This study examines the different processes that institutional researchers use to calculate the number of transfers-out for the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Graduation Rate Survey (GRS), with a particular focus on how the process is influenced by institutional mission and data availability. Policy makers and the public…

Concern about rigor is not new. Since the release of "A Nation At Risk" (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983) the debate about the quality of America's schools has grown exponentially. This debate calls for dramatically different schools, schools that are much more responsive to student need, and provide a rigorous…

In 2006, TG (Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation) issued a report entitled "Ready, Willing and Unable: How Financial Barriers Obstruct Bachelor Degree Attainment in Texas." Drawing on a report by the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, which projected the number of bachelor degrees lost nationally due to financial…

Notwithstanding years of retention efforts, graduation rates of Latinas/os remain alarmingly low. The purpose of this review is threefold. First, the authors go beyond traditional theory and highlight those scholars who shed new information on retention for Latina/o students. Second, they summarize factors that specifically affect Latina/o…

Suggests that one of the biggest high school newspaper stories of the year is senior graduation and that it deserves better and more thorough coverage. (RB)

Discusses commencement ceremonies and the need to provide meaningful messages to graduates rather than a bland, congratulatory speech. (MD)

To counter student misbehavior and restore dignity to commencement exercises, this article details some basic guidelines concerning scheduling, student dress, and student behavior development at Hoffman Estates (Illinois) High School. Graduating students were assigned to teacher chaperones and were given specific behavior expectations. (MLH)

Discusses an Alabama silent prayer law struck down by the Supreme Court. Also discusses two Iowa court cases, one involving prayer at graduation ceremonies, the other involving distribution of Bibles in state schools. (MD)

To determine university requirements of health education, a survey was sent to colleges and universities listed in "A National Directory of College and University Health Education Programs and Faculty" (1981 edition). Results indicate that only 10.7 percent of the universities in the United States require general health education of all…

Graduation and persistence rates were compared for 184 students, 92 of whom had repeated multiple courses or at least 1 course 3 times. A control group of 92 nonrepeating students was drawn from the remaining 303 students of the entire 1996 cohort. There was no difference between the graduation rate of repeaters and nonrepeaters. The persistence…

Florida has adopted and implemented a variety of ways to test handicapped students without harming them, including exemptions, special standards, and modification of test techniques. (Author/CL)

Describes a program in which adult students can earn a regular diploma from the local high school by passing competency examinations in basic skills and by earning credit for learning gained through life experience. (Author/IRT)

Discusses how an academic review of the football teams that competed in this year's bowl games shows that many universities allow players to take an easy path to a degree. (EV)