In 2017, the U.S. Department of Labor reported a record-high 6.2 million job openings. Yet many employers report they cannot find the well-prepared candidates they need in the South and across the country. The problem is students' lack of preparation for college and career training. Also in 2017, the ACT college admissions test examined the…

Since 2012, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has supported educational enrichment in rural areas by awarding over $3.3 million in grants to six outstanding organizations operating in Iowa, Indiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. In this report, the authors combine the experiences of these organizations with findings from the…

The majority of Southern states performed below the national average and the average of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries in terms of the percent of young adults in 2015 who attained an associate degree or higher. This regional profile presents a synthesis of trends in the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB)…

This brief report offers analysis of ACT and SAT results from 2008 to 2013 in the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) region. The brief focuses on the increase in test participation rates and points to policies that SREB states initiated that affected these rates. Five SREB states currently require 100 percent student participation on the…

This report provides educators and policymakers with information they can use to celebrate their successes, understand their unique challenges, and set meaningful goals to increase opportunity for all students. It is important to note that while AP® Exams are valid measures of students' content mastery of college-level studies in specific academic…

This newsletter focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country, and is presented in an accessible format for everyone from elected officials and policymakers to parents and community leaders. First, this issue discusses the stimulating debate on the reduction of the overall cost of the economic recovery…

"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) "Educating Our Children": "Forbes" Taps Leaders in Business, Government, and Education for New…

This paper describes state, institutional, and other community-based programs deemed exemplary (on the basis of design imperatives) for successful interventions to promote meaningful access of minority group youth to postsecondary education. The imperatives include early intervention, comprehensive and integrated intervention, intervention…

The "Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Fact Book on Higher Education" is one of the nation's most comprehensive collections of comparative data on higher education. For decades, state leaders, policy-makers, researchers and journalists have used the "Fact Book" to find useful data quickly--and to learn more about…