The focus of this paper--and the series of which it is a part--is on improving student learning during the crucial period spanning grade 12 and the first year of college in order to build momentum for college success. In the introductory paper to this series, "Why 12th Grade Must Be Redesigned Now--and How," Jobs for the Future names…

One of the most serious problems facing our planet is the biodiversity crisis. As a solution to this problem, both scientists and educators have emphasised the need for educating people about how to conserve the Earth's biodiversity. As a small contribution to this effort, we have designed a learning unit about biodiversity, "Nature in a…

Nearly all high school seniors plan college, but many low-income students do not enroll. Moreover, among students who do enroll, low-income students often pursue less dependable college pathways. While research typically focuses on college cost and academic preparation as explanations of socioeconomic differences in enrollment outcomes, other…

This study was conducted to obtain information about a mentoring program through the eyes of eleventh and twelfth grade student mentors. These students were able to tell what needed to be known about the strengths and weaknesses of this mentoring program and what they felt needed to be done to make the program more effective and meaningful. This…

In 2005, the U.S. Department of Education awarded eight Striving Readers grants to projects around the country. The goal of Striving Readers is to improve literacy skills and achievement for struggling readers in middle and high school and to increase the research base using randomized clinical research to address improvement in adolescent…

The high school graduation rate in Tennessee has failed to meet the state required benchmark of 90%. The state graduation rate in 2003 was 76%, in 2004 it was 75.7%, 2005 it was 77.9%, and in 2006 it was 80.7%. The Tennessee State Department of Education is searching for effective methods to increase the graduation rate for Tennessee high schools.…

Knowledge of economic concepts and ideas and an ability to apply basic economic analysis to solve everyday problems are necessary for individuals to function as productive members of society. This framework is designed to assess the outcomes of student education in and understanding of economics in grade 12 as part of the National Assessment of…

Using essays written by twelfth grade students, a study explored the relationship of Halliday and Hasan's system for analyzing cohesion and instructors' ranking of textual coherence. (HOD)

A set of studies done for the Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction (WSPI) constituted a case study testing the conjecture that management consulting is potentially cost effective in some areas of educational evaluation. The case study involved first interviewing 22 respondents from four WSPI constituencies (educators, employers,…

This report describes the process followed by the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) in developing a comprehensive model of educational outcomes and indicators for all students, including students with disabilities, who are completing school. Stage One involved identifying five alternative models of educational outcomes--an educational…

As a preliminary version of the rationale and content for the English-language arts portion of the "Survey of Academic Skills: Grade 12," this booklet describes elements of the new reading and editing tests to be used to complement a direct writing assessment in this part of the 1987-88 California Assessment Program (CAP). After a brief…

This report documents the Massachusetts Statewide Assessment of Basic Skills in speaking and listening that was conducted during the 1979-80 school year. The four chapters of the report provide information about (1) the survey design and methodology, (2) the performance of twelfth grade students in listening, (3) the results of two measures of…

Aligned with its 1998 standards for first- and second-language learning, Alberta Learning has published lesson plans that aim for a closer relationship between learning and evaluation. Each volume in this series presents a specific task for students that involves planning, carrying out, and evaluating their work. The task for twelfth grade…

A study examined whether Canadian twelfth grade students' papers would rate differently when they were written in different modes and whether there are significant differences between global (modified holistic) scores and rhetorical effectiveness (modified primary trait) scores for the same papers. Fifty students wrote on two transactional topics…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 1998 Civics Assessment found that 12th-graders who participated in volunteer service had higher scores than those who did not. Furthermore, 12th-graders who worked 6 to 15 hours a week had higher scores than those who either worked longer hours or did not work at all. (Contains two tables and…