Students are the core of higher education. At its best, higher education and "college" transforms students, equipping them with life-long learning skills, a degree in hand, and well-rounded academic coursework, experiences and advising to prepare for life and a career. Critical student issues, however, challenge this transformation by…

In 2005, when the Canton City Schools (CCS), Stark State College (SSC), the Canton Professional Educators Association (CPEA), and the Stark Education Partnership (SEP) came together to establish Canton's Early College High School (CECHS), the percentage of the city's young adults with some college or an associate degree was 33%. CECHS affords…

Few words have dominated the vocabulary of college retention as has the word "persistence." Many institutions still struggle to engage faculty and administrators in building campuswide retention efforts, to find the organizational levers that translate the abstractions and complexities of retention theory into scalable and durable initiatives, and…

Nearly 40 percent of the students entering 2- and 4-year postsecondary institutions indicated their intention to major in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in 2012. But the barriers to students realizing their ambitions are reflected in the fact that about half of those with the intention to earn a STEM bachelor's degree and…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine time and efficiency to undergraduate degree completion. Four dependent variables were examined including semesters enrolled, semesters elapsed, graduation efficiency index (GEI), and alternative GEI. Many independent variables were assessed to determine if they had a correlation to time or…

U.S. colleges and universities are failing to graduate a greater number of students than in previous decades, although there has been more than a 25 percent increase in the number of students enrolling in colleges after high school graduation for the last three decades. Nevertheless, the 6-year graduation rate has been lingering around 66 percent…

With an annual yearly growth rate of 9.3 percent over the last two decades, Advanced Placement courses have become a juggernaut in American high school education. AP courses are routinely perceived as an indicator of educational rigor, and many schools push to enroll low-income or minority students in these courses in the hope of preparing them…

The work of the Arizona Commission for Postsecondary Education (ACPE) is guided by a strategic plan. The purpose of the plan is to provide focus for the activity of this small agency and its five staff members in order to increase productivity and impact in the areas of its statutory authority. The mission and goals were accepted by Commissioners…

The work of the Arizona Commission for Postsecondary Education (ACPE) is guided by a 5-year strategic plan. The purpose of the plan is to provide focus for the activity of this small agency and its eight staff members in order to increase productivity and impact in the areas of its statutory authority. The mission and goals were accepted by…

This paper examines some of the major problems and barriers faced by Hispanic/Latino youth who, despite high college enrollment rates, do not complete the four-year degree. An examination of five entering classes of Illinois college students found that only 30.2 percent of Hispanic students had completed their degrees at the end of four years,…

The work of the Arizona Commission for Postsecondary Education (ACPE) is guided by a 5-year strategic plan. The purpose of the plan is to provide focus for the activity of this small agency and its nine staff members in order to increase productivity and impact in the areas of its statutory authority. The mission and goals were accepted by …

This report reviews changes in undergraduate education in Illinois since 1985-86 and identifies issues that need to be addressed. It is based on information from public university and community college annual reports on undergraduate education; "Priorities, Quality, and Productivity" reports; regular data collections; and previous State…

The work of the Arizona Commission for Postsecondary Education (ACPE) is guided by a 5 year strategic plan. The purpose of the plan is to provide focus for the activity of this small agency and its eight staff members in order to increase productivity and impact in the areas of its statutory authority. The mission and goals were accepted by…