Never before in U.S. history has the quality of human resources--the skills and education of its people-been so important to the economic prospects of states and their residents. Within the next 20 years, the nation will lack 14 million people with postsecondary education unless states realize significant improvements in high school and…

The Toolbox Revisited is a data essay that follows a nationally representative cohort of students from high school into postsecondary education, and asks what aspects of their formal schooling contribute to completing a bachelor's degree by their mid-20s. The universe of students is confined to those who attended a four-year college at any time,…

After reviewing research on national trends concerning private versus public schooling, the author examines how private school options in the Chicago metropolitan area might affect academic achievement for various demographic groups. Although the vast majority of students in suburban schools graduate from high school, with a high percentage going…

More than any other group of stakeholders, business leaders are aware that this country's ability to remain competitive in a global, technology-based economy is ever more closely tied to its ability to produce more and better prepared college graduates. Graduating more students from various backgrounds who are well prepared to meet the social,…

Achievement testing is the centerpiece of the state accountability systems mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Accordingly, the public attention directed towards achievement scores has largely eclipsed the crucial role that graduation rates play in NCLB accountability, at least until recently. As a new body of research on…

This study uses a widely respected method to calculate public high school graduation rates for the nation, for each state, and for the 100 largest school districts in the United States. Graduation rates are calculated overall, by race, and by gender, using the most recent available data (the class of 2003). While this report builds upon a…

Student success in college has never been more important. The economic advantage to baccalaureate degree holders remains substantial, with college graduates averaging a million dollars more in lifetime earnings than high school graduates. There is also the long list of non-pecuniary benefits of college--intellectual development and critical…

As a result of the increasing number of students with disabilities entering post-secondary education, disability support services offices across the nation are faced with providing more varied and specialized services. Yet there is a limited body of knowledge within the postsecondary education and disability field on what services and specific…

This report summarizes the latest available national statistics on access and attainment by low income and minority community college students. The data come from the National Center for Education Statistics' (NCES) Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) annual surveys of all postsecondary educational institutions and the NCES…

Females are now doing as well as or better than males on many indicators of achievement and attainment, according to a new study by the U.S. Department of Education. On the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), females outperformed their male peers on reading (2003) and writing (2002) assessments at the fourth, eighth and twelfth…

During the past two decades 2-year colleges have become an increasingly important part of the American higher education system, especially for Hispanics who are disproportionately likely to start their careers in 2-year colleges. Given that today's economy rewards college attendance more than every before [Bound & Johnson (1992). "The…

This article evaluates the "mismatch" hypothesis, advocated by opponents of affirmative action, which predicts lower graduation rates for minority students who attend selective post-secondary institutions than for those who attend colleges and universities where their academic credentials are better matched to the institutional average. Using two…

This study takes a close look at the whole cycle of the 9-yr compulsory education in two communities in north China. It reveals that although there are nearly 100% enrollment and completion rates at the primary level, dropouts constitute a serious problem at the secondary level, thus rendering the 9-yr compulsory schooling an unfinished cycle.…

The degree to which SAT scores and high school grade-point average (GPA) predicted first-year college GPA (FGPA) and college graduation was examined for four groups: Hispanic students whose first language was Spanish and Hispanic, Black, and White students whose first language was English. The percentage of variance in FGPA jointly explained by…

Cox (1972) proposed a discrete-time survival model that is somewhat analogous to the proportional hazards model for continuous time. Efron (1988) showed that this model can be estimated using ordinary logistic regression software, and Singer and Willett (1993) provided a detailed illustration of a particularly flexible form of the model that…