Explored why 30 percent of students admitted to graduate programs in Texas A & M University's College of Education did not register. Found that non-registrants selected universities to which they did not have to relocate or commute too far, and which responded promptly with acceptance decisions and financial aid offers. (EV)

Reviews literature on assessment and assessment of student retention programs, then presents a six-step conceptual model of assessment that is applicable to cross-cutting retention programs. Uses the literature to support the presentation of four simultaneously present retention paradigms of what is valued and can be stated as desired retention…

Career academies now number more than 1,500 nationwide. The concept has roots in colonial times and in the German continuation model. High-risk academy students have lower dropout rates, are more engaged in the curriculum, and continue on to postsecondary education at a higher rate than their nonacademy peers. They also have improved job…

Investigates the relationship between family structure and 4-year college enrollment and completion. Uses 1980 High School and Beyond Sophomore cohort and its subsequent followup surveys. Finds that family-income differences can explain much of the differences in college attendance and completion rates between students from disrupted families and…

Examines returns to university quality for a sample of students drawn from a national longitudinal survey. Returns differ dramatically across educational paths and university quality ranges. Observes a large, positive return rate for university and community-college transfers graduating from highest quality universities and insignificant returns…

Noel-Levitz, a consulting firm specializing in higher education enrollment management, financial aid, and student retention, honored seven institutions with its 2001 Retention Excellence Awards. This article takes a look at the award-winning academic retention programs and what makes them effective. (EV)

We investigate the relationship between the widening participation performance indicators adopted in UK higher education (HE) and the government's objective of increasing overall HE participation rates. We critically assess the development of performance monitoring in HE and identify weaknesses in the current performance indicators from the…

In this article, the author describes the "Get on the Bus" program and how it was instituted in high school. The program aims to snag students with the feel of a college campus. Since high school is not sufficient for success in the society, the high school faculty agreed to send at least 90% of each graduating class on to further education.…

Latinos/as in the United States are the fastest growing segment of the population. In light of this fact, many education researchers and practitioners have turned their attention towards efforts designed to develop an understanding of the Latino/a educational experience. Unfortunately, the research reveals that Latino youth have excessively low…

Some projections about Hispanic individuals point to a rosy picture regarding gains in higher educational enrollment. Other studies lament that these gains are, at best, minimal. Although the so-called higher education pie is undoubtedly expanding, this article concludes that Hispanic adults are losing, rather than gaining, educational attainment…

The paper assesses the effects of offering upper-secondary students the opportunity to pursue vocational education in high school on completion rates and subsequent earnings. Analysis of international cross-section data found that nations enrolling a large proportion of upper-secondary students in vocational programs have significantly higher…

In debates about the adoption of the unified state examination, evaluations have ranged all the way from "a key direction in the modernization of education" to "a three-letter outrage," while those who are support it and those who oppose it have probably done more to accuse their opponents of all the deadly sins than to…

The materials in this College Planning Guide support a 40-50 minute general college planning presentation. It is most effective when delivered to high school juniors (and their parents) in the spring. It can also be used in the fall with seniors or with sophomores and their parents who desire an overview of the college planning process. The…

While male high school graduates were more likely to enroll in college than their female counterparts three decades ago, this pattern reversed by the late 1980s. The gender gap in college attendance rates has continued to increase ever since. In this paper, I examine several factors that might affect the diverging college entrance patterns for…

This article discusses the development and impact of the Platte River Corridor Project, a successful university/K-12 partnership designed to address the inequality in learning outcomes for Latino students by increasing the effectiveness of K-12 classroom teachers in educating Latino English Language Learner (ELL) students and by facilitating…