Tennessee State University. This was accomplished by comparing their academic performance with the academic performance of first-time, full-time, traditional-aged non-SSS…

A first-year experience is a collaborative effort of many initiatives, with varying names that have the greatest impact on student success during the first year of college. A first-year experience course, a feature of the first-year experience, is an intervention program designed to increase student academic performance and integration (Braxton…

The Community College Completion Agenda is the West Virginia Community and Technical College System's (WVCTCS) commitment to awarding 16,000 new degrees by 2015. With this new completion agenda the West Virginia Community and Technical College System has realigned its master plan, Meeting the Challenge 2010-2015. Its focus from primarily…

The call to ensure that every student, including students with disabilities, graduates from high school well prepared for college and careers is acknowledged by policymakers, professionals and business leaders. This policy brief was developed to provide guidance to state education policy leaders to support the goal of ensuring that students with…

In contemporary America, postsecondary education has now become almost a prerequisite for anyone wishing to matriculate into a higher socioeconomic class. Over the last five decades there has been a steady increase in the number of high school students entering college and university, with now over 75% of high school graduates enrolling in some…

The primary purpose of this study was to understand how three diverse community colleges are interpreting and acting on federal initiatives to increase completion rates. The study attempted to answer four main research questions: (1) How do a selection of Kansas community colleges, as organizations, interpret the initiative to increase completion…

President Obama's 2009 graduation initiative has emphasized the shift in the national academic focus from access to higher education to graduation, making degree attainment one of the most important factors of measurement and accountability for institutions of higher education. Students of color, in particular, Hispanic males, have not fared well…

This paper compares the minimum requirements for high school graduation in each state with admission requirements for the state's main (or "flagship") university campus. In 80% of the states, the high school graduation requirements do not meet the minimum standards necessary for admission to their own state universities.

In this brief, the authors have corralled existing research to make the point that while on average the return to college is highly positive, there is a considerable spread in the value of going to college. A bachelor's degree is not a smart investment for every student in every circumstance. The authors have outlined three important steps…

This fact sheet explores whether Coös youths' mentor experiences and their academic attitudes and well-being are linked. Authors Kent Scovill and Corinna Jenkins Tucker analyze data from the Coös Youth Study collected in 2008, focusing on seventh and eleventh grade students from all public schools in Coös County, New Hampshire. Of the Coös youth…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine and report how four school leaders in a mid-sized, Mid-Atlantic high school created an environment that improved achievement levels, increased graduation rates, and reduced drop-out rates for Black male students. The researcher utilized a qualitative case study design which included…

Gaps in average college success among students of differing backgrounds have persisted in the United States for decades. One of the primary ways governments have attempted to ameliorate such gaps is by providing need-based grants, but little evidence exists on the impacts of such aid on longer-term outcomes such as college persistence and degree…