The transition into high school is a critical point in the educational pipeline, and ninth-grade can be characterized as one of its leakiest junctures. This policy brief examines how some states and districts are currently easing the transition into high school for students. It focuses on five key challenges that states, districts and schools…

In response to questions raised by the Pupil Accounting System Advisory Group concerning the criteria for determining a day of attendance and whether study hall time should be counted when measuring attendance, the Illinois State Board of Education conducted a comprehensive survey to ascertain current study hall policy and practice among the…

Investigated whether official school data on the 45 general high schools of Chicago support public fears that the quality of urban high schools is related to their racial balance and that mixed high schools deteriorate as blacks, minorities, and the poor spill into them. (Author/JM)

On account of concern about declining achievement levels of high school graduates and proposed state legislation increasing graduation requirements to address this concern, this report analyzes current and proposed high school graduation requirements in Illinois, based on data compiled from local school documents, and compares the data to…