This policy brief focuses on a specific subgroup of ELL students: newcomers who enter a school district in the ninth grade knowing little or no English. Many of these immigrant students also have interrupted or limited formal education. In this brief we address two issues within the control of local school districts: 1) how to define and track…

Number of English Language Learners (ELLs) at U.S. public schools is increasing each year, and putting more and more mainstream teachers in need of teaching to this student group. ELLs are a vulnerable group with low academic success level and high drop-out rate. Preparing in-service and pre-service teachers to teach these students is crucial…

There are ambitious institutional and national goals that aspire to improve the six year graduation rate for undergraduate students. An important element of increasing the overall rate lies in decreasing the educational attainment gaps for low-income, first generation, and other historically underserved students. Comprehensive theoretical…

For decades, college access programs have aimed to improve college readiness and enrollment rates, particularly for underrepresented populations. Though several published reports have produced comprehensive inventories of college access programs (Gandara, 2001; Perna, 2002; Tierney, Bailey, Constantine, Finkelstein, & Hurd, 2009), no systematic…

Essential to tracking student success at community colleges is the availability of solid data and commonly defined metrics that go beyond measuring the traditional (and limited) enrollment and graduation rates that these colleges report to the federal government. In particular, what is needed are metrics that illuminate what happens to students…

When Superintendent Denise Juneau took office in 2009, there were 2,423 students who dropped out of school, and Montana had a dropout rate of 5.1 percent. Inspired by the early successes of the Graduation Matters Missoula initiative, Superintendent Juneau launched Graduation Matters Montana in 2010. Graduation Matters Montana is a statewide effort…

The goal of "college-for-all" in the United States has been pursued in an environment of rising tuition, stagnant grant aid and already strapped family budgets with the gap filled by college loans. College students are thus facing increasing levels of debt as they seek to develop their human capital and improve their career options. Debt…

U.S. education has experienced many waves of reform in responding to rapid changes in knowledge, technologies, and the economy. It is now widely accepted that, to succeed in the future, all young people must have the opportunity to develop critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, and communication competencies--often referred to as…

This is a new report that combines the previous Annual Accountability Report and University Work Plans into a single document more closely aligned with the Board of Governors' 2025 System Strategic Plan. This revised document will enhance the System's commitment to accountability and strategic planning by enabling comparisons between past goals…

This brief focuses on whether outcomes are being reported for English Learners (ELs), and compares outcomes for ELs on select indicators (graduation rate and postsecondary enrollment) because the outcomes data being reported across states on certain indicators vary so widely that it makes cross-state comparisons challenging, if not impossible.…

Students need learning experiences connected with the world of work to equip them to enter the workforce and secure good jobs. This report provides an overview of funding for career and technical education and a detailed look at Career and Technical Education (CTE) funding models in Arkansas, Indiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and West…

This data book profiles noteworthy academic events, trends and outcomes at the state and complex-area level. It includes tables, figures and narrative sections related to demographic, financial and educational performance. Also, comparisons to other states with characteristics similar to Hawaii are provided to illustrate relative progress or…

In this paper we estimate the impacts of the "pathways" chosen by community college students--in terms of desired credentials and fields of study, as well as other choices and outcomes along the paths--on the attainment of credentials with labor market value. We focus on the extent to which there are recorded changes in students' choices…

The study featured in this What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) Quick Review examined whether "InsideTrack", a personalized student coaching service for college students, increased rates of staying in and graduating from college. The study analyzed data on about 13,500 students who were enrolled in one of eight higher education institutions…

Previous research on attrition has focused on the economic consequences of low graduation rates in terms of costs to students and families (from tuition and fees that do not culminate in a credential), lost time, and income and tax losses from low educational attainment in the workforce. However, no systematic attention has been given to another…