This paper investigated success rates and possible predictors of success among students at The University of the West Indies Open Campus. Archival data were mined from admissions and academic records of students from the 2008 intake to explore retention and completion rates, and for students enrolled in two online undergraduate courses in Semester…

Changes in certification requirements and examinee characteristics are likely to influence the validity of the evidence associated with interpretations made based on test data. We examined whether changes in Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) certification requirements over time were associated with changes in internal…

Ensuring college access amid rising tuition costs has hovered near the top of the nation's education agenda for years. Facing heightened concern about the student debt burden and disappointing college graduation rates, policymakers are hungry for fresh ideas. Federal Pell Grants, the primary means for subsidizing college tuition for…

Issues concerning higher education today (e.g., rising costs, declining public trust, changing state economics) have created new demands for postsecondary institutions to demonstrate their productivity. We examine whether differences in states' political cultures (i.e., underlying traditions, values, and public policy choices) are reflected…

The purpose of this study is to address differences in states' capital spending between public four-year historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and their predominantly White institutions (PWIs) counterparts located in the southeastern and bordering regions of the United States. This investigation was viewed through nine academic…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to examine the salient literature on historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) with an overarching goal of setting a future research agenda for scholars interested in these institutions. Design/methodology/approach: This literature review is organized into two main sections: strengths and…

This dissertation comprises three essays that empirically examine the educational outcomes of for-profit college students, military enlistees and immigrant youth. All of these are groups of "non-average" students that, in different contexts, pose challenges to the traditional provision of education. Therefore, their outcomes need to be…

The fastest growing supply of jobs in the United States today is in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Yet despite the availability of work in STEM, there is not a sufficient supply of workers to fill open positions. Amidst the growing demand for STEM workers, educational achievement and attainment in STEM fields in…

State Compensatory Education (SCE) is a supplemental program designed to eliminate disparities in (1) student performance on assessment instruments administered under chapter 39 of the Texas Education Code (1995, amended 2013); and (2) the rates of high school completion between students who are at risk of dropping out of school, as defined by…

African American males face major challenges in retention and graduation from institutions of higher education. The 6-year graduation rate for African American males at 4-year public institutions and private nonprofit colleges is less than 40%. This figure suggests that persistence toward degree attainment is a problem. The purpose of this study…

Amid reports of decreased instructional time in music and art in some districts (Heilig, Cole, and Aguilar 2010; McMurrer 2008; Rabkin and Hedberg 2011), researchers, policymakers, and practitioners have questioned the status of arts education in the United States (Sabol 2013). Evidence about how elementary and secondary schools staff their arts…

This study examines the roles played by student characteristics, school resources and practices, peer effects, and province fixed effects in accounting for differences in the academic outcomes of private and public high school students. Private high school students score significantly higher than public high school students on reading,…

This report examines the Community College of Philadelphia (CCP) and its effectiveness in helping Philadelphians attain higher education and marketable job skills. The study compares the college with three sets of similar institutions nationwide based on data from 2008 to 2013 and includes insights from the school's leaders, as well as local and…

This report includes a high-level overview of student outcome data and how Kansas measures up to the other 49 states. It is meant to complement the other reporting that the Kansas Association of School Boards has released and will be releasing related to improving student outcomes for all Kansas public schools. The following are key findings…

In 2011, working groups from across the eight campuses of Miami Dade College (MDC) conducted a wide-ranging examination of why many students were not completing their programs. These groups identified a number of reasons for student attrition. Students were unclear about how to progress through programs--they had too many course and program…