In the U.S. and England racial/ethnic minority student success in STEM graduate disciplines is important to HEI administrators and those policy makers concerned with ensuring viable and healthy economies and communities. U.S. Government studies show that the African and Hispanic Americans earn only about 3% and 2% of all STEM graduate degrees,…

The ACT is a national college admissions exam that tests English, math, reading, and science content. Students take the ACT during their junior/senior year of high school. This report describes ACT test results for AISD students in 2012-2013.

Parents and policymakers have long sought to measure the quality of their public schools and to report that publicly in ways that are fair and equitable. In recent years, with a renewed focus on student outcomes, this effort has become a very public and sometimes acrimonious debate. With this project, Education Commission of the States (ECS)…

One of the most enduring and contentious debates in education circles concerns the best way to hold schools and districts accountable for improving outcomes for students and closing achievement gaps. Lawmakers, teachers, district administrators, parents, and other stakeholders--all with strong and differing opinions--have wrestled for decades with…

We studied relationships among background characteristics, behavioral infractions, punishments, attendance, and educational achievement, using longitudinal data of students in grades 1-6 and 8-12. We estimated how much hypothesized early improvements in educational achievement or sustained improvements in behavior and attendance might ultimately…

There has been a steady increase in the number of so-called dual-credit classes which allow high school students to earn high school and college credits simultaneously. There also has been an increase in the number of such classes students are taking. The author asks whether the classes are ameliorating the problems they were intended to fix:…

The Common Core State Standards and the attendant assessments being developed by state consortia create a tremendous opportunity and simultaneous challenge for state boards of education. Many of the issues apply to all boards, even those in states that have not adopted the standards or assessments. Boards will need to think carefully about the…

This report focused on the extent to which students who are academically far off track in preparing for college can catch up in four years. We studied multiple cohorts of students in eighth grade whose EXPLORE[R] scores were more than one standard deviation below the EXPLORE benchmark scores associated with being on track. We found that 10 percent…

This report looks at the progress of the 2017 ACT®-tested graduating class relative to college and career readiness. This year's report shows that 60% of students in the 2017 US graduating class took the ACT test, up from 54% in 2013. The increased number of test takers over the past several years enhances the breadth and depth of the data pool,…

This report examines change and stability across two decades in the sociodemographic characteristics, educational experiences, and postsecondary outcomes of high school graduates with different occupational coursetaking patterns. Occupational coursetaking is part of the broader field of career and technical education (CTE), which also includes…

These are exciting times in American education. While higher education has been preoccupied with its own challenges, its colleagues in K-12 have been adopting new standards, building new assessments and curricula, and redefining success for America's schools. For decades, the end-goal and primary success measure of most school systems was high…

There has been considerable interest in British Columbia in improving secondary to post-secondary transitions, and the provincial government and secondary and post-secondary institutions have adopted a number of strategies intended to aid in successful student transition from one system to the other. This paper looks specifically at the policy and…

In 2007, the Virginia Board of Education directed the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) to study academic indicators that are associated with high school students' successful preparation for college and careers. VDOE then embarked on a multi-year effort to identify available data sources and conduct research on high school indicators that…

Civic learning, and education's vital purpose to cultivate engaged and effective citizens, is a national imperative. Civic education is consistent with President Obama's goal of regaining competitiveness in the global marketplace, and it is consistent with the goal of increasing student achievement and closing achievement gaps. There's much more…

Should remediation in higher education be ended? A recent report from Complete College America says exactly that. The authors call for all public institutions of higher education in the United States to stop offering it and instead ensure that students who need extra help take co-requisite requirements, such as extra tutoring. Their…