This study examines relationships between dual enrollment and high school graduation, college enrollment, college choice (2-year or 4-year), and persistence in college among Nebraska's 2018 high school graduating class. Unlike previous studies that focus on states where dual enrollment is standardized and subsidized by state policy, the Nebraska…

This Policy Brief defines dual enrollment and common barriers to entry for historically underserved student populations. It identifies three opportunities for policies to expand access and make it more equitable: (1) Protect low-income students' access to dual enrollment; (2) Re-examine student eligibility policies; and (3) Encourage greater…

The constitution and statutes of Nebraska assign the Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education the responsibility for comprehensive planning for postsecondary education in Nebraska. The purpose of the "Comprehensive Statewide Plan for Postsecondary Education" is to provide direction for the future of postsecondary education in…

The "2019 Nebraska Higher Education Progress Report" is the fourteenth annual report designed to provide the Nebraska Legislature with comparative statistics to monitor and evaluate progress toward achieving three major goals for Nebraska's postsecondary education system: (1) Increase the number of students who enter postsecondary…

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…

In today's economy, employers increasingly demand that workers have a high school diploma, yet America's graduation rates are unacceptably low, particularly among poor and minority students. Nationally, only about 70 percent of students graduate from high school on time with a regular diploma; for African American and Hispanic students, this…

The purpose of this study was to examine possible relationships between participation in extracurricular activities and student achievement, participation in extracurricular activities and attendance, and participation in extracurricular activities and behavior. The setting for this study was a high school in western Nebraska. Data for 275 of the…

Graduation rates are a fundamental indicator of whether or not the nation's public school system is doing what it is intended to do: enroll, engage, and educate youth to be productive members of society. Since almost 90 percent of the fastest-growing and highest-paying jobs require some postsecondary education, having a high school diploma and the…

Minority students were about 25% of the student population at Central High School in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1995. But the composition of its honors and challenge classes did not reflect this diversity: Few minority students were taking challenge classes as underclassmen and even fewer were taking Advanced Placement (AP) courses as seniors. This paper…

This study examined differences in nine factors between a group of the highest-performing needs high schools (HPHN) and a group of the lowest performing high-needs (LPHN) high schools using teacher responses from a national dataset. The factors are: (1) shared mission and goals; (2) professional development; (3) collaboration among teachers (4)…

Creighton University, a private Jesuit institution in the Midwest, included a Health Professions Partnership Initiative (HPPI) to increase the pool of qualified underrepresented minority applicants by identifying students early and encouraging their progress through elementary and middle school, high school, college, and professional schools.…

Minority students made up approximately 25% of the student population at Central High School in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1995. The composition of Central's honors and challenge classes did not reflect this diversity, however, few minority students were taking challenge classes as underclassmen and even fewer were taking AP courses as seniors. In fall…