Unless the United States moves with urgency, today's young people will be the first generation in American history to be less educated than their predecessors. Consider this a sobering wake-up call--and an urgent appeal for action now. In this report, one will get an unprecedented look behind the ivy-covered walls of America's public colleges and…

This report discusses the deliberations of the Northeast and Islands (NEI) Regional Advisory Committee (RAC), one of 10 RACs established by the U.S. Department of Education to solicit information about the educational needs of state and local educators, school officials, business leaders, state education agencies, parents, local communities, and…

Congress has required that the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) produce an annual report to policymakers about the progress of education in the United States. "The Condition of Education 2016" presents 43 key indicators on important topics and trends in U.S. education. These indicators focus on population characteristics,…

This "Third Annual Report Card" looks at improvements in the cradle-to-career educational pipeline, the areas where Boston has made modest progress but still has a great deal of work to do, and the places where observers have failed to see the gains that are needed to ensure that Boston is a city of opportunity for all. This report card…

This report provides the Nebraska Legislature with comparative statistics to monitor and evaluate progress toward achieving "three key priorities" for Nebraska's postsecondary education system: (1) Increase the number of students who enter postsecondary education in Nebraska; (2) Increase the percentage of students who enroll and…

Extensive research has explored the graduation and retention rates of African American students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The performance of African American students in college and their performance at HBCUs were explored in the literature. Apparently, scholars have not been wiling to address the concerns of the…

Since the passage of The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, a superintendent's role has been redefined and more focus has been placed on student achievement. Research demonstrates that rural public schools are faced with an educational crisis. Rural districts are faced with an epidemic of declining enrollments/budgets, increased drop-out rates, low…

With whom does the American education system get high grades? For race and ethnicity, disparities are ever so prevalent. For socioeconomic status and family income, poor people never seem to get a fair share. For geographical location, inner city students are almost always underserved. Perhaps the one entity on which the system can boast is…

This report presents the number of high school graduates, the Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate (AFGR), and dropout data for grades 9 through 12 for public schools in school year 2006-07. The counts of graduates, dropouts, and enrollments by grade (which serve as the denominators for the graduation and dropout rates) are from the National Center…

The U.S. Census Bureau projects that by the year 2050, about 50 percent of the U.S. population will be African American, Hispanic, or Asian. These relatively youthful minority populations--Hispanics in particular--will drive demographic growth and diversification well into the twenty-first century. Nearly five million Latino students were enrolled…

Dropouts from rural school districts have not received the same scrutiny as given to those from urban ones. The reasons behind this lack of knowledge about the experience of rural school districts with dropouts are unclear. The purpose of the present study was to begin to close this knowledge gap. A first major study of rural dropouts in the…

Black males as a group experience disproportionate amounts of school failure. Compared to Black females and White males, for example, Black males have the highest dropout rates, poorest achievement, and lowest test scores. Further, they are sorely under-represented in gifted education and over-represented in special education. Of those Black males…

We assess factors affecting primary and middle school dropout in rural Punjab and NorthWest Frontier Province over 6 years (1997-2004). These data are unique in a developing-country setting in longitudinally tracking changes in both school and household environments. While grade retention has improved, girls' dropout rates remain fairly high.…

If the nation is to truly meet the goal of every child a graduate, everybody must hold schools responsible for graduating every student with a regular diploma, particularly poor and minority students. Unfortunately, current education accountability systems virtually ignore high school graduation rates. This brief summarizes such shortcomings in…

In a direct reversal from last year, the 2007-08 achievement gap between schools in southeast Wisconsin and those in the rest of the state, as measured by Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exam (WKCE) standardized test scores, narrowed in all subjects at all grade levels. While the region lags the state in WKCE test scores and schools making…