This report portrays various performance indicators that are intended to facilitate an assessment of the postsecondary education system in Illinois. Descriptive statistics are presented for Illinois and five other comparison states as well as the nation. Comparison states were selected according to the degree of similarity of population…

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) documents dimensions of quality in undergraduate education and provides information and assistance to colleges, universities, and other organizations to improve student learning. Its primary activity is annually surveying college students to assess the extent to which they engage in educational…

Students who achieve critical academic benchmarks such as high attendance rates, continuous levels of credit accumulation, and high grades have a greater likelihood of success throughout high school and beyond. However, keeping students on track toward meeting graduation requirements and quickly identifying students who are at risk of falling off…

Teaching entrepreneurship--how to create, grow and run a business or organization--is one potential means to increase college and career readiness skills. Learning how to start a business can improve critical thinking, communication and collaboration (Gallagher, Stepien, & Rosenthal, 1992; Hmelo, 1998), which are key qualities for academic as…

Education Funders Research Initiative (EdFunders), a project of Philanthropy New York, is supported by a group of diverse funding organizations that have pursued an array of education reform strategies. EdFunders have come together to engage New Yorkers and focus leaders on new research into how to best prepare students for college and…

The CollegeKeys Compact[TM] is a national call to action to school districts, colleges and universities, state education agencies, and nonprofit organizations to identify, share and expand programs and practices that address the needs and challenges of low-income students and help them get ready for, get into and get through college. The College…

In the next decade, more than half of all new American jobs will require some postsecondary education, yet the current college attainment rate for the nation is 39 percent. The challenges appear well before students begin college: one in four public high school students fails to graduate on time, and of those who graduate, one-third need remedial…

Middle and high school students subjected to harsh school discipline policies and practices such as suspensions and expulsions are more likely to disengage from the classroom and course work, and increases their chances of dropping out, according to this new report from the Alliance for Excellent Education. The report recommends implementing…

College readiness is becoming an increasingly important standard by which to measure school success and student achievement. While high school graduation and dropout prevention remain critical issues for educators, there is a substantial gap in outcomes between students who only earn a high school diploma and those who go on to obtain a college…

The developmental education process, as it is typically implemented in colleges across the country, seems straightforward: underprepared students are assessed and placed into an appropriate developmental course sequence designed to prepare them for college-level work; once finished with the sequence, these students presumably then move on to…

Annually, ACT provides each state with "The Condition of College & Career Readiness," a report that details the college readiness of students who took the ACT[R] test. This report is a companion to "The Condition of College & Career Readiness." This paper traces the college enrollment, retention, re-enrollment, and…

North Queens Community High School serves approximately 200 students, 16-20 years old, as they strive to reach their personal and academic goals. All students at North Queens have previously been enrolled in high school elsewhere and are over-age and undercredited. Small class sizes, student-centered support, and an accelerated credit acquisition…

In 2011, the New York City Mayor's Office, the Open Society Foundations, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and over 20 local agencies launched the Young Men's Initiative (YMI), a citywide effort to improve outcomes for Black and Latino young men in the areas of education, health, employment, and criminal justice. YMI is one of the single largest…

This appendix describes the data collection and analytic processes used to develop the findings in the report "Promising Opportunities for Black and Latino Young Men." A central challenge was creating an analytic framework that could be uniformly applied to all schools, despite the individualized nature of their Expanded Success…

In 2011, the New York City Mayor's Office, the Open Society Foundations, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and over 20 local agencies launched the Young Men's Initiative (YMI), a citywide effort to improve outcomes for Black and Latino young men in the areas of education, health, employment, and criminal justice. YMI is one of the single largest…