The transition period of a student from middle school to high school is of critical importance because students who can successfully navigate the first-year physical, academic, and social pressures of high school have the greatest chances for successfully completing high school in four years (Allensworth & Easton, 2005). Students who cannot…

While the value of mentoring has long been presumed in the literature as well as in practices, little is known about the success of formal, and informal mentoring practices (Crisp, 2010; Crisp & Cruz, 2009; & Ward & Ball, 2016). In addition, there is a lack of research on community college student mentoring in higher education…

Each year approximately 1.3 million students dropout of high school and an estimated 40% of minority students do not graduate on time (Roybal, Thornton, & Usinger, 2014). In high school, 22% of students repeat 9th-grade classes because students fail to make a smooth transition. This gives the 9th-grade the highest enrollment rate and the…

In 2007, spurred by University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research (UChicago CCSR) research reports, leadership at the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) began a new targeted approach to reducing course failure in the ninth grade. The research suggested that the transition between eighth and ninth grade played a critical role in shaping…

As attention to ninth grade transitions has grown, so has the need to carefully gauge the impacts of efforts to improve student outcomes. The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC), supported by the Institute for Education Sciences at the US Department of Education, sorts interventions based on the quality and the outcomes of the scientifically based…

This fourth annual update on America's high school dropout crisis shows that for the first time the nation is on track to meet the goal of a 90 percent high school graduation rate by the Class of 2020--if the pace of improvement from 2006 to 2010 is sustained over the next 10 years. The greatest gains have occurred for the students of color and…

What does the research say about effective transition systems between the middle grades and high school? The most successful schools see the transition between the middle grades and high school as a process, not an event. These schools involve teachers, students and families in continuous planning to support students' academic and social success…

The lines between academic study and career and technical skills training are blurring. State and national leaders are beginning to recognize the transformational potential career and technical education (CTE) offers for such issues as secondary-postsecondary transitions, remediation, and the drop-out problem. At the national level, the National…

It is argued that the social control function of education and training is becoming increasingly explicit in England and France. Education and training can be viewed as a form of custody for young people, with enforced participation post 16 planned in the near future in England. Compulsory education for this age group is not currently planned in…

Austin Independent School District provided summer programs in 2010 for students to accelerate academic learning, maintain academic skills between school years, recover course credits, retake state achievement tests, or experience school-level transition activities. This is the full report, a research brief was also published. [For the research…

In the 2007 edition of "Diplomas Count", "Education Week" reported that nationally more than one-third of the students lost from the high school pipeline fail to make the transition from the ninth to the 10th grade. This explains why, for more than two decades, schools and districts across the country have struggled to develop freshman transition…

No state can afford to have the percentage of young people who are failing to finish high school remain at the present levels nor can they afford to ease the standards. This document discusses the following 10 strategies that states can implement to raise achievement and increase high school completion rates: (1) Initiate a transition program for…

The transition into high school is a critical point in the educational pipeline, and ninth-grade can be characterized as one of its leakiest junctures. This policy brief examines how some states and districts are currently easing the transition into high school for students. It focuses on five key challenges that states, districts and schools…

The purpose of this annotated bibliography is to identify and summarize research on the scope, characteristics and impact of academic and social support services for students. Several reports on academic rigor have also been included to establish a context for the importance of social and academic support. The bibliography is divided into five…

This monograph reviews pertinent research and issues concerning grade retention in an effort to understand the implications for retention and promotion policies, especially in elementary schools. The monograph discusses 11 topics, including: (1) the historical context of retention and promotion; (2) the link between grade retention and dropouts;…