In looking at recent graduation rates reported by states, Latinos should be proud. For the 2002-03 school year, North Carolina reported a 94% graduation rate for Latinos, while New Mexico claimed an 89% rate, and Indiana, an 85% rate. Unfortunately, these numbers are not only deceptive, they are, according to the Education Trust, wrong. Under the…

The purpose of this study was to determine football coaches' perceptions about support services for two-year college student-athletes. A telephone interview was used to collect data about Personal Services, Career Services, and Academic Services that were available for football players at 33 two-year colleges in 11 states. All two-year colleges…

Few studies examine whether financial aid affects college retention. This paper uses University of Oregon data to examine financial aid's affect on retention net of uniquely detailed enrollee attributes and conditioned on unobserved enrollee attributes identified by jointly modeling retention and enrollment. The results show that need- and…

Amid growing criticism of public universities, there is little discussion of what appropriate institutional evaluation would entail. Six-year graduation rates are commonly used, and public bachelors granting institutions have lower rates than private institutions, but with the growth in non-traditional college attendance, these can be misleading.…

The question addressed in this paper is whether there are signs that students' progression through high school to graduation has been affected by the efforts to increase school accountability, including high-stakes exit exams. If such accountability systems were able to raise student academic performance significantly in elementary and middle…

What steps are needed to be taken to rebuild public investment in America's higher education? In this article, the author offers three actions which he believes the US higher education community must collectively embrace and suggests that the higher education community should also learn to speak with a common voice. To help put that idea into…

According to a February 9, 2006 "New York Times" story headlined, "Panel Explores Standard Tests for Colleges," a new accountability era is descending upon a resistant higher education domain. The story describes the deliberations of a Bush-appointed commission considering imposition of standardized tests on college students. Ten days earlier, the…

A long-standing concern of many colleges and universities are low persistence and graduation rates. This study examined how institutions can affect, and potentially improve, persistence and graduation rates by targeting their expenditures toward those activities that have an affect on persistence and graduation. Framed by Tinto's theory of…

Since 1967, the Nevada State Legislature has mandated higher education institutions compile a comprehensive report on program plans. Therefore, this report is prepared in accordance to state law requiring the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) to prepare a biennial report for submission to the Nevada State Legislature that outlines a plan…

Using the data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, this issue of "Data Notes" is the second of a two-part series investigating the characteristics of late stop-outs--students who accumulate at least 30 credits within the first two years, only to stop out without completing credentials or transferring. The data show that male…

This study provides data from an existing review of secondary data and a survey of dual enrollment managers on the topic of Mississippi community and junior colleges' dual enrollment collaborations with secondary schools and parents of home-schooled students. Dual enrollment, also known as dual credit, concurrent enrollment, and credit based…

The Arizona Minority Education Policy Analysis Center (AMEPAC) is a policy center of the Arizona Commission for Postsecondary Education. AMEPAC's mission is to stimulate, through studies, statewide discussion, and debate, constructive improvement of Arizona minority students' early awareness, access, and achievement throughout the educational…

In 2001, Illinois began administering the ACT (American College Testing) test to all 11th graders in Illinois public schools as part of the Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE). For the first time, ACT scores and background information were available for most public-school students who would be completing high school one year later, rather than…

Now in its third year, "Minnesota Measures" provides policymakers and educators with a statewide look at higher education effectiveness in the context of broad state objectives and national and international performance comparisons. Findings are reported across five goals: (1) Improve success of all students, particularly students from…

Expanded learning opportunities (ELOs), which include afterschool, summer learning, and extended day and extended year programs, can help states reduce dropout rates and increase graduation rates. Effective elementary, middle, and high school ELOs support academic rigor, boost student engagement, and provide students with supportive relationships.…