The primary goal of public education systems is to have students graduate from high school with a diploma prepared to enter college or the workforce. Meeting that goal for all students has long been a challenge for schools across the county. The graduation rate for all Maryland students was 87%, but for students with disabilities, the graduation…

This dissertation examines the county-level impacts on college attainment and enrollment, and student-level impacts on success outcomes, from the Garrett County (Maryland) Scholarship Program, an early adopter in the promise scholarship movement since 2006. I conduct a comprehensive review of prior literature on promise programs, which have been…

A college degree is increasingly vital for career mobility and economic success as more employers are requiring greater levels of education and credentials. For more than 150 years, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have played a leading role in graduating black students and have made significant contributions to the workforce…

Background/Context: There is an expansive body of research concerning high school graduation; however, most studies omit students who persist through four years of high school without earning a diploma. In addition, there is scant research exploring longer term outcomes among students whose academic trajectories do not fit within the traditional…

At the request of the Superintendent of Schools in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), the Office of Shared Accountability (OSA) examined the enrollment and academic performance of students in Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) courses in schools implementing the Equal Opportunity Schools (EOS) initiative. The goal…

How can institutions and communities accelerate Latino student success? Examples of "Excelencia" is the only national effort to identify and promote evidence-based programs accelerating Latino student success in higher education. Since 2005, "Excelencia" in Education has recognized over 300 programs making a positive difference…

This study examined the high school experiences, graduation rates and post-secondary attendance rates of students who received need-based scholarships to attend private elementary schools from the Children's Scholarship Fund Baltimore (CSFB). CSFB provides funds to students from low-income families in the Baltimore area to attend the private or…

The MCPS Office of Shared Accountability conducted an evaluation of the "High School Plus" (HS+) program implemented in Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools (MCPS). HS+ is one of the intervention programs offered by MCPS to provide additional ways of earning high school credits for students who have failed courses required for…

This report analyzes college completion metrics for the Appalachian Region, compares outcomes of students attending campuses in the Region with those of students attending campuses outside the Region, and offers insight about major stumbling blocks to college progression and completion for students in Appalachia.

The Achieving Collegiate Excellence and Success (ACES) program is a collaboration between MCPS, Montgomery College, and the Universities at Shady Grove to create a seamless pathway from high school to college completion; it targets students who are underrepresented in higher education, the first in their family to attend college, or both. As one…

The Ingenuity program was designed to "provide Baltimore's brightest middle school students with a free, highly accelerated, and challenging mathematics and science curriculum" (Ingenuity Project, 2014). It started in 1993 at two middle schools, one on the east side of Baltimore and the second on the west, but as of SY 2014-15 the…

In 2006, the National Center for Postsecondary Research, of which is MDRC is a partner, launched a demonstration of one-semester learning community programs at six colleges; five of these programs focused on developmental education. This is the final report from the project and includes findings from analyses that pool data across these five…

A large majority of full-time students pursuing bachelor's degrees at four-year colleges and universities in the United States attend public universities. The struggle, therefore, to improve educational attainment and reduce the marked disparities in outcomes that lead to greater inequalities of all kinds will take place mainly within our nation's…

This document presents statistics about higher education in Maryland for 2016. The tables in this document are presented according to the following categories: (1) Students; (2) Retention and Graduation; (3) Degrees; (4) Faculty; (5) Revenues & Expenditures; (6) Tuition and Fees; (7) Financial Aid, and (8) Private Career Schools. [For…

This document presents statistics about higher education in Maryland for 2015. The tables in this document are presented according to the following categories: (1) Students; (2) Retention and Graduation; (3) Degrees; (4) Faculty; (5) Revenues & Expenditures; (6) Tuition and Fees; (7) Financial Aid, (8) Private Career Schools, and (9) Distance…