Teachers have had to use standards to teach with since the 1980's. The CCRS has made a significant shift in how standards are written and the expectations of students in learning them. With the three-dimensional design, teachers are required to change their pedagogy in order to implement the standards with fidelity. That requires training,…

Many students lack the comprehension skills required to navigate high school and the world (Turner, 2019). This qualitative narrative analysis study examined how the background of Career and Technical Education (CTE) educators' shaped their educational experiences when embedding literacy in the CTE curriculum. The researcher interviewed ten CTE…

A lack of access to a sequence of introductory to top-level curricula in rural schools has widened the achievement disparity between rural and urban students and influenced the number of college degree holders in rural areas. Recently, surging diversity and differentiation in income levels across nonurbanized areas can serve as determinants of the…

This dissertation presents an applied research study focused on improving ACT mathematics scores in a rural Mississippi independent school. The study is designed to evaluate the effectiveness of increased mathematics instructional time and curriculum mapping on improving the percentage of students meeting the College Readiness Benchmark scores on…

The purpose of the study was to understand how faculty and counselors perceive student persistence, retention, and college readiness in relation to student academic success. The qualitative approach was utilized to obtain a deeper understanding of the lived experiences of the participants. Purposeful sampling was utilized to select faculty and…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the perceptions of community college administrators in Mississippi regarding the early college high schools located on their campuses. While the ECHS model has become prominent in several states, Mississippi's efforts to implement the model have yet to be fully examined. Six administrators from…

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program (MAAP) English II and Algebra I scores correlate with American College Testing (ACT) English and Mathematics scores, to examine the methods teachers use to prepare students for the MAAP test, and to determine whether these methods enhance…

Despite the myriad of challenges that families, students, teachers and policymakers faced in 2021, the momentum to transform education did not waver. New opportunities for students unfolded in more than a dozen states through expanded private and public school choice. An additional 1.7 million students gained eligibility for private choice alone,…

To innovate for the future and improve equity, while also protecting foundational and proven principles that support high-quality education, ExcelinEd is committing to 5 goals over 5 years to impact 5 million students. Those goals hold the key to impactful and far-reaching changes in education, with the power to transform schools, students' lives,…

The past few years have seen a persistent and consistent focus on Career Technical Education (CTE), including a particular focus on graduation requirements. This brief from Advance CTE highlights a few ways in which states are exploring embedding and elevating CTE programs, assessments and experiences within their statewide graduation…

Focused on educational quality, innovation and opportunity--both within and outside of the traditional system--ExcelinEd advances a broad range of student-centered policy solutions that are successfully: (1) increasing student learning; (2) Readying graduates for college and career; and (3) Advancing equity. This year's annual report highlights…

In spring 2015 Mississippi began testing the college readiness of all grade 11 public high school students and found that approximately 18 percent were ready for college math, a percentage that had changed little by 2017/18. This study examined: (1) the sequences of math courses that Mississippi students took in grades 6-11; (2) the math…

For this report, State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) surveyed selected historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and HBCU-adjacent school districts to help SHEEOs and nongovernmental organizations understand what drives successful teacher preparation at HBCUs. The report suggests ways to use HBCUs as resources to resolve…

In spring 2015 Mississippi began testing the college readiness of all grade 11 public high school students and found that approximately 18 percent were ready for college math, a percentage that had changed little by 2017/18. This study examined: (1) the sequences of math courses that Mississippi students took in grades 6-11; (2) the math…

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…