Both internationally and within South Africa the failure rates at universities are presently high and throughput and graduation rates are low. It is thus imperative that the cognitive and non-cognitive predictors related to identifying learners who will succeed academically are explored. This paper focuses on two potentially important…

A new virtual learning environment (VLE) was developed to provide structured support to distance education students undertaking postgraduate study on a core study module of the Master of Education degree at the University of Dundee. Students were offered the option of receiving support via the VLE as opposed to the existing methods, that included…

"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) "Who's Counted? Who's Counting?": New Alliance Report Examines Graduation Rate Reporting, Addresses Public…

With the enactment of Act 46 of 2005, the General Assembly changed the landscape of funding, auditing and reporting for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's fourteen community colleges. Act 46 also requires that the Department of Education produce an annual report reflecting data collected from the community colleges relevant to the immediately…

During the last two decades, estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau have suggested that the U.S. high school completion rate was steadily rising and nearing 90 percent. In the last few years, however, estimates from independent researchers have contradicted this rosy picture and found much lower completion rates ranging from 66.1 percent to 74.4…

Parents, legislators, and even students worry about graduation rates at American public colleges and universities. They compare the statistics they see to their idealized memory of a time when college students enrolled in college immediately after high school and graduated with a bachelor's degree four years later. Although this enrollment pattern…

The academic performance of intercollegiate athletes at the University of California (UC), Davis, was studied, using graduation rates and grade point average (GPA) as performance measures. Comparisons of academic performance of athletes and other UC Davis undergraduates were also made. Of 1,042 male athletes during 1970-1979, 63 percent were…

Washington state's public four-year universities and college have submitted their 2003-05 accountability plans to the Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB). The state operating budget directs the Board to review these plans and set biennial performance targets for each institution. For 2003-05, the four-year institutions are reporting on a…

How can teachers and administrators steer students toward graduation and away from dropping out? What determining factors contribute to a student's choice to drop out? Why is high school graduation such an important issue in society today? Effective prevention and intervention programs for the most vulnerable students are key to improving…

The federal Migrant Education Program provides supplemental instruction and support services to migrant children through grants to states under Title I, Part C, of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The reauthorization of Title I in 1994 contained new requirements that Title I schools help students meet new state standards developed for…

This report examines the demographics, performance, and success of students who were admitted to the University of British Columbia on the basis of transfer credits earned at a BC college during the five year period comprising the 2000/01 through 2004/05 academic years. Data are provided that indicates the number of transfer students, where they…

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 requires that public elementary and secondary school systems be held accountable for achieving high levels of educational proficiency for all students. While achievement testing is the central component of state accountability systems under NCLB, these systems must include graduation rates as an academic…

This report examines how successful America's high schools have been in raising high school graduation rates over the past decade and how severe the high school dropout problem actually is. It reviews existing empirical evidence on the school dropout problems of America's youth during the 1990s. It also presents evidence to support the view that…

College costs are rising and enrollments are at an all-time high, yet the proportion of students earning degrees has stayed more or less constant for decades. This leads some to conclude that colleges aren't holding up their end of the educational bargain. The question, Do they graduate? is receiving the most scrutiny by state legislatures and by…

The purposes of this study were to ascertain which Texas public community colleges have been able to graduate the highest percentages of black males and to analyze the factors contributing to that achievement. An institutional questionnaire was developed, designed to elicit information regarding policies and/or practices directly related to the…