Themes, impacts, and major recommendations are outlined for eight recent reports on educational quality: "Action for Excellence,""Academic Preparation for College,""A Nation at Risk,""The Paideia Proposal,""America's Competitive Challenge,""Meeting the Needs for Quality in the…

This study uses a widely respected method to calculate graduation rates, both nationally and for each state, for each public school graduating class from 1991 to 2002. It also combines graduation rate calculations with data provided by the U.S. Department of Education to calculate the percentage of all students who left high school eligible for…

A study compared the academic achievement of three student groups at the University of California at San Diego: participants in an experimental transfer admission guarantee program based on general education grades; transfer students meeting comparable criteria; and students entering the university as first-time freshmen. Results show the first…

Increasingly, college-student populations in all types of institutions have higher proportions of women, while young men are tending toward lucrative early employment and economic independence. The process begins in high school, where girls are concentrating on college preparation and boys are being recruited by high-technology companies. The…

In November 1994, a study was conducted at Miami-Dade Community College (M-DCC), in Florida, to determine outcomes after 1 year for first-time-in-college students who began in fall 1992. Specifically, the study sought to determine the percent of first-time students continuing enrollment at MDCC beyond their first year, the effect of student…

The data obtained from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 was used to yield estimates of the total number of instructional hours in each of the academic areas over a 3 year period. Rates of exposure to industrial arts and commercial courses exhibited large sex differences and small racial differences. Both white and…

Records of introductory college accounting students from 1976-78 were consulted to compare performance of those who had had exposure to bookkeeping courses in high school with those who had not. An underlying assumption was that high school counselors may be discouraging students from choosing business majors, in favor of liberal arts preparation…

The relatively greater success of Australian private high school students in gaining university admission than of public school students is examined from the viewpoints of social factors, college preparation, and the university curriculum. (MSE)

This report portrays the enrollment, placement, achievement, and persistence of entering students. Thus this report presents first the basic skills needs for the fall 2004 cohort of first-time enrolling students from Colorado public high schools, disaggregated by school district and high school. Second, this report presents two years' data on…

Fifty low income minority gifted high school sophomores were compared to 42 higher income Asian and Caucasian gifted sophomores on college and career counseling needs. Results showed many intergroup similarities in motivation, career planning interest, and knowledge about college issues. Data suggest, however, some different college and career…

To investigate differences in adolescents' action orientations in difference contexts, 42 sophomore and 41 senior high school students (41 males and 42 females) in vocational or college-preparatory tracks were studied. Differences between the career-preparation action orientation of the college-bound students and the adult-preparation orientation…

A study was conducted at the Community College of Allegheny County, in Pennsylvania, to compared the level of preparedness in an intermediate algebra course for students who placed directly into the course and those who had tested into and completed a basic algebra course. Placement test scores, algebra course grades, and repeat status were…

The average overall Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) score for high school seniors in 1994 remained at 902 of a possible 1600. Math scores showed a one-point gain whereas the average verbal scire fell one point. Despite recent improvements in minority group scores, these dropped or remained stable in 1994. Math and verbal test scores for specific…

A study in two countries investigated college students' conceptions of "academic literacy," defined as the system of information exchange or mastery of the elements of such a system. Subjects were nine students, four at Ohio State University, a long-established "mega-university," and five at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, a small, newly-established…

Valencia (Florida) Community College's (VCC's) REACH Program offers high school students a 10-week college preparatory program, including 1-hour instructional units in communications, mathematics,and Afro-American history; 30-minute presentations by black professionals each week; and a personalized prescription for learning based on diagnostic…