The process of educational and vocational development does not occur at a single point in time. Many indicators of dropping out of high school, for example, are present by middle school (Alexander et al., 1997; Balfanz et al., 2007). Yet, research and practice focus almost exclusively on enriching the learning and work experiences of high school…

In an effort to improve academic performance for students receiving special education services, a large urban school district in Tennessee has implemented Integrated Service Delivery Model. The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of students receiving instruction in self-contained classrooms to the performance of students…

This study was designed to investigate alternative high school students' perceptions of attendance and to determine if a relationship existed among those perceptions, student attendance rates, and Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) mathematics scores. Using survey methods, data were collected from 76 high school students who attended…

This study addressed the problem of poor attendance adversely affecting grades and learning. Current school policies do not address problematic attendance for all school-aged children, perpetuating trends of academic failure. The research objective was to determine if unexcused absences had a greater negative impact on a high-stakes test compared…

Colleges and universities represent one of the most utilized sources of need-based financial aid information for students and families, and yet most research in access marketing is focused at the national and state levels. There is sparse published information about the effects of financial aid marketing observed through quantitative analysis, in…

The need to address social and economic changes has focused greater attention on our public education system and the need to better equip students with the skills needed for a global society. This quantitative study was grounded in the principles of the constructivist learning theory. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the added…

Mastering mathematics has become more important than ever before in the United States. Students with a strong background in mathematics have an advantage over those students who struggle, when competing for jobs. In the job market, workers who have a strong mathematics and science background are more likely to be employed and earn more than those…

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between 8th grade student data and the level of student success at the end of the ninth grade year. The theoretical framework for this study was based on the Meleis (1986) Transition Theory and it was a mixed methodology research study that employed both qualitative and quantitative…

The purpose of the descriptive qualitative study was to examine the successful strategies, accommodations, and interventions utilized for students with emotional behavior disorder (EBD) and the influences they have on the students' academic achievement (GPA, passage rates of courses, passage rates of state mandated assessments, student…

The objective of this study was to investigate the attendance patterns of parents and students at IEP/transition meetings where transition plans for students with disabilities are developed. Transition plans were developed to determine the level of assistance the student with disabilities required as he/she graduates or ages out of public school.…

The purpose of this study was to examine possible relationships between participation in extracurricular activities and student achievement, participation in extracurricular activities and attendance, and participation in extracurricular activities and behavior. The setting for this study was a high school in western Nebraska. Data for 275 of the…

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB, 2001) requires that all schools demonstrate that their students meet or exceed expectations on various measures of academic performance. This means that stakeholders at every level of the school system, including school counselors, must demonstrate how their efforts lead to greater student achievement (Bemak,…

This dissertation reports a study of a year-round school in comparison to a traditional calendar school and whether the year-round school calendar was related to higher student achievement in a large, school district in the southeastern United States. The data represented the results of third through fifth grade student state test scores in the…

The purpose of the research presented here is to identify which factors school level practitioners consider in deciding whether to retain or promote a student and to ascertain their knowledge of and training in retention research. This research illuminates the process of determining which students are promoted and which are retained, and the…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect an afterschool program had on middle school at-risk students' standardized test scores and behavior. The study examined students who participated in the 21st Century Community Learning Center afterschool program at two similar schools in a county in Northwest Georgia. Data were compiled for the…