As the staff and students of Littleton (Colorado) High School have found, talking about restructured educational programs is easier than implementing them. Participants redesigning graduation requirements encountered seven realities, namely the need for sacrifice, adequate funding, discussion time, outside perspectives, ways to dispel fear and…

National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data on 2,754 college attenders and 4,323 nonattenders were analyzed using probit models measuring four college quality categories as well as graduation decisions. Students of all ability levels had higher chances of graduating if the quality level of their college matched their skill level. (SK)

Analysis of data from NCAA Division I schools for male football and male and female basketball players shows that traditional labor market opportunities unrelated to sports are significant explanatory variables for athletes' academic persistence. Professional sports opportunities also have a significant impact on the graduation rate of athletes.…

This article is based on participant observation, review of documents such as curriculum materials, and interviews with participants associated with Spotted Eagle Alternative High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The school was founded to combat the high dropout rate of American Indian students from mainstream secondary settings and offers a last…

With the birth of a child with a disability, parents experience loss, mourning, and chronic grief. They confront difficult questions about their unexpected child's future and their own. At transition times in the child's life, the parents' early feelings and questions resurface in a somewhat altered, but often intense, form. The author discusses…

This article addresses birth parents in the adoption triad by reviewing and integrating both the clinical and empirical literature from a number of professional disciplines with practice case studies. This review includes literature on the decision to relinquish one's child for adoption, the early postrelinquishment period, and the effects…

Although previous research has not consistently shown that uncertainty about academic major negatively impacts graduation, commitment is largely believed to affect college students' success. We investigated the impact of institutional commitment, commitment to an educational goal, and commitment to an academic major on the probabilities of…

This article describes in detail the Tian Yong v. University of Science and Technology, Beijing case. Plaintiff Tian Yong sued University of Science and Technology for refusing to issue him certificates of graduation and degree. Tian Yong believed that he had met all the criteria to be considered a legally qualified college graduate and that it is…

"National CrossTalk" is a publication of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. The National Center promotes public policies that enhance opportunities for quality education and training beyond high school. The primary purpose of "National CrossTalk" is to stimulate informed discussion and debate of higher…

When the Commission on Access, Admissions and Success in Higher Education (subsequently referred to as the commission) convened in the fall of 2008, the educational landscape included a number of issues that the commission's members recognized as formidable challenges to those students who aspire to enroll and succeed in college. The Commission's…

State testing or end-of-course exams are recommended to determine if high school graduates are ready to enter college or the workforce because these assessments are aligned to content area expectations and standards that are measurable within each state as well as from state to state (Achieve, 2006). However, such assessments do not measure all…

Reported here are the results of analyses to describe the patterns of identification and academic and developmental outcomes for children with disabilities, conducted as part of the 2004 National Assessment of the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This report provides background context for National…

The Division of Policy, Planning, and Research has assembled the Tennessee Higher Education Fact Book which is a compilation of statistical information pertaining to higher education in Tennessee. The 2009-2010 Fact Book contains tables and charts with data relevant to enrollment, persistence, graduation, tuition, financial aid, lottery…

Teachers who work together to blend academic and career/technical (CT) instruction have found a key to motivating students to complete high school and prepare for college, advanced training and careers. This newsletter highlights key strategies schools are using to join academic and technical studies to advance student motivation and achievement.…

This article presents questions and answers about ACT's College Readiness Benchmarks. ACT's College Readiness Benchmarks are the minimum ACT test scores required for students to have a high probability of success in credit-bearing college courses--English Composition, social sciences courses, College Algebra, or Biology. Colleges can use the…