Over the past year, in a process to select the winner of the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, the Aspen Institute has convened national experts to define and determine how to measure "excellence," to identify community colleges with high levels of student success, and to help more community colleges understand what can be done to…

This article sought to identify factors related to high school completion rates and college enrollment among Hispanic students. Hispanic students were found to have high attrition rates in institutions of higher education. Implications for the development and implementation of retention programs for Hispanic high school students, such as…

This article examines national employment and program trends in the nursing profession, the nursing shortage in Iowa, and state policy and community college responses in Iowa. During the seven-year period 2001-2008, two Iowa governors convened special task forces to study the nursing shortage and to make recommendations. The policy responses dealt…

This paper explores three trends related to the Hispanic community in the US. First we are interested in identifying the achievement scores and graduation rates of Hispanic students. Second, we are interested in Hispanic populations as library patrons. And third, we are interested in how Hispanic book characters are portrayed in literature for…

Locus of control is considered the belief in one's ability to influence life events. Someone who accepts both positive and negative outcomes and consequences as the result of their own behaviour is considered "internal" whereas someone who considers others to have influence over both positive (luck) and negative (others' fault) results…

This study uses panel data to examine the direct link between state funding and graduation rates at 4-year public institutions. We find some evidence for a positive association between state funding and college graduation rates. When other factors are held constant, a 10% increase in state appropriations per full-time equivalent (FTE) student at…

This overview of postsecondary education in the United States reviews the dramatic changes over the past fifty years in the students who go to college, the institutions that produce higher education, and the ways it is financed. The article, by Sandy Baum, Charles Kurose, and Michael McPherson, creates the context for the articles that follow on…

Since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the retention of African American students at predominately White colleges and universities continues to be problematic. Although many of these institutions have implemented retention programs for African American students, few have incorporated a comprehensive program that utilizes multi-program…

This quantitative study was designed to analyze the percentage of students pursuing selected Career and Technical Education (CTE) vocational courses in schools throughout the State of Florida and to determine if there is a relationship to school district size during school year 2008-2009. The study sought to determine if smaller districts are more…

This report presents research findings for Advanced Placement (AP) student success at the college level. Strong AP programs in high schools, coupled with strong AP policies at colleges, support many positive outcomes for students. Multiple research studies have confirmed that AP students who earn credit and advanced placement for the corresponding…

This compendium of narrative and statistical information is an overview of the Oregon University System (OUS) and is produced every two years. The introduction includes a mission and vision statement, OUS Governance Change Move, a listing of OUS campuses and centers, a roster of the members of the State Board of Higher Education, and Access and…

The Advisory Committee's 2010 report, "The Rising Price of Inequality," found that need-based grant aid from all sources was inadequate by examining the enrollment and completion rates of low-income high school graduates who seek to earn a bachelor's degree and are qualified to gain admission to a 4-year college. The major finding was…

There is growing interest in leveraging Title IV student aid to improve college completion. Advocates have proposed linking funding in the Pell and Campus-Based Programs to measures of college performance. However, to do so in an equitable and efficient manner, raw measures of college output, such as rates of graduation and academic progress, must…

The statute [T.C.A. Section 49-7-202(c)(7)] requires the Tennessee Higher Education Commission to prepare a biennial report for the governor and the general assembly, "commenting upon major developments, trends, new policies, budgets and financial considerations which in the judgment of the commission will be useful to the governor and to the…

This qualitative case study examined causes of low graduation rates for young adults. The purpose of this study was to evaluate students participating in an after-school program and reflect on their perceptions of that program a year after they graduated. The theoretical framework for this study reflected upon an open social system. The research…