P-16 STUDIES AND REPORTS

 

The list of reports provided below is listed in chronological order according to the date posted to this site.  Since reports are sometimes discovered at a later time after publication this is done to allow frequent visitors to simply jump to the last viewed date.

2008 GED® Testing Program Statistical Report

Date: July 2009

Link: http://www.acenet.edu/Content/NavigationMenu/ged/pubs/GED_ASR_2008.pdf

Synopsis: This report provides candidate demographic and GED Tests performance statistics as well as historical information on the GED testing program. GED Testing Service®, with the cooperation of jurisdictions that administer the GED Tests, is the sole source of worldwide data on the GED testing program and the adults the program serves.

Posted: 08-25-2009

Removing Roadblocks to Rigor: Linking Academic and Social Supports to Ensure College Readiness and Success

Date: April 2009

Link: http://www.pathwaystocollege.net/pdf/Roadblocks.pdf

Synopsis: A new paper published by Pathways documents the needs of underserved students for academic and social supports in order to meet the rigorous academic standards mandated by increasing numbers of states, school districts and higher education systems. The paper identifies specific examples of effective support strategies found in schools and higher education.

Posted: 07-13-2009

Post-High School Outcomes of Youth with Disabilities up to 4 Years After High School

Date: June 2009

Link: http://ies.ed.gov/ncser/pubs/20093017.asp

Synopsis: This report uses data from the third wave of data collection from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2) to provide information on youth with disabilities who had been out of secondary school up to 4 years in several key domains, including: (1) postsecondary education enrollment and educational experiences; (2) employment status and characteristics of youth’s current or most recent job; (3) productive engagement in school, work, or preparation for work; (4) household circumstance (e.g., residential independence;  parenting; and aspects of their financial independence); and (5) social and community involvement.

Posted: 06-16-2009

The Opportunity Equation: Transforming Mathematics and Science Education for Citizenship and the Global Economy

Date: June 2009

Link: http://www.opportunityequation.org/TheOpportunityEquation.pdf

Synopsis: A new report from the Carnegie Corporation of New York-Institute for Advanced Study Commission on Mathematics & Science Education argues that the United States must mobilize for excellence in mathematics and science education so that all students achieve much higher levels of math and science learning to ensure competitiveness abroad and a vibrant democracy with social mobility at home.

Posted: 06-16-2009

Campus Commons? What Faculty, Financial Officers and Others Think About Controlling College Costs

Date: 2009

Link: http://www.publicagenda.org/files/pdf/campus_commons.pdf

Synopsis: With budgets under pressure and anxiety about whether college is accessible to all qualified students, a report by Public Agenda points to the need for policymakers, public higher education leadership, and faculty to work together to find ways to keep public higher education costs under control. Focus groups and interviews for this report show differing concerns among the men and women who are running and teaching at public colleges.

Posted: 05-28-2009

Lost Opportunity: A 50 State Report on the Opportunity to Learn in America

Date: 2009

Link: http://www.blackboysreport.org/otlwebsite/national/executive-summary

Synopsis: In its Lost Opportunity report, the Schott Foundation for Public Education establishes an “initial” metric for determining the Opportunity to Learn for students. The Schott Foundation provides a state-by-state comparison of both academic proficiency (as illustrated by the percentage of students scoring at or above proficient on the eighth grade National Assessment of Educational Progress - NAEP reading exam) and access to high-performing schools (as measured by the Schott Foundation’s Opportunity to Learn Index, or OTLI).  Realizing if the U.S. is to provide every student a true opportunity to learn, the country must first ensure that all students, even the most disadvantaged, have access to the high-quality resources necessary for success.  The Schott Foundation used resource models to identify the four core minimum resources that are necessary if a child – regardless of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status – is to have a fair and substantive opportunity to learn:

• High-quality early childhood education; 
• Highly qualified teachers and instructors in grades K-12;
• College preparatory curricula that will prepare all youth for college, work and community; and
• Equitable instructional resources.

Posted: 05-22-2009

Basic Reading Skills and the Literacy of the America’s Least Literate Adults: Results from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) Supplemental Studies

Date: May 2009

Link: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009481

Synopsis: The 2003 NAAL assessed the English literacy skills of a nationally representative sample of 18,500 U.S. adults (age 16 and older) residing in private households. NAAL is the first national assessment of adult literacy since the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS). The NAAL project comprised four assessment components: the core literacy tasks, the main literacy assessment, the Fluency Addition to NAAL (FAN), and the Adult Literacy Supplemental Assessment (ALSA). Results from the main literacy assessment are reported as averages and as the percentage of adults in each of four literacy levels: Below Basic, Basic, Intermediate, and Proficient. This report focuses on results from the FAN and the ALSA.

• The Adult Literacy Supplemental Assessment (ALSA) was administered to adults unable to successfully answer the core literacy tasks. Instead of completing the main literacy assessment, these adults completed the ALSA, which gathered information about their letter-reading, word-reading, word-identification, and basic comprehension skills.
• The Fluency Addition to NAAL (FAN) measures the basic reading skills of America’s adults. The FAN was administered to all adults who participated in the NAAL project following the completion of the main literacy assessment or the supplemental assessment.

Posted: May 13, 2009

New Indicators of Career/Technical Education Coursetaking: Class of 2005

Date: April 2009

Link: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009038

Synopsis: This Statistics in Brief uses data from the 2005 High School Transcript Study (HSTS) to examine the career/technical education (CTE) coursetaking of public high school graduates using new indicators of participation. These indicators examine the extent to which students participate in CTE and in specific occupational areas (such as agriculture and business) broadly (many students earning credits) versus deeply (many credits earned by participating students).

Posted: May 4, 2009

The Nation’s Report Card Long Term Trend

Date: April 2009

Link: http://nationsreportcard.gov/ltt_2008

Synopsis: This report presents the results of NAEP’s long-term trend assessments in reading and mathematics that were administered in the 2007–08 school year to students aged 9, 13, and 17. Because the long-term trend assessments have been administered at different times during NAEP’s 40-year history, it is possible to chart educational progress back to 1971 in reading and 1973 in mathematics. The previous long-term trend assessment occurred in 2004. This report provides trend results in terms of average scale scores, percentiles, and five performance levels. Results are described by race/ethnicity, gender, and type of school. Sample test questions are provided for each age level in each subject. Overall, the national trend in reading showed gains in average scores at all three ages since 2004. Average reading scores for 9- and 13-year-olds increased in 2008 compared to 1971, but the reading score for 17-year-olds was not significantly different. The national trend in mathematics showed that both 9- and 13-year-olds had higher average scores in 2008 than in any previous assessment year. For 17-year-olds, there were no significant differences between the average score in 2008 and those in 1973 or 2004.

Posted: May 4, 2009

Community Colleges: A Route of Upward Economic Mobility

Date: March 2009

Link: http://stlouisfed.org/community/assets/pdf/CommunityColleges.pdf

Synopsis: Community colleges play an important role in U.S. education system. Whether it is displaced workers looking to upgrade their skills or first-time students realizing the value of increasing their employment options, community colleges are essential in helping to absorb the increasing number of students. Natalia Kolesnikova, an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, analyzed the role community college education plays in the overall U.S. post-secondary education system.

Posted: April 29, 2009

Report on the Impact of the Economy On College Enrollment

Date: January 2009

Link: http://www.longmire-co.com/education/economicimpactcollegereport.pdf

Synopsis: This new survey measures the degree to which households are changing their college plans in response to the economic climate, finding that over 70% of prospective college students are altering their plans for the upcoming year.

Posted: April 16, 2009

Comparative Indicators of Education in the United States and Other G-8 Countries: 2009

Date: March 2009

Link: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009039

Synopsis: This report describes how the education system in the United States compares with education systems in the other G-8 countries--Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom. Twenty-seven indicators are organized in five sections: (1) population and school enrollment; (2) academic performance (including subsections for reading, mathematics, and science); (3) context for learning; (4) expenditure for education; and (5) education returns: educational attainment and income. This report draws on the most current information about education from four primary sources: the Indicators of National Education Systems (INES) at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).

Posted: April 6, 2009

Literacy of Foreign-Born Adults in the United States: 2003

Date: March 2009

Link: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009034

Synopsis: This Issue Brief draws on data from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) to explore the English literacy of foreign-born adults living in households in the United States. The brief presents the English literacy scores of foreign-born adults age 16 and older by race/ethnicity, age of arrival in the United States, years spent in the United States, highest level of educational attainment, and language spoken before starting school. Scores are reported on three literacy scales: prose, document, and quantitative. Findings indicate that English literacy scores of foreign-born adults varied across a variety of background characteristics.  For example, Hispanics, who represented approximately half of foreign-born adults, had lower average prose, document, and quantitative literacy scores than their foreign-born Black, White, and Asian peers. In addition, foreign-born adults who had been in the United States the least amount of time (1 to 5 years) had lower average sc  ores on each literacy scale than foreign-born adults who had spent the most amount of time (21 to 30 years and 31 years or more) in the country.

Posted: March 27, 2009

Digest of Education Statistics, 2008

Date: March 2009

Link: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009020

Synopsis: The 44th in a series of publications initiated in 1962, the Digest’s primary purpose is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from prekindergarten through graduate school. The Digest contains data on a variety of topics, including the number of schools and colleges, teachers, enrollments, and graduates, in addition to educational attainment, finances, and federal funds for education, libraries, and international comparisons.

Posted: March 27, 2009

Designing a Sustainable Financial Model to Expand Early College High School in Texas

Date: February 2009

Link: http://www.jff.org/Documents/ECHStexasmodel.pdf

Synopsis: Texas is a national leader in creating early college high schools, an innovative small school model that blends secondary and postsecondary education with intensive supports to increase college readiness and success for underachieving students. The state has 29 early college schools, with more opening in the 2008-2009 academic year, thanks largely to state’s education reforms favorable to their development. Texas leaders hope to further expand the model, using it as a priority strategy to boost college success rates. JFF’s Susan Goldberger and Janet Santos detail the efforts of El Paso Community College, South Texas College, and their partners to build regional clusters of early college high schools. Their experiences highlight important lessons about how to make the most of a state’s public policy environment to create, sustain, and expand early college schools.

Posted: March 13, 2009

The Next Step: Using Longitudinal Data Systems To Improve Student Success

Date: March 2009

Link: http://www.dataqualitycampaign.org/files/NextStep.pdf

Synopsis: Over the next three years, the DQC will continue to assist states in developing data systems based on the 10 essential elements and in using the information to improve student performance. To help ensure that states benefit from their infrastructure investments, the DQC will focus on two high-priority needs: building demand for the newly available information and helping state agencies assist all stakeholders in harnessing this powerful source of information.

Posted: March 13, 2009

Revenues and Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Education: School Year 2006-07 (Fiscal Year 2007)

Date: March 2009

Link: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009337

Synopsis: This brief publication contains basic revenue and expenditure data, by state, for public elementary and secondary education for school year 2006-07. It contains state-level data on revenues by source and expenditures by function, including expenditures per pupil.

Posted: March 13, 2009

Enrollment in Postsecondary Institutions, Fall 2007; Graduation Rates, 2001 and 2004 Cohorts; and Financial Statistics, Fiscal Year 2007

Date: March 2009

Link: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009155

Synopsis: This First Look presents findings from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) spring 2008 data collection, which included four components: Enrollment in Postsecondary Institutions, Fall 2007; Graduation Rates, 2001 & 2004 Cohorts; and Financial Statistics, Fiscal Year 2007. These data were collected through the IPEDS web-based data collection system.

Posted: March 13, 2009

A Stronger Nation Through Higher Education

Date: February 2009

Link: http://www.luminafoundation.org/publications/A_stronger_nation_through_higher_education.pdf

Synopsis: Learn more about Lumina’s Big Goal and see state-by-state college attainment statistics that can serve as a call to action to make higher education more accessible and attainable for all Americans.

Posted: March 6, 2009

Impact Evaluation of the U. S. Department of Education's Student Mentoring Program

Date: March 2009

Link: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20094047

Synopsis: The report, Impact Evaluation of the U. S. Department of Education’s Student Mentoring Program compares outcomes of students in the fourth through eighth grades who were randomly assigned to either receive or not receive school-based mentoring from one of the U. S. Department of Education’s mentoring grantees. Students were compared on seventeen measures across four domains: school engagement, academic achievement, delinquent behavior, and prosocial behavior. The evaluation found that for the full sample of students, the program did not lead to statistically significant impacts on any of the measures. In addition, the evaluation estimated impacts across five subgroups for each of the outcome measures, four of which were found to be statistically significant (i.e., increased self-reported scholastic efficacy and school bonding for girls, increased self-reported future orientation for boys, decreased truancy for students under age 12, and decreased self-reported prosocial behavior for boys). These impact findings are in the context of several key program delivery findings. Thirty-five percent of the students who were assigned to the no-mentoring group received mentoring services, primarily from other providers in the community. Also, 14 percent of the students assigned to the mentoring group never got matched with a mentor. Students assigned to the mentoring group and who did meet with their mentors met (on average) for 1.1 hours per meeting, 4.4 times per month for 5.8 months.

Posted: March 2, 2009

The Early School Transitions and the Social Behavior of Children with Disabilities: Selected Findings from the Pre-Elementary Education Longitudinal Study

Date: February 2009

Link: http://ies.ed.gov/ncser/pubs

Synopsis: The National Center for Special Education Research has released the third major report from the Pre-Elementary Education Longitudinal Study (PEELS) entitled, “The Early School Transitions and the Social Behavior of Children with Disabilities: Selected Findings from the Pre-Elementary Education Longitudinal Study.” This report describes changes in services and eligibility at times of transition, transitions into kindergarten, and social skills and problem behavior of young children with disabilities from 2003-04 to 2005-06.

Posted: March 2, 2009

Beyond the Bubble: Technology and the Future of Student Assessment

Date: February 2009

Link: http://www.educationsector.org/research/research_show.htm?doc_id=826893

Synopsis: This report argues that technology has the potential to drastically improve our current assessment systems and practices, leading to significant improvements in teaching and learning in the nation’s classrooms. Tucker evaluates a number of new research projects that demonstrate how information technology can both deepen and broaden assessment practices in elementary and secondary education by testing new skills and concepts and doing so more comprehensively. And, importantly, these research projects have produced assessments that reflect what cognitive research tells us about how people learn.

Posted: February 19, 2009

Bridging the Gap: How to Strengthen the PK-16 Pipeline To Improve College Readiness

Date: January 2009

Link: http://www.newamerica.net/files/NAF%20Bridging%20the%20Gap.pdf

Synopsis: Focused on college readiness and remediation in America this paper takes a look at promising initiatives in practice today that promotes the graduation of high school students ready for college and the workforce.

Posted: February 17, 2009

Accelerating the Agenda: Actions to Improve America’s High Schools

Date: 2008

Link: http://www.nga.org/Files/pdf/0901IMPROVEHIGHSCHOOLS.PDF

Synopsis: This joint report from four organizations, cites challenges facing U.S. high schools, including the need to recast academic standards to be fewer in number, clearer in focus, and higher in rigor.

Posted: February 17, 2009

Trends in College Spending: Where Does the Money Come From? Where Does It Go?

Date: February 2009

Link: http://www.deltacostproject.org/resources/pdf/trends_in_spending-report.pdf

Synopsis: This report provides a look inside the black box of higher education finance, highlighting financial trends in operating budgets at public and private nonprofit higher education institutions.

Posted: February 17, 2009

After-School Programs in Public Elementary Schools

Date: February 2009

Link: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009043

Synopsis: This study provides a national profile of various types of formal after-school programs physically located at public elementary schools in 2008. These programs included stand-alone programs that focus primarily on a single type of service (e.g., only day care) and broad-based programs that provide a combination of services such as academic enrichment and cultural activities. This report focuses on four broad types of after-school programs: (1) fee-based stand-alone day care programs for which parents paid fees; (2) stand-alone academic instruction/tutoring programs that focus exclusively on academic instruction or tutoring, including Supplemental Educational Services in schools that did not meet Adequate Yearly Progress; (3) the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLCs) administered through the federally funded 21st CCLC Program to provide academic enrichment opportunities; and (4) other types of formal stand-alone or broad-based after-school programs.

Posted: February 16, 2009

Pathways to Boosting the Earnings of Low-Income Students by Increasing Their Educational Attainment

Date: January 2009

Link: http://www.hudson.org/files/publications/Gates%2001-07.pdf

Synopsis: This study uses comprehensive data from a cohort group on the high school, postsecondary, and workforce experiences.  Analysis shows findings in the following three key areas: 1) The Effect of Education on Earnings; 2) Postsecondary Outcomes; and Differences in Earnings and Postsecondary Outcomes by Family Income.

Posted: January 23, 2009

Social Media and College Admissions: The First Longitudinal Study

Date: January 2009

Link: http://www.umassd.edu/cmr/studiesresearch/mediaandadmissions.pdf

Synopsis: The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research recently conducted one of the first statistically significant, longitudinal studies on the usage of social media by college admissions offices. The new study compares adoption of social media between 2007 and 2008 by the admissions offices of all the four-year accredited institutions in the United States.

Posted: January 23, 2009

Student Aversion to Borrowing: Who Borrows and Who Doesn’t

Date: December 2008

Link: http://www.ihep.org/assets/files/publications/s-z/StudentAversiontoBorrowing.pdf

Synopsis: This research report study highlights the borrowing patterns of students who choose to enroll in college and provides suggestions about why certain students may not borrow, even when borrowing seems to be a logical choice. It uses the demographic and enrollment characteristics of undergraduate students, as well as interviews with students and financial aid administrators, to gain a better understanding of students’ use of loans as a means to finance their college career.

Posted: January 9, 2009

Distance Education at Degree-Granting Postsecondary Institutions: 2006-07

Date: December 2008

Link: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009044

Synopsis: This report presents findings from a survey that was designed to provide national estimates on distance education at 2-year and 4-year Title IV eligible, degree-granting institutions. The 2006-07 study on distance education collected information on the prevalence, types, delivery, policies, and acquisition or development of distance education courses and programs.

Posted: January 9, 2009

Mapping New Directions: Older Adults in Higher Education

Date: 2008

Link: http://www.acenet.edu/Content/NavigationMenu/ProgramsServices/CLLL/Reinvesting/index.htm

Synopsis: Despite successful efforts by some colleges and universities to create lifelong learning programs for adults aged 55 and older, many institutions remain stuck in outmoded, one-dimensional views of this population, a new report by the American Council on Education with support from MetLife Foundation concludes.

Posted: December 19, 2008

Moving Beyond Access: College Success For Low-Income, First-Generation Students

Date: 2008

Link: http://www.coenet.us/files/files-Moving_Beyond_Access_2008.pdf

Synopsis: In order to inform the efforts of educators and policymakers to improve college access and success, the Pell Institute has produced a report, funded by the 3M Foundation, that examines the current status of low-income, first-generation college students1 in higher education. Using data from the U.S. Department of Education datasets, we describe the ways in which this population participates in higher education, including persistence and degree attainment rates, and compare their participation to other students, including those who are neither low-income nor first-generation.

Posted: December 5, 2008

Learning to Reason and Communicate in College: Initial Report of Findings from the CLA Longitudinal Study

Date: November 2008

Link: http://programs.ssrc.org/ki/pathwaystocollege/CLA_Report.pdf

Synopsis: The Social Science Research Council, in partnership with the Pathways to College Network, has released initial findings from their study of the CLA (Collegiate Learning Assessment) Test. Findings include changes in learning can be measured and tracked, even when various educational and socioeconomic factors are weighted, to document that learning takes place at different rates at different institutions and that when students perceive high expectations from faculty members, there is more growth on the CLA.

Posted: December 5, 2008

Expectations and Reports of Homework for Public School Students in the First, Third, and Fifth Grades

Date: December 2008

Link: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009033

Synopsis: This brief uses data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) to examine (1) the amount of time that students’ public school teachers expected them to spend on reading/language arts and mathematics homework in first, third, and fifth grades; and (2) reports from parents of public school children of how often their children did homework at home in the first, third, and fifth grades. Teachers’ expectations are reported by the percentage of minority students in the student’s school and parents’ reports are reported by the child’s race/ethnicity. The findings indicate that the amount of reading and mathematics homework that students’ teachers expected them to complete on a typical evening generally increased from first grade to fifth grade. In both subjects and in all grades, differences were found by the minority enrollment of the school. Children in schools with higher percentages of minority students had teachers who expected more homework on a typical evening, whereas generally children in lower minority schools had teachers who expected less homework. In addition, in all three grades, larger percentages of Black, Asian, and Hispanic children than White children had parents who reported that their child did homework five or more times a week.

Posted: December 5, 2008

Measuring Up 2008: The National Report Card on Higher Education

Date: December 2008

Link: http://measuringup2008.highereducation.org/index.php

Synopsis: Measuring Up 2008 is the fifth in a series of biennial report cards that provide the general public and policymakers with information they can use to assess and improve postsecondary education in each state.

Posted: December 5, 2008

Ensuring Successful Student Transitions from the Middle Grades to High School

Date: November 2008

Link: http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/78/91/7891.pdf

Synopsis: The 9th grade year is critical to students’ success in high school. This ECS Policy Brief looks at research on the 9th-grade transition, some expert recommendations and examples of relevant policies in place in the states.

Posted: November 21, 2008

Do “College-Preparatory” Courses Live Up to Their Labels?

Date: October 2008

Link: http://www.dataqualitycampaign.org/files/publications-dqc_college_prep_courses-101308.pdf

Synopsis: A growing number of educators and policymakers have begun focusing on the goal of preparing all or nearly all high school students for college and other advanced postsecondary learning opportunities. To meet this goal, states are adopting policies to encourage nearly all students, not just those seeking entry into competitive four-year colleges, to take a full core curriculum of college-preparatory courses in high school.2 Yet it is much easier to give students credit for a course labeled “Algebra II” than it is to ensure that those students actually learn algebra. So how do educators and policymakers know that students are actually learning the content implied by the course titles?

Posted: November 14, 2008

Policies to Improve Instruction and Learning in High Schools

Date: October 2008

Link: http://www.nga.org/Files/pdf/0810IMPROVEINSTRUCTION.PDF

Synopsis: To improve the consistency and rigor of high school instruction, the NGA Center partnered with ACT, Inc. on a pilot project in three states: Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania. ACT trained 98 teachers in 18 high schools on how to use state-of-the-art curriculum units and new instructional methods that were integrated with a system of assessments. The project focused on 10th grade courses—English language arts, geometry, and biology—and aimed to prepare more high school graduates for the demands of higher education and the workplace.

Posted: November 14, 2008

Landmines P-16/P-20 Councils Encounter – And How They Can be Addressed (or Avoided Altogether)

Date: November 2008

Link: http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/78/86/7886.pdf

Synopsis: P-16 and P-20 Council Landmines - A new ECS Policy Brief sets forth the numerous challenges that can foil the best-laid plans of P-16 and P-20 councils, and suggests how they can be addressed or avoided altogether. These “landmines” lie in four areas: Actors, Agenda, Appropriation of Resources and Political Climate.

Posted: November 14, 2008

Measuring Skills for the 21st Century

Date: November 2008

Link: http://www.educationsector.org/research/research_show.htm?doc_id=716323

Synopsis: Leaders in government, business, and higher education are calling for today’s students to show a mastery of broader and more sophisticated skills like evaluating and analyzing information and thinking creatively about how to solve real-world problems. But standing in the way of incorporating such skills into teaching and learning are widespread concerns about whether or not they can be measured.

Posted: November 14, 2008

Transition Matters: Community College to Bachelor’s Degree

Date: May 2008

Link: http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/acsfa/transmattfullrpt.pdf

Synopsis: This report details the proceedings of the Advisory Committee’s Community College Symposium, held on December 10, 2007 in Washington DC. The symposium featured community college leaders who described efforts to overcome barriers. The information in this document is a valuable resource to community college leaders at all levels – federal, state, and institutional – who desire change and seek to implement strategies that enhance the community college pathway to a bachelor’s degree.

Posted: November 7, 2008

Apply to Succeed: Ensuring Community College Students Benefit from Need-Based Financial Aid

Date: September 2008

Link: http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/acsfa/applytosucceed.pdf

Synopsis: This study was part of the Advisory Committee’s one-year Community College Initiative, which sought to improve the community college pathway to a bachelor’s degree. The study was officially launched at the Advisory Committee’s Community College Symposium in Washington DC in December 2007. With the awareness that many eligible students do not apply for financial aid at the community college level, a primary goal of the study was to examine how to encourage more of them to apply for aid. In addition, because the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 (CCRAA) (P.L. 110-84) significantly increases student eligibility for federal financial aid, an additional goal was to determine how to ensure that students take advantage of these legislative changes.

Posted: November 7, 2008

Teachers’ Use of Student Data Systems to Improve Instruction: 2005 to 2007

Date: August 2008

Link: http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/teachers-data-use-2005-2007/teachers-data-use-2005-2007.pdf

Synopsis: Using data from national surveys of teachers and school districts, this brief documents the results of efforts to promote data-informed decision-making within schools. Estimates of the prevalence of K–12 teachers’ access to and use of electronic student data systems at two time points (school years 2004–05 and 2006–07) are provided.

Posted: October 27, 2008

One Dream, Two Realities: Perspectives of Parents on America’s High Schools

Date: October 2008

Link: http://civicenterprises.net/pdfs/onedream.pdf

Synopsis: The findings in this report show that America is rich with parents who have high aspirations for their children, a knowledge that children need parents involved in their high school experience, an understanding that today’s economy demands more education of their children, and, among a significant portion of them, a dissatisfaction with how schools are educating their children and engaging them as parents.

Posted: October 27, 2008

Changing the Game: The Federal Role in Supporting 21^st Century Educational Innovation

Date: October 2008

Link: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/reports/2008/1016_education_mead_rotherham/1016_education_mead_rotherham.pdf

Synopsis: To resolve dramatic disparities in educational achievement and ensure future American workers are globally competitive, the federal government needs, as it has in the past, to change the game in public education. A robust new federal Office of Educational Entrepreneurship and Innovation within the Department of Education would expand the boundaries of public education by scaling up successful educational entrepreneurs, seeding transformative educational innovations, and building a stronger culture to support these activities throughout the public sector.

Posted: October 22, 2008

Raising the Visibility of Critical Issues with Longitudinal Data

Date: September 2008

Link: http://www.dataqualitycampaign.org/files/publication-information_wont_be_used_if_no_one_sees_it-090108.pdf

Synopsis: A recent Data Quality Campaign report suggests that states can increase the public availability of longitudinal student data through two key approaches: by working with researchers to analyze the data and provide useful reports; and providing a set of statistics from the data that are available for download. The report identifies five categories of longitudinal statistics that states might produce.

Posted: October 17, 2008

Eighth Grade: First Findings from the Final Round of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K)

Date: September 2008

Link: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2008/2008088.pdf

Synopsis: The National Center for Education Statistics released a longitudinal study that tracks student achievement from kindergarten through 8th grade. The report examines performance in reading, math and science; participation in various school-sponsored activities; time spent on homework; and educational aspirations.

Posted: October 17, 2008

Accelerating Latino Student Success at Texas Border Institutions: Possibilities and Challenges

Date: October 2008

Link: http://www.edexcelencia.org/research/alass.asp

Synopsis: New report examines enrollment and graduation trends at eight Texas institutions, highlights promising programs and strategies for serving Latino students, and offers policy recommendations for improving success rates for the state’s Latino students. The analysis was prepared as part of Excelencia’s Accelerating Latino student Success (ALASS) project, supported by TG, a Texas-based nonprofit corporation that administers the Federal Family Education Loan Program.

Posted: October 14, 2008

Projections of Education Statistics to 2017

Date: September 2008

Link: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2008/2008078.pdf

Synopsis: This is the 36th report in a series begun in 1964. This report provides revisions of projections shown in Projections of Education Statistics to 2016. It includes statistics on elementary and secondary schools and degree-granting institutions. Included are projections of enrollment, graduates, teachers, and expenditures to the year 2017.

Posted: October 2, 2008

School Enrollment in the United States: 2006

Date: August 2008

Link: http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p20-559.pdf

Synopsis: This report discusses school enrollment levels and trends in the population aged 3 and older based on data collected in 2006 by the U.S. Census Bureau in the American Community Survey (ACS) and the Current Population Survey (CPS). Historically, the CPS has been the only data source used to produce school enrollment reports. This is the first report to show data from the ACS, supplemented with CPS data where they provide better information. The ACS has a larger sample size and will provide statistics for small levels of geography, which are reasons why it is used as a main source of enrollment data.

Posted: October 2, 2008

A Developmental Perspective on College & Workplace Readiness

Date: September 2008

Link: http://www.childtrends.org/Files/Child_Trends-2008_09_15_FR_ReadinessReport.pdf

Synopsis: This report provides a developmental perspective on what competencies young people need to be ready for college, the workplace, and the transition to adulthood. National hand-wringing about the lack of preparedness of high school graduates for college and the workplace has catalyzed researchers, educators, and policymakers to define the skills and competencies students need in order to be successful. These prescriptions tend to focus either on college readiness or on workplace readiness. At the same time but on a separate track, youth development research has identified the assets that youth need in order to make a successful transition to adulthood. Presumably, these three groups of competencies should overlap.

Posted: September 26, 2008

Adult Learning in Focus: National and State-by-State Data

Date: July 2008

Link: http://www.cael.org/pdf/publication_pdf/State_Indicators_Monograph.pdf

Synopsis: Better jobs and a higher standard of living depend on an educated workforce. Yet in 35 states, more than 60 percent of the adult population has not completed an associate’s degree or higher. This report examines how states compare in educating adult learners and offers insight to help policy, business and education leaders better understand working adults’ specific needs and requirements.

Posted: September 12, 2008

State of Student Aid and Higher Education in Texas (SOSA)

Date: July 2008

Link: http://www.tgslc.org/pdf/SOSA.pdf

Synopsis: The publication offers Texas policymakers, their staff, and members of the student financial aid community an overview of key facts that describe student financial aid in Texas.  The State of Student Aid and Higher Education in Texas serves as a resource for those in search of information concerning demographic changes, educational attainment, college costs, financial aid programs, and student debt.

Posted: September 12, 2008

Closing the Expectations Gap, 2008

Date: February 2008

Link: http://www.achieve.org/node/990

Synopsis: On the anniversary of the 2005 National Education Summit on High Schools, Achieve releases its third annual 50-state progress report on the alignment of high school policies with the demands of college and careers: Closing the Expectations Gap, 2008. This year, Achieve reports that while more than a third of states have raised high school standards and graduation requirements, there is more work to be done to ensure that all students graduate ready for college and careers. The report details state progress implementing the American Diploma Project policy agenda that advocates for the alignment of standards, graduation requirements, assessments, data systems and accountability with the expectations of college faculty and employers.

Posted: September 12, 2008

Lost in Transition: Building a Better Path from School to College and Careers

Date: January 2008

Link: http://www.sreb.org/publications/2008/08V01_LostInTransition.pdf

Synopsis: In 2005 and 2006, the High Schools That Work program of the Southern Regional Education Board facilitated state-level forums aimed at identifying ways to foster collaboration between secondary and postsecondary education systems and build successful transitions from high school to college and careers. This report presents the forums’ major conclusions about successful transitions and describes action steps that can help all states meet economic and workforce goals for the next generation of adult workers and citizens.

Posted: September 12, 2008

National Symposium Yields Perspectives on How SEAs Can Catalyze and Support District Improvement

Date: August 2008

Link: http://www.alliance.brown.edu/news/06_11_08_CSRQI.php

Synopsis: The Education Alliance is pleased to announce the publication of a symposium report that yields insights around the challenges state education agencies face and provides recommendations by educational leaders regarding how to more effectively catalyze and support district improvement.

Posted: August 2008

State High School Exit Exams: Moving Toward End-of-Course Exams

Date: August 2008

Link: http://www.cep-dc.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=document_ext.showDocumentByID&nodeID=1&DocumentID=244

Synopsis: This report examines the new developments in the implementation of state high school exit exams in the 26 states that currently implement or plan to implement these tests. The report specifically focuses on the states’ move away from minimum-competency and comprehensive exams toward end-of-course exams.

Posted: August 2008

Feasibility Study for Restructuring Texas Student Financial Aid Programs

Submitted to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board by Higher Education Insight Associates

Date: August 2008

Link: http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/reports/PDF/1563.PDF

Synopsis: This report provides the findings and recommendations of a feasibility study for restructuring Texas student financial aid programs conducted by Higher Education Insight Associates (HEIA). Closing the Gaps by 2015 provided the policy context for the study and specific topics were defined by the General Appropriations Act (House Bill 1, Section 49, page III-56) of the 2006-2007 80th Texas Legislature and by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB).

Posted: August 2008

America’s Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2008

Date: July 2008

Link: http://www.childstats.gov/pdf/ac2008/ac_08.pdf

Synopsis: This year’s America’s Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being report continues the tradition of cooperation and commitment by agencies across the Federal Government to advance our understanding of children today and indicate what may be needed to bring them a better tomorrow.  The Forum is already busy planning its next full report, scheduled for 2009.

Posted: August 2008

Has Student Achievement Increased Since 2002? State Test Score Trends Through 2006–07

Date: July 2008

Link: http://www.cep-dc.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=document_ext.showDocumentByID&nodeID=1&DocumentID=241

Synopsis: Using testing data from all 50 states, this study addresses two key questions: has student achievement increased and have achievement gaps narrowed since the No Child Left Behind Act was enacted in 2002. A comparison is also made between state test results and results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Posted: August 2008

Out of Many, One: Toward Rigorous Common Core Standards from the Ground Up

Date: July 2008

Link: http://www.achieve.org/files/CommonCore.pdf

Synopsis: With the necessary and intentional leadership from states, there is every reason to think that a common core of college- and career-ready expectations can—and should—be reflected in virtually every state. Getting standards right is not just an academic exercise. Rigorous state standards anchored in real world demands can and should drive the rest of the states’ education reform agenda—including graduation requirements, assessments, accountability and data systems. Only then can the gap between students being proficient and being truly prepared be closed.

Posted: August 2008

Closing the Gaps by 2015 -- 2008 Progress Report

Date: July 2008

Link: http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/reports/PDF/1555.PDF

Synopsis: Closing the Gaps by 2015 was adopted in October 2000 by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board with strong support of the state's educational, business, and political communities. The plan, which is directed at closing educational gaps within Texas, as well as between Texas and other states, has four goals: to close the gaps in student participation, student success, excellence, and research.

Posted: August 2008

2008 Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) Guide

A Texas Education Agency Report on Texas Public School Districts and Campuses

Date: July 2008

Link: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/ayp/2008/guide.pdf

Synopsis: The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) (Public Law 107-110), which was signed by the President on January 8, 2002, reauthorizes and amends federal programs established under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). Under NCLB, accountability provisions that formerly applied only to districts and campuses receiving Title I, Part A funds now apply to all districts and campuses. All public school districts, campuses, and the state are evaluated annually for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).

Posted: August 2008

Modeling Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIS): Campus Practices that Work for Latino Students

Date: June 2008

Link: http://www.edexcelencia.org/pdf/ModelingHSIs_report.pdf

Synopsis: Hispanics are the fastest-growing minority group in the United States, yet their college-degree attainment levels remain among the lowest. Modeling Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs): Campus Practices That Work for Latino Students, an Excelencia in Education publication funded by Lumina Foundation, highlights 12 institutions that are elevating the college playing field for Hispanics. This is the third in a series of HSI-related reports from Excelencia in Education.

Posted: August 2008

Report on Student Financial Aid in Texas Higher Education for Fiscal Year 2007

Date: June 2008

Link: http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/reports/PDF/1562.PDF

Synopsis: This report provides an update on the financial aid expenditures for the 2006-2007 academic year and an analysis of students attending nonprofit institutions in Texas who participated in need-based student aid programs. It is important to note that the data presented here may differ slightly from statistics found in other reports. For this report, 145 Texas public and independent colleges and universities contributed financial aid data for Fiscal Year 2007. All data in the report are from the 2007 Financial Aid Database unless otherwise noted.

Posted: August 2008

Achieve Brief - The Building Blocks of Success: Higher-Level Math for All Students

Date: May 2008

Link: http://www.achieve.org/files/BuildingBlocksofSuccess.pdf

Synopsis: There are many specific skills and competencies that young people will need to succeed in college and the workplace, but more than particular skills, they will need the cognitive capacity to educate themselves throughout their entire lives. Young people need the ability for complex reasoning and the self-confidence to apply it in new situations. These are precisely the skills that are developed in higher-level mathematics courses, beginning with the foundational Algebra I and extending beyond Algebra II, in which students begin to use abstract reasoning to solve complex problems.

Posted: August 2008

First-Time Undergraduate Applicant, Acceptance, and Enrollment Information for Summer/Fall 2007

Date: April 2008

Link: http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/Reports/PDF/1478.PDF

Synopsis: A summary report of First-Time Undergraduate Applicant, Acceptance, and Enrollment Information for Summer/Fall 2007 for Texas state-wide and individual 4-year Public Institutions of Higher Education.

Posted: August 2008

Texas College Readiness Standards

Date: January 2008

Link: http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/collegereadiness/CRS.pdf

Synopsis: The CRS are designed to represent a full range of knowledge and skills that students need to succeed in entry-level college courses, as well as in a wide range of majors and careers. According to research, over 80% of the jobs of the 21st century require some post-secondary education. By implementing these standards, secondary school and higher education faculty in all academic disciplines will advance the mission of Texas students ready for college.

Posted: August 2008

Meeting the Challenge: Creating College Opportunities for More Texans

Study of Texas Higher Education-Sponsored P-16 Student-Centered Intervention Programs from the Institute for Demographic and Socioeconomic Research at The University of Texas at San Antonio

Date: July 2007

Link: http://txsdc.utsa.edu/download/pdf/p-16/P-16_Final_Report.pdf

Synopsis: Two purposes are identified for this study.  “One is to carefully evaluate P-16 (Preschool

through college) student-centered intervention programs designed to increase college and university participation and success among populations typically underrepresented in Texas higher education. The second is to develop recommendations for model programs to be encouraged in Texas."

Posted: August 2008

Study on Dual Credit Programs in Texas

A Report to the 80th Legislature from the Texas P-16 Council

Date: January 2007

Link: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/comm/06dcp_report.pdf

Synopsis: In 2005, the 79th Texas Legislature passed HB 2808 which required the P-16 Council to review existing school district programs that provide high school students with the opportunity to enroll in dual credit and concurrent enrollment courses. The bill further directed the Council to review the recommended high school program to determine the feasibility of offering an advanced curriculum that would allow a high school student to graduate with at least twelve hours of college-level coursework utilizing dual credit and/or concurrent enrollment courses.

Posted: August 2008

Uniform Recruitment and Retention

Date: 2007

Link: http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/OS/URRS

Synopsis: The Recruitment and Retention program staff works with the state's colleges and universities to help ensure that all Texans, including historically underrepresented population groups, can participate and succeed in higher education.

Posted: August 2008

Texas P-16 Council Developmental Education Report

A report to the Texas P-16 Council from the Developmental Education Subcommittee

Date: January 2007

Link: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/p16/council_committees/subcommittees/devel_ed/dev_ed_final_report_01_07.pdf

Synopsis: The subcommittee, a subgroup of the Adult, Basic, Career, and Technology Education Committee, was charged with developing recommendations to effectively address developmental education in Texas, including definitions, curriculum and instruction, and institutional, faculty, and student issues.

Posted: August 2008

Educator Quality Committee Report

A report to the Texas P-16 Council from the Educator Quality Committee on recommendations produced FY 2006-2007 related to excellence in educator recruitment, preparation, development, and retention

Date: 2006-2007

Link: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/p16/council_committees/educator/eq_report_06_07.pdf

Synopsis: The Committee has identified three major recommendations designed to inform policy and improve educator quality in Texas. The Committee understands that the P-16 Council can approve the following recommendations, in whole or in part. However the Committee feels strongly that all components are

interrelated and necessary to produce, grow, and retain the high quality educators needed in our state. Therefore it is preferable that each recommendation be viewed as one component of a necessary larger strategic plan.

Posted: August 2008

Implementation Report: P-16 College Readiness & Success Strategic Action Plan

A report to the 80th Legislature from the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board

Date: December 2006

Link: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/comm/cr_implementationreport.pdf

Synopsis: Texas Education Code §61.0761 (House Bill 1, 79th Legislature, Third Called Session) requires the submission of a progress report regarding the creation and implementation of the P-16 College Readiness and Success Strategic Action Plan to members of the executive branch, Legislative Budget Board, and selected members of the Legislature.  The plan must be submitted no later than December 1 in even-numbered years.

Posted: August 2008