ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Remediation: Higher Education's Bridge to Nowhere
Author: Complete College America
Date: 2012-04-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Higher Education,College Preparation,Remedial Instruction,Developmental Studies Programs,Change Strategies,Educational Change,Program Effectiveness,Program Evaluation,Enrollment Rate,Graduation Rate,Profiles,College Readiness,College Outcomes Assessment,Educational Assessment,Educational Indicators,Achievement Gap,Transitional Programs

The intentions were noble. It was hoped that remediation programs would be an academic bridge from poor high school preparation to college readiness. Sadly, remediation has become instead higher education's &quot;Bridge to Nowhere.&quot; This broken remedial bridge is travelled by some 1.7 million beginning students each year, most of whom will not reach their destination--graduation. It is estimated that states and students spent more than $3 billion on remedial courses last year with very little student success to show for it. While more students must be adequately prepared for college, this current remediation system is broken. Remediation is a classic case of system failure: (1) Too many students start in remediation; (2) Remediation doesn't work; (3) Too few complete gateway courses; and (4) Too few graduate. Four steps states should take right now to close remediation exit ramps: (1) Strengthen high school preparation; (2) Start students in college-level courses with built-in, co-requisite support; (3) Embed needed academic help in multiple gateway courses; and (4) Encourage students to enter programs of study when they first enroll. The data presented in this report were provided by the 33 participating states themselves, using the Complete College America/National Governors Association Common Completion Metrics. National findings in each category were based on the calculated medians of the state data. (Contains 3 footnotes.)
A Working Model for Student Success: The Tennessee Technology Centers. Preliminary Case Study
Author: Hoops, John
Date: 2010-06-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Community Colleges,Models,Delivery Systems,Graduation Rate,Effective Schools Research,Institutional Characteristics,Program Descriptions,Competency Based Education,Education Service Centers,Technical Education,Educational Technology,Career Education,Career Centers,Tuition,Educational Quality,Labor Force Development,Case Studies

This is a report about a unique postsecondary education system, the Tennessee Technology Centers--a statewide system of 27 institutions providing a wide range of rigorous, one to two year, technical/occupational education programs at consistently high completion and placement rates in high skill and relatively high wage employment. This report describes how the Centers are organized, how they operate, and how they are able to achieve completion rates far higher than their counterparts among community colleges in Tennessee and around the nation. It examines four particular pieces of its highly integrated institutional framework--program structure; a competency-based, self-paced learning model; contextualized foundation skills; and supportive services. Appended are: (1) Completers by Program for Selected Programs. 2007-2008 Tennessee Technology Centers; (2) Placement Rates in Selected Certificate and Diploma Occupational Programs, Tennessee Technology Centers, 2007-2008; and (3) TTC Enrollment by Previous Education, 2009. (Contains 4 tables and 26 footnotes.)
Time Is the Enemy: The Surprising Truth about Why Today's College Students Aren't Graduating... and What Needs to Change
Author: Complete College America
Date: 2011-09-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Higher Education,College Freshmen,Public Colleges,Remedial Instruction,Graduation Rate,Part Time Students,Disproportionate Representation,Remedial Programs,Time to Degree,Dropout Rate,Educational Attainment,Educational Certificates,Associate Degrees,Bachelors Degrees,Enrollment Trends,Transfer Rates (College),Profiles,Academic Achievement,Declining Enrollment,Performance Factors,Barriers,Academic Persistence,School Holding Power,International Education,Racial Composition,Change Strategies,Educational Change

Unless the United States moves with urgency, today's young people will be the first generation in American history to be less educated than their predecessors. Consider this a sobering wake-up call--and an urgent appeal for action now. In this report, one will get an unprecedented look behind the ivy-covered walls of America's public colleges and universities and into how well they are educating &quot;all&quot; of today's college students. The &quot;all&quot; part is what's new. Complete College America (CCA) fundamentally believes that for the United States to have any hope of leading the world again in the proportion of its citizens with a college education, it must first see every student. This includes the part-timers and older students who are struggling to balance jobs and school, the millions who are trapped in the Bermuda Triangle of remediation, and the many first-generation freshmen who too often are left to fend for themselves when they arrive on campus. The nation cannot tackle what's holding them back from success if it does not understand their challenges and the complicated natures of their lives. Consider these findings: (1) There is a new American majority on campus; (2) Part-time students rarely graduate; (3) Poor students and students of color struggle the most to graduate; (4) Students are taking too many credits and too much time to complete; and (5) Remediation is broken, producing few students who ultimately graduate. CCA suggests five essential steps that states should take right now so that all students will have a fair shot at success: (1) Count all students, set state- and campus-level goals, and uniformly measure progress and success; (2) Reduce the time it takes to earn a certificate or degree; (3) Transform remediation so that students earn--as quickly as possible--college credits that count; (4) Restructure programs to fit busy lives; and (5) Join Complete College America. The data presented in this report were provided by the 33 participating states themselves, using the Complete College America/National Governors Association Common Completion Metrics. National findings in each category were based on the calculated medians of the state data.
Time Is Money...and the Enemy of College Completion: Transform American Higher Education to Boost Completion and Reduce Costs. Testimony before the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training
Author: Jones, Stan
Date: 2012-07-18
Type: Opinion Papers
Subjects: Higher Education,College Graduates,Educational Change,Federal Legislation,Legislators,Hearings,Labor Force Development,Student Diversity,Part Time Students,Time Perspective,Time to Degree,Flexible Scheduling,State Action,Change Strategies,Career Choice,Student Educational Objectives,Graduation Rate,School Holding Power,Performance Factors

This paper presents Stan Jones' testimony before the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training. In his testimony, he talks about a new American majority of students that is emerging on campuses, especially at community colleges. These students must delicately balance long hours at jobs they must have with the higher education they desire. Even though this emerging majority has fundamentally different needs, American higher education in general has been slow to change, continuing to deliver courses and programs designed decades ago and best suited for full-time, residential students. Time, choice and structure are the essential optics through which all higher education reforms must be viewed in order to maximize the likelihood of graduating more of today's students. Successful, large-scale programs and systems around the country have proven that by utilizing informed choice and structured delivery, students can successfully balance jobs and school--and are much more likely to graduate. To achieve the substantial gains in college completion Americans must have to compete, must reinvent American higher education. To do so, requires significant shared responsibility by all stakeholders, including government. More of the same will not do. The Administration can seize key opportunities to encourage states, incent needed reforms, and signal its clear interest in more college graduates, not just enrollments. Appended are: (1) &quot;College: The Unfinished Revolution&quot; by James Rosenbaum, et.al.; (2) NGA/CCA Common College Completion Metrics; and (3) Complete College America's &quot;Essential Steps for States.&quot;
Expanding Access, Participation, and Success in International Baccalaureate Programmes: Year 1 Documentation Report
Author: Corcoran, Thomas B.
Date: 2010-10-06
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Academic Support Services,Advanced Placement Programs,Program Effectiveness,Student Participation,Access to Education,Minority Group Students,Public Schools,Professional Development,Electronic Learning,Online Courses,Program Descriptions,Poverty,Low Income,Teacher Effectiveness,Educational Practices,Curriculum Design,Educational Resources,School Districts,Interviews,Teacher Attitudes,Teacher Surveys,Disproportionate Representation,High Schools

In fall 2009, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded a three-year project (IB Access Project) with International Baccalaureate (IB) to increase participation of minority students and students in poverty in the Middle Years Programme (MYP) and Diploma Programme (DP). The IB Access Project seeks to do four things: (1) Improve teacher practice in designing curriculum and assessment that prepares students for the DP by providing new resources designed for this project; professional development and instructional support; (2) Improve teacher access to resources for effective assessment design including increased use of online learning environments; (3) Increase teacher onsite professional support around classroom practice; and (4) Increase participation of low-income and minority students in the pilot districts in both certificate courses and in the full DP. The evaluation is focused on the changes in the student population, the use of the new instructional tools and participation in the professional development, the teacher perceptions of the progress of the students and the efficacy of the new tools, and changes in the outcomes for the newly recruited students. Four districts were visited to determine sites for this work. Three were selected: Anne Arundel County Public Schools, Maryland; Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, Tennessee; and The School District of Palm Beach County, Florida. A total of eight high schools are included in the project: three in Anne Arundel; two in Metro Nashville; and three in Palm Beach County. The overwhelming belief that more students, and students who may not have the strong academic backgrounds of traditional IB students, can be successful in IB programming is indeed a very compelling and positive finding of Year 1 work. For teachers and school-based administrators to continue to make the adaptations necessary to ensure the success of non-traditional IB students, coordinated work is essential. This will be the challenge of Year 2. Appended are: (1) Student Participation Data by School; (2) Interview Protocols; (3) Teacher Survey Protocol; (4) Expanding Access, Participation, and Success of Under-Represented Students in the DP; and (5) Recommendations. (Contains 1 figure and 8 tables.)
Expanding Access, Participation, and Success in International Baccalaureate Programmes (IB Access Project): Evaluation Report Year Two
Author: Gerry, Gail
Date: 2011-09-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Advanced Placement Programs,Program Effectiveness,Minority Group Students,Public Schools,Technical Assistance,Access to Education,Participation,Success,Low Income Groups,Disadvantaged,Educational Assessment,Educational Indicators,Program Evaluation,Outreach Programs,Organizational Objectives,Institutional Characteristics,Beliefs,Educational Practices,Educational Resources,Communities of Practice,Change Strategies,Educational Change,Research Needs,Feasibility Studies

In the fall of 2009, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded a three-year project  proposed by the International Baccalaureate (IB) to demonstrate the feasibility of increasing the participation of minority students and students in poverty in its Middle Years Programme (MYP) and Diploma Programme (DP) in selected school districts in the United States. &quot;Expanding Access, Participation and Success in IB Programmes&quot; or the IB Access Project, as it has come to be known, is utilizing a multi-faceted technical assistance and materials development strategy to strengthen IB programs and broaden access for students previously excluded in the Anne Arundel County Public Schools, the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, and the Palm Beach County Public Schools. This is a report on the progress made in the second year of the project. Appended are: (1) Participation; (2) Interview Protocols; and (3) General Teacher Survey. (Contains 1 figure and 16 tables.) [For Year One report, &quot;Expanding Access, Participation, and Success in International Baccalaureate Programmes: Year 1 Documentation Report,&quot; see ED536830.]
Performance Funding: From Idea to Action. THINK THIS.
Author: Jones, Dennis
Date: 2012-02-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Resource Allocation,Financial Support,Achievement,Higher Education,Models,Performance,Goal Orientation,State Government,Educational Attainment,Institutional Mission,Educational Finance,Rewards,At Risk Students,Graduation,Measurement Techniques,Research Methodology,Standards,Incentives,Program Implementation,Program Development,Barriers,Educational Quality

Performance funding--the linking of allocation of resources to accomplishment of certain desired outcomes--is an idea that is once again finding favor with policymakers. It has intuitive appeal; what's not to like about paying for results? While it is a notion that makes common sense to most decisionmakers, it is an idea with a very checkered past--it has been tried, found wanting, and with few exceptions abandoned. A review of past experiments suggests that it's not the idea that failed, but the design and implementation of the strategies that derived from the idea. This brief paper presents a set of first principles for putting in place an approach to performance funding that will help policymakers avoid many of the pitfalls that plagued prior efforts in this arena. The principles presented fall into two categories--those dealing with design of the system, and a separate set dealing with implementation.
Engaging Urban Students in a Schoolyard Beautification and Gardening Project
Author: Ramey, Linda
Date: 2012-11-05
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Prior Learning,Physical Activities,Plants (Botany),Agricultural Production,Gardening,Learning Experience,Service Learning,Community Involvement,Urban Areas,Urban Schools,Horticulture,Campuses,Outdoor Education,Program Effectiveness,College School Cooperation,Experiential Learning,Learning Activities,Elementary Schools,Federal Programs,Schools of Education,Health Education,Nutrition,STEM Education,Grade 4,Design,African American Students,Outreach Programs,Summer Programs,Tests,Partnerships in Education,Student Projects,Active Learning

Community gardening provides many benefits for students like outdoor physical activity, an understanding of plant life cycles, food production and healthy eating (Blair, 2009; Whiren, 1995). Gardening also provides hands-on learning opportunities to draw parallels between what is needed for plants to grow and what students need to be healthy. When a college of education and university office of community service learning partner with a K-8 school in an urban area, students and the neighborhood, all of those involved can benefit. Educators know that students learn by doing and that community involvement enriches the learning experience while teaching valuable lessons about giving back while helping others. This gardening project was part of a larger campus community gardening outreach project to address local food insufficiency concerns and provide education about sustainability via gardening. This successful project provides key insights into the need to make solid connections, in sequenced lessons, between what students' prior knowledge and what they see in their everyday lives, then tapping into their creativity. Diversity, plants, gardening, food, nutrition and related topics serve as vehicles to introduce concepts that integrate design and STEM education principles. [The College of Education and Human Services provided partial funding for this Partnership School Beautification and Gardening Project, which took place from May 1st to May 28th, 2012. Other support for this project was provided by Ohio Campus Compact through the Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) Summer Associates program.]
Value-Added Funding: A Simple, Easy-to-Understand Model to Reward Performance. DO THIS!
Author: Complete College America
Date: 2012-02-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Educational Policy,Higher Education,Funding Formulas,Resource Allocation,State Aid,Finance Reform,Models,Performance Contracts,Merit Rating,Change Strategies,Organizational Change,Achievement Gains

The mere mention of so-called "performance funding" makes college presidents and the higher education community nervous. It's an understandable reaction to a concept that too often results in an overly complex outcome. Still, the basic principle of "investing the limited resources states have in the results they want" is fundamentally sound--and an essential step for states to take "in combination with" other key policy reforms in order to significantly increase student success and boost college completion. It's time for a better, cleaner, simpler approach. Let's replace complex funding schemes that are fed into a "black box" at state budget agencies and produce nearly unpredictable outcomes. Higher education leaders need certainty. And elected officials want accountability for results and a funding approach that benefits students. Complete College America believes all of these outcomes are within reach, by using a funding model built on a straightforward structure that values the most important goals--access, progress, and success--and is simple to customize, and, most important, easy to understand. It is called Value-Added Funding. This article discusses how this funding works.
Three Policies to Reduce Time to Degree
Author: Johnson, Nate
Date: 2011-02-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Time to Degree,College Credits,Student Financial Aid,Associate Degrees,High School Graduates,College Graduates,Transfer Policy,Community Colleges

The old saying that time is money is nowhere more true than in U.S. higher education. Time is measured two ways in academia--by the calendar and by the credit hour. Both can be costly, whether in the form of tuition, taxpayer subsidies, or the wages students lose with each additional term enrolled. For many years, in credit terms, the standard for a bachelor's degree was 120 hours; for an associate degree it was 60. On the calendar, that's four years of full-time attendance (30 credit hours per year) for a bachelor's, and two years for an associate degree. Yet in the past generation, credits and time have started creeping up. High school graduates in 1972 could expect to complete a degree with an average of about 130 credits and in 4.3 years. What leads to extended time? Despite frequent finger-pointing, there is no simple answer. Part of it has to do with students--both the things they can't control and the things they can. They come to college ill-prepared or ill-informed and fail or repeat many courses. They work part- or full-time jobs, often out of necessity. Finally, state systems and legislatures also share the blame. Sometimes they don't fund institutions or provide student aid in the summer. This brief focuses on just three policies that are most directly related to time and have the clearest role for state and institutional leaders: controlling credit creep, creating clear academic maps, and establishing a statewide transferable general education core. These are strategies that state leaders can and should implement now, if they have not already done so.
Promoting Child Safety, Permanence, and Well-Being through Safe and Strong Families, Supportive Communities, and Effective Systems. Policy Matters: Setting and Measuring Benchmarks for State Policies. A Discussion Paper for the &quot;Policy Matters&quot; Project
Author: Center for the Study of Social Policy
Date: 2009-04-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Child Welfare,Welfare Services,State Government,Public Policy,Family Environment,Child Safety,Social Support Groups,Community,Logical Thinking,Models,Evidence,Administrative Organization,Courts

The &quot;Policy Matters&quot; project provides coherent, comprehensive information regarding the strength and adequacy of state policies affecting children, families, and communities. The project seeks to establish consensus among policy experts and state leaders regarding the mix of policies believed to offer the best opportunity for improving key child and family results. The paper that follows presents a framework for policy options aimed at achieving a core result: safety and well-being for children with permanent families. Although there are many systems, policies, and programs that affect this outcome, this paper focuses primarily on state child welfare agencies and their partners, which include the courts and systems responsible for health, mental health, education and other related services. In Section I, the paper provides background on the challenges faced by children and families involved with the child welfare systems, and the challenges these systems face in trying to serve them. Section II of this report provides a conceptual framework and logic model that illustrate the connection between the desired outcomes for children and the policy recommendations in this report. Section III defines these policy recommendations in detail, including the available research and practice evidence that informs these recommendations. Taken together, the authors believe that the policies identified here present a powerful and compelling policy agenda for improving child safety and well-being as part of permanent families. Over time, they will continue to improve the recommendations as additional research and practice evidence is available. Future policy options may be modified to allow consistent tracking of state progress and to overcome data limitations. Thus, this paper presents a preliminary set of policy options. A goal of the &quot;Policy Matters&quot; work is to assess states' progress toward recommended policy options. The framework helps states think strategically about policy decisions that improve the safety, permanence, and well-being of families, and is designed to provide policy support and feedback to those interested in promoting improved outcomes for children and families. (Contains 431 endnotes.)
CAPE Outlook. Number 379
Author: Council for American Private Education
Date: 2012-11-00
Type: Collected Works - Serial
Subjects: Charter Schools,School Choice,Catholic Schools,Private Education,Reading Improvement,Parochial Schools,Budgets,Scholarships

Outlook is CAPE's monthly newsletter. Each issue is packed with information relating to private education: new legislation and regulations, the most recent research, court rulings, national trends, federal initiatives, private school news briefs, and much more. This issue contains the following articles: (1) Report Examines Charter School/Catholic School Interplay; (2) Scholars Explore U.S. Faith-Based Schools; (3) Report Finds Strong Support for School Choice; and (4) CAPE Notes.