The New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA) requested that the Institute for Higher Education Policy evaluate the outcomes of the state's Outstanding Scholar Recruitment Program (OSRP). In particular, HESAA asked that the Institute determine the program's effectiveness in increasing the enrollment and retention of…

America's standard of living and international competitiveness will be strengthened if its high schools are improved. Research indicates that about 75 percent of America's state prison inmates, almost 59 percent of federal inmates, and 69 percent of jail inmates did not complete high school. Additionally, the number of prison inmates without a…

"Alabama Education News" is published monthly except for June, July, and December by the Alabama Department of Education. This publication, authorized by Section 16-2-4 of the "Code of Alabama", as recompiled in 1975, is a public service of the Alabama Department of Education designed to inform citizens and educators about…

Indigenous engagement with vocational education and training (VET) has improved significantly, but successful Indigenous completion rates are lower nationally when compared to the overall population. This report, based on an action research project, examines intra-institutional factors at four Queensland TAFE (technical and further education)…

The focus of this brief is student success: To what extent can the accreditation process drive significant improvement in student persistence and completion at institutions that undergo the peer review process, particularly for students from groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education? Because this inquiry is in service to Achieving…

To be successful in the workforce or in postsecondary education, high school graduates must have achieved competency in the areas of reading, writing, mathematics, and science. Yet, many students leave high school without competency in these areas, putting them at a significant disadvantage both in the workplace and in postsecondary education…

Graduating more students and increasing the quality of their learning are national priorities. Every college and university can improve in these areas by focusing on the educational conditions that matter to student success. Decades of research studies show that a key factor is student engagement--the time and effort students devote to their…

To aid members of the news media in looking at the issues of quality in postsecondary education, the authors of the recently published "Student Success in College: Creating Conditions that Matter" distill some useful factors for the media and the general public to use in assessing the quality of education at four-year colleges and universities.…

Whereas many prior studies evaluated the association between borrower or institutional characteristics and default behavior, the general finding of most researchers today is that college success plays a bigger role in predicting who will default than either the background of the borrower or the type of institution attended. All else being equal,…

Using a weighted database of approximately 3,000 students, this study involves the tracing of the postsecondary history of 2,516 students who identified as Native Hawaiian, graduated from high school between 1993 and 1995, and attended college. Virtually none of the students are 100% Hawaiian. Due to a long history of intermarriage, the Hawaiian…

Community colleges educate many traditionally underserved students, including students of color, first-generation students, and low-income students. This chapter discusses what we know about these students, how they have fared in college transitions, how educational pipeline and deficit models have helped or hindered their progress, and what…

After decades of exclusion from graduate and professional education opportunities, the number of African Americans seeking advanced degrees has been gradually increasing since the mid-twentieth century. However, the participation of African Americans across the professions and the academy remains low. The authors explore the "pipeline" leading to…

In this article, the author uses a comparison of various measures of success for developmental students at Patrick Henry Community College with the faculty's perceptions of these measures to break down misconceptions and stereotypes about developmental education and provide ever-needed credibility and acceptance for developmental programs.…

Student service programs act as key resources to help students persist in school until graduation. However, some critics question whether service programs aimed at specific ethnic populations contribute sufficiently toward their persistence. Tinto (1975) argues that the stronger one is integrated into the institution, the more likely he/she will…

"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) Miller Time: Committee Chairman Outlines NCLB Improvement Priorities; Sets September Goal for House Reauthorization…