Administrators of nursing programs in community colleges are aware of the need to retain and to graduate students to meet the growing demand for licensed practical nurses (LPNs). High attrition in a 2-year nursing program in South Carolina affected the number of students either graduating as a LPN after completing the third semester, or continuing…

Written at a time when the number of students taking standardized tests in U.S. public schools is at an all-time high, this dissertation presents and analyzes the contribution of standardized testing to intellectual identity formation as portrayed within the oral histories of four adults from the post-"A Nation at Risk" (1983) and…

This study examined the impact of high school students' graphing calculator usage on their math achievement over time. Achievement growth was measured using nationally-recognized standardized test scores from EXPLORE, PLAN, and ACT. Two groups of students were used in this study; one group had graphing calculators integrated beginning in…

The social and economic inequities in America's K-12 education system are well known, what with a rapidly expanding system of expensive private schools and the striking contrasts between urban and suburban public schools. America's higher education system, on the other hand, is generally regarded as far more equitable, given that each of the fifty…

According to the Texas Education Code §29.121 and the Houston Independent School District (HISD) Board Policy, Gifted and Talented (G/T) students are "those identified by professionally qualified persons, who perform at, or show the potential for performing at a remarkably high level of accomplishment when compared to others of the same age,…

Under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and now the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), states are required to assess every student at least once in high school in reading or language arts, mathematics, and science, and some states have chosen to assess students more frequently. The passage of ESSA gives states a new opportunity in how they approach high…

The need for cognition and motivation are related to performance in school and standardized tests. In this study, 422 students completed a battery of individual difference measures and reported their scores on the American College Testing (ACT) exam, Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), high school grade point average (GPA), major GPA, and overall…

There has been a steady increase in college enrollment rates in recent decades, which has not been accompanied by a corresponding increase in graduation rates. If this discrepancy is partly due to insufficient effort exerted by students, policies that aim at rewarding effort explicitly may succeed in increasing graduation rates. A unique and rich…

Education policymakers and educators in Alabama are committed to improving the state's public education system to ensure that students gain the knowledge and skills they need to graduate from high school ready for real life. The state is on the path to implementing higher academic standards--the College and Career Ready Standards--which lay a…

No significant body of research examines writing achievement and the specific skills and knowledge in the writing domain for postsecondary (college) students in the U.S., even though many at-risk students lack the prerequisite writing skills required to persist in their education. This paper addresses this gap through a novel…

Standardized testing serves several purposes. Tests provide feedback on a student's performance. They can help teachers understand student achievement relative to class objectives. Tests can also help administrators identify excellent teachers and those who need more professional support. And, likewise, they can help administrators and…

Mathematics anxiety typically involves apprehension toward activities that require computation, which can lead to complications in every-day-life activities (Ashcraft, 2002). Mathematics anxiety also has become accepted as an issue associated with academic success for both children and adults (Ashcraft, 2002; Ashcraft & Moore, 2009; Beilock,…

Through Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill 1599 (E2SHB 1599) the Legislature tasked the State Board of Education (SBE) with providing an analysis of the equity and adequacy of the new graduation pathway options through stakeholder outreach and engagement. SBE has solicited and received feedback on the graduation pathway options. In the…

It is now clear that the original promise to anchor K-12 education to higher education and backmap the Common Core Mathematics Standards (CCMS) from the upper grades down to the primary grades was empty rhetoric. Higher education has scarcely been involved at all, with the exception of the institutions that agreed to place high school students who…

"ACCESS", A Culture Creating Effective Systems for Success, was a three-year Investing in Innovation (i3) development grant funded by the Office of Innovation and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education. The "ACCESS" grant led the way for a district-wide redesign of educational practices based on the novel approach of…