The merits of a public campaign can rarely be gauged fully in its early months or even in its initial year. Rather, the true measures of a campaign's successes are revealed over time: in its ongoing impacts on opinion or policy, and on the tangible results it achieves. On both accounts, Philadelphia's Project U-Turn campaign continues to make…

Today, America faces a shifting and demanding economic and workforce environment. Americans know that the workplace is changing but not where it's heading. Each demonstration of the latest breakthrough technology can have enormous impact on the society, opening up entire new industries and markets and instantly limiting the viability of others. Of…

The study explores the ways in which school size influences two important student outcomes commonly used in school effects research: growth in mathematics achievement and dropout rate. Past research suggests that smaller high schools can lead to increased benefits for students. In this study, multilevel analytic models of the first two waves of…

Montana's definition of a basic system of quality public elementary and secondary schools includes educational programs for at-risk students (20-9-309, MCA). State statute defines an at-risk student as a "student who is affected by environmental conditions that negatively impact the student's educational performance or threaten a student's…

The annual event dropout rate describes the proportion of students who leave school each year without completing a high school program. The event dropout rates for the school year 2008-2009 of 2.04% for grades 7 through 12th and 2.89% for grades 9 through 12th are consistent with the dropout rates for the past four years. The event completion rate…

For many years, the responsibility of educating Latino students has been delegated to Latino educators, bilingual teachers, or bilingual directors. Educators have not acknowledged it as a responsibility of each adult hired by the public school system. Although bilingual education has grown into an incredible educational movement, the same…

One of the serious problems associated with Indian school education has been high dropout rate. The reasons are many and varied but the major constraints are: non-availability of adequate number of competent and trained teachers in most of the schools and separate room for each class. To overcome such problems and increase equitable access to all,…

Background: Performance in high school science is a critical indicator of science literacy and regional competitiveness. Factors that influence science proficiency have been studied using national databases, but these do not answer all questions about variable relationships at the state level. School context factors and opportunities to learn…

During the past two decades, volition, defined as the ability to stay task-focused and ward off distractions, has become of special relevance for educational research and practice. It describes how decreased motivation or negative emotions can be dealt with by applying action control strategies. However, despite its potential, an important area of…

This paper reviewed the research literature on graduation rates in U.S. high schools to evaluate and assess the findings. The methodology employed was to determine the measuring method that researchers used in reaching their findings. The strengths and weaknesses of the method employed were then analyzed. Flaws and inaccuracies were examined and…

In 1988, U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett proclaimed Chicago's public schools to be the worst in the nation. Since that time, Chicago has been at the forefront of urban school reform. Beginning with a dramatic move in 1990 to shift power away from the central office, through CEO Paul Vallas's use of standardized testing to hold schools…

There has been a wealth of research conducted on the national epidemic of high school dropouts spanning several decades. It is estimated that the class of 2009 cost the nation $335 billion in lost wages, taxes and productivity over their lifetimes (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2009). The citizenry of the country suffers not only because of…

This annual report provides a review of Colorado Children's Campaign's accomplishments in 2010. The report is comprised of the following sections: (1) Letter from President and CEO; (2) About Us: 2010 in Review; (3) Child Health; (4) Early Childhood Development; (5) K-12 Education; (6) Fiscal Policy and Budget Analysis; (7) 2010 Legislative…

The Lao People's Democratic Republic Inclusive Education Project started in 1993 and during a 16-year period, ending in May 2009, it aimed to support the participation of all children in school, with a particular focus on disabled students. The main strategy to enable this involved working to change the education system through the introduction of…

Each edition of the IDRA Newsletter strives to provide many different perspectives on the issues in education topics discussed and to define its significance in the state and national dialogue. This issue focuses on Student Engagement and includes: (1) Texas Public School Attrition Study, 2007-08: At Current Pace, Schools Will Lose Many More…