States and districts are under increasing pressure to ensure all students complete high school in four years; however, many students who fall off-track on the way to graduation take longer than the traditional four years to earn a high school diploma or its equivalent. Unfortunately, those schools and districts serving overage, under-credit…

This article features Worcester (MA) Technical High School, a school that has achieved significant gains in Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) scores. The school opened as Worcester Boys' Trade High School on February 9, 1910, with 52 student ironworkers and woodworkers attending on weekdays and Saturday mornings--the beginning…

"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) On Anniversary of "Brown Versus Board of Education," Providing True Educational Equality for All Students…

During a four-week period (May 23, 2011-June 21, 2011), the Western Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) held a series of public meetings to solicit input and deliberate on key educational needs facing the four states in the region--Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah. A two-day, face-to-face, public meeting was held May 23-24, 2011 in Arlington,…

This article reports on plans by the Bush administration to set a uniform way for states to calculate and report their graduation rates, which could make it harder for high schools to avoid accountability measures under the No Child Left Behind Act. In the U.S. Department of Education's latest move to refine the implementation of the NCLB law,…

If the nation is to truly meet the goal of every child a graduate, everybody must hold schools responsible for graduating every student with a regular diploma, particularly poor and minority students. Unfortunately, current education accountability systems virtually ignore high school graduation rates. This brief summarizes such shortcomings in…

When the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was drafted and signed into law, little attention was paid to the unique challenges that exist in the nation's high schools and what is best known about how to improve them. As a result, the law emerged with provisions that often neglect, or that are even at odds with, the needs of America's…

This report examines a little noticed group of Californians: young immigrants not in school and who receive few if any educational services. The authors also observe the federal Migrant Education Program (MEP), charged with helping this group. Using MEP and census data, the authors find that many out-of-school youth work, left school while quite…

This report presents status and trend data in several areas relevant to Latino children in the United States. The Latino population under age 18 years is growing faster than that of any other racial and ethnic group, and the challenges confronting these children have implications for cities and states where they live. While Latino children are…

This report summarizes findings and recommendations of hearings on the relationship between adolescent drug use and dropping out of school. Witnesses discussed the nature, dimensions and severity of the problem, State and local initiatives being taken to respond to the problem, and recommendations for Federal action to support and facilitate State…

This volume is one of the products of the knowledge development effort implemented under the mandate of the Youth Employment and Demonstration Projects Act of 1977. The report focuses on the young school drop-out portion only of the supported work experiment, which also included offenders, ex-addicts, and welfare recipients. The goal of supported…

The Youth Incentive Entitlement Pilot Projects were set up to aid disadvantaged youths, ages 16 to 19, by guaranteeing them a part-time job during the school year and a full-time job during summer months on the condition that they remain in, or return to, a secondary school or enroll in an equivalent education program. The program was started in…

This guide describes the measures California state officials use to evaluate schools and school districts, explaining what they are and what they indicate. Results of standard tests and the Academic Performance Index (API) indicate substantial gaps between the achievement of various groups of students in California. African American, Latino, and…

Information on the Veterans Educational Assistance Program (GI Bill) and other veterans' educational programs, participation rates, eligibility for educational assistance, and training trends is presented. More persons have trained in college than in any other type of training under the GI Bills; this is followed very closely by noncollege school…

This report abstracts and summarizes 19 Indiana Youth Employment and Training Programs (YETPs) funded in FY 1979-80 with moneys allocated by Subpart A, Title IV YETP of the Youth Employment and Demonstration Project Act of 1977. Projects are grouped into subject categories of ongoing and planning projects. Within categories, the projects are…