This paper analyzes rural school resistance to a federally funded intervention program aimed at increasing college attendance and success among students from historically marginalized groups. One such program ("Start Up") is currently being implemented in a geographically isolated South Carolina school district with high minority…

Investigated the impact of efforts to prepare average high school students for college admission, examining ethnic differences in academic retracking. A longitudinal evaluation of a school reform effort at four California high schools indicates that specific efforts to retrack general/vocational students into college-preparatory tracks offer…

The Big Picture schools focus on a "one student at a time" model, which eschews subject based-internships, independent projects, and exhibitions of students' work. The company's goal is to help students acquire the motivation, skills, and personal qualities they will need for college and life. In 1996, Big Picture founder Dennis Littky…

There is a clear national consensus that for the United States to remain economically competitive, schools will have to change to emphasize higher levels of performance and skills. Students need to be independent, directed, and effective learners to be able to adapt to changing work environments by acquiring and using new information. However,…

Following an introduction by John N. Gardner, this monograph presents the text of six keynote addresses, all concerning different issues relative to the freshman year of college, that were delivered at various Freshman Year Experience Conferences during 1988 and 1989. Some of the topics covered concern: freshman development; giving the freshman…

Describes how the College Board, under the auspices of the Equality Project, is collaborating with school and college educators to bring about school reform, with special attention given to the writing component of the curriculum. (HOD)

This essay considers connections between rural American life, livelihood, academics, and community. Two major areas are addressed: curricular issues in rural high schools and the nature of community and its central influence on the rural school. Historically youth who stayed in their rural community did not require preparation for higher…

Middle schools are a critical element in preparing for postsecondary education. Students must be offered a challenging curriculum, moral support, and guidance that strengthens their commitment to education. Few reform efforts have consciously emphasized this role in precollege preparation. There is a need for detracking and increased emphasis on…

The technological infrastructure at New Hampshire's Brewster Academy has affected policy building, teaching methods, staff development, and administrator role. The five-year phased implementation of a school design model based on universal connectivity and curricular embedding is discussed, with emphasis on network architecture, financial…

Education systems around the world are talking about "lifelong learning", "futures", "critical literacies", and so on. What do these things mean in the context of being a teacher of mathematics? In this article, the author attempts to put these things into perspective. She contends that, in clarifying any situation…

There are severe structural barriers to improving access to higher education in Australia. Free public higher education and increased funding to improve public schools, increase higher education's capacity, and augment financial aid are recommended. (MSE)

College student population trends are analyzed and charted, including first-time freshmen as a percentage of all undergraduates, total student applications, mean total applicants by institution type, percentage of applicants accepted by institution type, percentage of accepted student enrolling by institution type, high school grades, and faculty…

Substantial research demonstrate that high school graduates are not being prepared to succeed. There are gaps between the education received in high school and the overall skills, abilities and work habits needed for the demands of postsecondary education and the workforce. Seventy-six percent of employers in Arkansas state that less than half of…

"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) Sitting at Home on Graduation Day: New Report Says that 1.2 Million Students From the Class of 2006 Failed to…

Ribault (Florida) Senior High School has reported a dramatic increase in student achievement levels since implementing a comprehensive college preparation curriculum. Among the program changes that contributed to those gains are: (1) the establishment and consistent enforcement of a strong discipline program, including rules for student conduct, a…