The nation cannot reach its degree attainment goals without substantially increasing Latino college completion. While all groups will have to increase college degree attainment to meet the goals, increasing Latino educational attainment is crucial for the U.S. to meet its future societal and workforce needs for three main reasons: (1) the Latino…

Presented at the College Board National Forum, October 2011. In this session on academic preparedness and the Common Core, presenters summarized research on academic rigor and current course taking patterns for students and discussed how the new common core state standards will impact curriculum and expectations for student coursework.

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Education Appropriations Bill Signed into Law: U.S. Department of Education to Receive $1 Billion Increase in…

In the course of educational expansion, student populations have become more diverse. This paper represents an international literature review on the topic of first-generation students (FGS), i.e. students whose parents have not obtained a higher education qualification. On the basis of more than 70 research articles and reports on FGS from…

Parental characteristics, ecological factors, and the academic achievement of African American male high school students were examined. One hundred fifty-three 11th and 12th grade African American males completed the Parenting Style Index (Steinberg, Lamborn, Darling, Mounts, & Dornbusch, 1994) and a demographic questionnaire. Results…

In metro Milwaukee, as a part of the WIRED Initiative, the Regional Workforce Alliance (RWA)--a collaboration of organizations representing workforce development, economic development and education across southeast Wisconsin--has established the framework for pursuing the local talent dividend goal and a regional strategy for increasing…

Studies of student persistence at the undergraduate level are numerous and well known to those in the field, but at the graduate level, they are far more limited. The latter generally focus on doctoral candidates or those enrolled in professional programs. Master's-degree candidates, especially those who pursue a degree on a part-time basis at a…

Educational improvement can be measured over time and against benchmarks in four key areas: (1) mastery of basic reading and math skills; (2) high school completion; (3) preparation for postsecondary education; and (4) adult educational attainment. The first three reflect how the school system prepares students for postsecondary education. The…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore salient nonacademic factors related to social, economic, and cultural aspects together with traditional academic factors that influenced college retention. The study design employed a mixed-methods sequential explanatory method design, collecting quantitative data for correlation and…

In a 2010 address to the College Board, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan laid out a vision for high school that advances the Obama administration's goal of the U.S. once again leading the world in educational attainment. There is no grade in which the magnitude and complexity of this shift becomes clearer than in senior year. Historically,…

This report provides a resource of accurate, timely and comprehensive facts about higher education in Minnesota. It includes comparisons over time as well as national and peer institution comparisons to add context for the interpretation of the data. It is expected to be used by a number of stakeholder groups such as legislators, educators and…

This article describes an exploratory and descriptive study that examined the parental involvement beliefs, attitudes, and activities of 22 high school counselors who work in high-poverty and high-minority schools. More specifically, this study examined school counselors' beliefs and activities about involving parents in the college admission…

Although an increasing number of Native Americans are enrolling as first-generation college students (FGS) at postsecondary institutions, the percentage of those attaining bachelor's degrees or higher remains relatively low--11 percent, compared with more than 25 percent for the general population. Native Americans face not only the retention…

Following a national trend, state policy has focused on accountability measures such as high-stakes high school exit exams, standards-based reforms, and graduation curriculum requirements. Yet the effect of these accountability policies on students' readiness for college is relatively untested. In a multilevel model (students within states), the…

Can college participation have any meaningful effects for former prisoners, beyond quantifiable measures of recidivism and income? Although stigma, overt discrimination, and a shrinking low-skilled labor market form notable challenges to reentry, some studies suggest that college experience helps former prisoners successfully avoid recidivism.…