"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) Senate Appropriations Committee Passes Education Funding Bill: Bill Would Target 40 Percent of School Improvement…

As the nation has embraced the need to graduate every student ready for college and careers, high school reform has emerged at the top of the education agenda. Many local and state leaders are implementing strategies to address low performance and close achievement gaps. As federal policymakers look ahead to opportunities to support this…

This study examines the implementation and organization of the state mandated curriculum in the 4-hour SEI block in 18 K-12 classrooms in 5 different districts. We focus on the effects of grouping by language proficiency, the delivery of the structure-based ESL curriculum, the provision of resources and limiting of access to grade-level…

Researchers target 9th grade as the make or break year for completing high school. During the 9th-grade year, many students for the first time have to earn passing grades in core courses, and these core courses are typically some of the toughest and most rigorous academic classes a student must take in high school. Furthermore, the rising use of…

Latinos now constitute the largest minority group in the United States and the fastest growing segment of its school-age population. Yet they are the least educated of all major ethnic groups. Poverty, lack of access to high-quality preschool, low levels of parental education attainment, and hypersegregated schools all play a crucial role. The…

An analysis of accountability for high school graduation rates under the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) reveals two major problems: (1) State goals for raising graduation rates are far too low to spur needed improvement and (2) Gaps between student groups are allowed to persist by an accountability system that looks only at average…

With a bachelor's degree fast becoming the standard requirement for achieving success in the modern economy, college enrollment is increasing rapidly nationwide. State funding for colleges and universities continues to subsidize the cost of educating state residents, but spiraling expenditures in other areas are straining the ability of states to…

Various studies show that interscholastic sport participants, and specifically female athletes, enjoy numerous educational benefits at the high school level. Because of the influx in the number of females engaging in high school sport that has occurred during the past 30 years, few studies have been able to adequately assess whether females'…

Riverside has long struggled to shake its reputation as a campus of last resort in the University of California system, taking in students who could not get accepted at more prestigious branches. But Riverside's position has also allowed it to draw large numbers of students from low-income backgrounds, who are likelier than their wealthier peers…

With the 1984 publication of "A Nation at Risk" the K-12 school reform movement was launched. The report predicted that, if the United States was to maintain its global economic leadership, a rigorous curriculum in primary and secondary schools would be necessary to prepare students for a productive college academic experience. Nearly 22…

This paper calculates the public savings (financial benefits) from greater public investments in the education of African-American males. Over one-fifth of each age cohort of black males in US is not a high school graduate. We identify five interventions that would--based on credible research--increase the graduation rate; we also report the…

The road to a college degree is often littered with potholes of self-doubt, and sometimes those are deep enough to discourage even the most ambitious students. If the transition from high school to college were easy, the average six-year graduation rate at four-year institutions in the U.S. would probably be higher than 63%. To improve those…

Three years ago, as part of a broad effort to raise academic standards in college sports, the NCAA adopted a controversial rule designed to make life difficult for athletes idling in the classroom. The measure--known as the 40-60-80 rule, or the "progress toward degree" requirement--mandates that, to remain eligible to compete, athletes must…

In an effort to answer the "Educational Call to Arms", our national public schools have turned to Advanced Placement (AP) courses as the predominate vehicle used to address the lack of academic rigor in our public high schools. Advanced Placement is believed by many to provide students with the rigor and work ethic necessary to…

The "28th Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 2006" follows the 2005--i.e., the 27th annual report--in sequence. The "28th Annual Report to Congress" has two volumes. Volume 1 presents a picture of how children and students are being served under the law nationwide…