National and regional trends mask important variation among states in the supply of high school graduates. This profile provides brief indicators for Nebraska related to: current levels of educational attainment, projections of high school graduates into the future, and two common barriers to student access and success--insufficient academic…

In grade 8 (the only grade in which subgroup trends were analyzed by achievement level), Nebraska made gains across the board at the proficient-and-above level for all major racial/ethnic subgroups and low-income students in reading and math. Achievement gaps also narrowed across the board for all subgroups analyzed at grades 4, 8, and 11.…

Reading First has been implemented in Nebraska since the 2004-5 academic year. In two rounds of funding and participation, schools have transformed the way they trained their teachers, measured student progress, and taught. This transformation is one of the hardest tasks in education and it has taken the considerable dedication of school personnel…

This article examines the efforts of a team of educators in a mid-western urban university in Omaha, Nebraska, to understand why so few persons of color enter the teaching profession and to identify actions that can be taken to attract them. The questions that were posed included the following: (1) What does past research say about recruiting…

Nebraska's rural school districts have a rapidly growing Spanish-speaking student body and few qualified instructors to meet their educational needs. This investigation examined factors that promote and challenge the ability of rural Nebraska paraprofessional educators to complete an online B.S. program in elementary education, with a K-12 English…

This year the Center on Education Policy analyzed data on the achievement of different groups of students in two distinct ways. First, it looked at grade 4 test results to determine whether the performance of various groups improved at three achievement levels--basic and above, proficient and above, and advanced. Second, it looked at gaps between…

This double issue of "The Evaluation Exchange" focuses on one of the central components of complementary learning: family involvement. As outlined in the Theory & Practice article, investments in family involvement are important across ages and settings and through the co-constructed efforts and shared responsibilities of many…

This report begins with a profile of selected aggregate data on Hispanic population trends from 1980 to 1990 derived from federal census and state vital statistics reports. The remainder of the report profiles available aggregate data on educational participation and attainment during roughly the same period of time from a variety of sources. The…

This report updates information presented in Volume 1 in 1992. The bulk of the report presents aggregate data on educational participation and attainment from preschool through postsecondary education. The following sections are included: (1) profile of the Hispanic/Latino population in Nebraska; (2) profile of Hispanics/Latinos in preschool,…