"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) Nation's Report Card Reveals Modest Increases in Math and Reading: Report Shows One-Quarter of Eighth Graders Reading…

In the 1990s, Mexican immigration dispersed spatially, leading to the emergence of many "new destinations," in nonmetropolitan areas of the United States. Previous studies constrain the scope of the analysis to the United States, limiting our understanding of how new destinations are formed. We place new destination formation into a…

Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) have been endorsed as a powerful instructional tool in higher education; however, relatively little is known about the long-term effects of participation in these programs. The purpose of this study was to investigate the educational enhancements of URE participation from the perspective of practicing…

Drawing on primary data and adjunct material, this article adopts a critical self-reflexive approach to a three-year, Australian Research Council-funded project that explored themes around "employment citizenship" for high school students in Queensland. The article addresses three overlapping areas that reflect some of the central…

California's community colleges continue to play a crucial role in the state's economy by providing students with the skills and knowledge to succeed and by advancing the economic growth and global competitiveness of California and its regional economies through the Economic and Workforce Development Program (EWD). The EWD program invests in the…

This report revisits the debate about why social mobility levels are relatively low in Great Britain and the United States of America compared to other countries. It focuses on three main areas within this debate: (1) the changing role of educational inequalities; (2) the expectation of ever higher levels of education as revealed in increasing…

California's degree gap is a growing concern. According to recent reports and news articles comparing the number of degrees awarded with the jobs expected in the coming decade, California will not have enough university graduates to meet the needs of the labor market. Previous work by the California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) showed…

Today, a national economy gone bust has derailed Black Americans' plans across the country. Gone are many of the economic gains, small as they were, achieved in the post-segregation era by millions of 1960s generation children and their children. Black America today is beset by job losses, business closures, pay cuts, furloughs, investment and…

Using an equity perspective, this article compares the education systems of the United States and the Netherlands. Existing data examining student demographics, the organizational structures, curricula, funding, and student outcomes are examined. The Netherlands appears to be getting a "bigger bang for their buck." We make the case that…

This study examined the relationship between cooperative education (co-op) and the early career outcomes of graduates at Missouri University of Science and Technology, a science and technological research university in the Midwest. The study's primary purpose was to provide university leadership with a quantitative evaluation of the university's…

The U.S.'s educational system is at a crossroads. Preparing every student for college and careers in the information age requires that school districts invest more and differently in teaching effectiveness, time, individual attention, and information systems. But even before a decline in revenue, district leaders face automatic increases in…

Despite the current economic downturn, workforce projections indicate that California will experience shortages in its supply of baccalaureate-trained workers in the decades to come, particularly engineers, accountants, nurses, teachers and law enforcement professionals. Students often start their journey toward these occupations in community…

Those following recent employment trends have heard about the nursing shortage. A combination of increased demand and impending retirements means 1 million nurses will be needed in hospitals, homes, and medical facilities by 2018. That's good news for job seekers. But it is not just shortages in nursing. Allied health careers, including…

This article focuses on the impact on schools and schooling of the ten-year "People's War" in Nepal between 1997 and 2007. It draws on research conducted in schools under a British Council funded Higher Education link from 2000 to 2006. In particular, we examine the role that education played in creating and sustaining the conflict in…

This article illustrates projected employment change from an industry perspective over the 2008-2018 decade. Workers are grouped into an industry according to the type of good produced or service provided by the establishment in which they work. Industry employment projections are shown in terms of numeric change (growth or decline in the total…