A problem recognized in the United States is that a K-12 public education in urban communities is more likely to support existing patterns of inequality than to serve as a pathway to opportunity. The specific focus of this research was on the poor academic performance in U.S. K-12 urban communities. Using Benet's polarities of democracy theory as…

This mixed-methods study approach investigated the impact of standardized tests on student achievement from the STEM program and the traditional program in a suburban high school. Qualitative data were collected from interviews, focus groups, and questionnaires to get perceptual data from teachers. Quantitative data were collected from different…

The purpose of this study was to: examine differences in students' perceptions of their noncognitive skills and school environments by race/ethnicity, and explore whether students' perceptions of their noncognitive skills and school environments were related to three outcomes that have been identified in the research as mattering most for a…

Enrollment in online courses has outpaced overall university enrollment for the past several years. The growth of online courses does not appear to be slowing. The purpose of this study was to compare course completion and student academic performance between online and traditional courses. Archival data from the host university student records…

The Achieving Collegiate Excellence and Success (ACES) program is a collaboration between MCPS, Montgomery College, and the Universities at Shady Grove to create a seamless pathway from high school to college completion; it targets students who are underrepresented in higher education, the first in their family to attend college, or both. As one…

Consistent increases to the educational costs to attend the University of California are the current climate students and families find themselves grappling with. The federal work study program is one program employed to support students and their families in financing the cost of education. In an effort to further enhance the professional…

In 1988, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) developed a private school data collection that improved on the sporadic collection of private school data dating back to 1890 by developing an alternative to commercially available private school sampling frames. Since 1989, the U.S. Bureau of the Census has conducted the biennial…

This causal-comparative study researched the effects of dual enrollment and Huskins Bill course experience on traditional-age North Carolina community college students. The study examined course effects on academic success and graduation rate using quantitative statistical measures including parametric and nonparametric means comparisons. The…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of high school transition strategies for ninth grade students in comparison to the traditional high school experience of first time ninth grade students. This study compared the English End-of-Course (EOC) test scores of first time ninth grade students in a traditional high school setting…

This research explored the perceptions of high school principals and teachers on the implementation of professional learning communities (PLCs) in their schools. These perceptions were surveyed using the Professional Learning Communities Assessment-Revised (PLCA-R). Data results were examined for areas of agreement and disagreement between the…

What are the qualities of classroom, school, and district processes and practices in rural high schools with higher-than average graduation rates? How do these processes and practices compare with rural schools with histories of average graduation rates? In this study, six schools were sampled for a multiple case study of rural high school…

In this report the authors continue the examination of high school graduation and post-secondary enrollment in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP). They consider students enrolled in the MPCP in either 8th or 9th grade in 2006, and a comparison sample of students enrolled in the Milwaukee Public Schools. They find that, as of September…

The purpose of this quantitative, causal comparative study was to examine the extent to which attending an alternative educational program at some point during high school could likely influence the graduation rate of at-risk students in an urban school district in the state of Missouri. Four years of nonrandom samples of graduation data from 2006…

In 1988, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) introduced a proposal to develop a private school data collection that would improve on the sporadic collection of private school data dating back to 1890 and improve on commercially available private school sampling frames. Since 1989, the U.S. Bureau of the Census has conducted the…

A quasi-experiment using quantitative methods was conducted to examine the effects on academic student outcomes when a cohort of employed low-SES community college commuter students (the treatment group, N=198) participated in a comprehensive support and access intervention program, compared with similar students (the matched comparison group,…