Leveraging publicly available data about schools" absenteeism from the New Jersey Department of Education, the present study examined how neighborhood-level resource deprivation and violent crime related to chronic absenteeism in Passaic County's elementary, middle, and high schools. Results highlighted geographic disparities in Passaic…

Chronic absenteeism affects the majority of schools in the United States. An assessment of centers of learning illustrates that a majority of students miss a month of learning in an academic year through excused or unexcused absences. The majority of schools exhibit 95% average daily attendance rates, as the learners tend to not miss school, on…

Over the past decade, national initiatives have shifted States' attention to the challenge of turning around low-performing schools. The lack of consistent, dramatic improvements in the lowest-performing schools reflects the severity of the school turnaround challenge, but also suggests the need to continuously evaluate and refine turnaround…

This report presents the deliberations of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Advisory Committee (RAC), one of 10 RACs established under the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. sections 9601 et. seq.) to assess the educational needs of the region. The committee's report outlines the educational needs across the District of Columbia and…

The current study replicates work of Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Northeast and Islands. It describes dropout prevention programs in nine Mid-Atlantic Region (Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) school districts serving communities with populations of 24,742-107,250 (as of July 2008). All nine…

The current study replicates work of Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Northeast and Islands. It describes dropout prevention programs in nine Mid-Atlantic Region (Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) school districts serving communities with populations of 24,742-107,250 (as of July 2008). All nine…

Graduation rates are a fundamental indicator of whether or not the nation's public school system is doing what it is intended to do: enroll, engage, and educate youth to be productive members of society. Since almost 90 percent of the fastest-growing and highest-paying jobs require some postsecondary education, having a high school diploma and the…

This report explores two questions: (1) What can be done to recover and reconnect young people to opportunities for building useful lives in work, family, and citizenship? and (2) Who is doing what, and where, to reengage out-of-school youth while working to strengthen the communities in which they live? Focusing on the positive, the American…

State and local education officials in New Jersey tout the state's high school graduation rate as the highest in the nation. At the same time, independent research indicates that 40 percent of students in Newark drop out and only half of African-American students in urban districts graduate. Meanwhile, there is increasing concern in New Jersey…

This report contains detailed descriptions of three program recommendations regarding public school choice. The recommendations are a result of a study conducted by the New Jersey Department of Education, in which public school choice and magnet schools were examined. The three recommended programs described are (1) Intradistrict Choice Program;…

Despite statewide standards, the accuracy of statistical data on dropouts reported by New Jersey schools appears to vary considerably from district to district. Moreover, statewide dropout rates differ significantly depending on the method of calculation used. Several different methodologies, which incorporate unverified information collected from…

The Newark Public Schools (NPS) has been at the center of reform and improvement efforts in New Jersey for the better part of 12 years. The results of these efforts are both significant and frustrating. The school district has made substantial progress over the last few years; but it also has a long way to go before it attains the level of…

This report provides background and linkages necessary to bring state-level experiences of reporting graduation rate statistics to bear in implementing the Student Right-to-Know Act particularly regarding the reporting of student persistence and graduation rates at institutions of higher education. Section I provides: (1) an overview of the extent…

As part of a long-term study of dropout related issues, this serial issue focuses on the topic of extracurricular activities and their availability in 15 of the largest urban districts in New Jersey. Following an opening section reviewing some of the positions taken over the years regarding extracurricular activities and their role in schools, the…

This Kids Count report provides information on state and countywide trends in the well-being of New Jersey's children between 1990 and 1998. The statistical portrait is based on 19 social indicators: (1) children receiving AFDC/TANF; (2) children receiving food stamps; (3) children receiving Medicaid; (4) Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program…