Examines the changing demographics of high school students over the last decade and investigates the impact these changes may have had on high school dropout rates. Makes comparisons of the characteristics and dropout rates based on demographic and family characteristics, academic background, and risk factors of the sophomore and sophomore to senior classes of 1980 and 1990. From 1980-1990 there was a 5% increase in the proportion of sophomores living in families below the poverty line; there was a greater proportion of minority students; there was a 6% decrease in students from intact families. Numerous charts and tables.

The decade of the 1980s saw great change in the educational system. This report examines the changing demographics of high school students over the last decade and investigates the impact that these changes may have had on high school dropout rates. Specifically, the study examined the changing nature of the high school population during the last decade and describes the different effects of various student-level characteristics on the propensity for students to drop out of school between 1980 and 1982 compared to 1990 and 1992. The report provides data that depict changes in the characteristics of students' families, in students' economic backgrounds, in dropout rates, and in the characteristics of dropouts. Data show that during the 1980s, a growing number of students with characteristics traditionally associated with school failure began attending high school; at the same time, high school dropout rates decreased by almost 50 percent. The declines occurred among students with a variety of characteristics--minority and majority students, students in intact families and nonintact families, and students with children of their own living in their household. Many groups of students traditionally considered "at risk" for school failure dropped out at lower rates in 1990 than in 1980. However, there were other groups of students whose dropout rates did not improve. These were students from poor families, who had histories of poor academic achievement, and who had multiple risk factors in their backgrounds. The study used data on two cohorts of high school sophomores collected by the National Center for Education Statistics--the sophomore cohort of 1980 from the High School and Beyond (HS&B) study, and the sophomore cohort of 1990 from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88). Appendices contain methodological notes, standard error tables, and multivariate analyses. Eight figures and 57 tables are included. (LMI)

The role played by testing in the nation's public school system has been increasing steadily-and growing more complicated-for more than 20 years. The Committee on Educational Excellence and Testing Equity (CEETE) was formed to monitor the effects of education reform, particularly testing, on students at risk for academic failure because of poverty, lack of proficiency in English, disability, or membership in population subgroups that have been educationally disadvantaged. The committee recognizes the important potential benefits of standards-based reforms and of test results in revealing the impact of reform efforts on these students. The committee also recognizes the valuable role graduation tests can potentially play in making requirements concrete, in increasing the value of a diploma, and in motivating students and educators alike to work to higher standards. At the same time, educational testing is a complicated endeavor, that reality can fall far short of the model, and that testing cannot by itself provide the desired benefits. If testing is improperly used, it can have negative effects, such as encouraging school leaving, that can hit disadvantaged students hardest. The committee was concerned that the recent proliferation of high school exit examinations could have the unintended effect of increasing dropout rates among students whose rates are already far higher than the average, and has taken a close look at what is known about influences on dropout behavior and at the available data on dropouts and school completion.

The failure of ninth grade students at the state and national level is astronomical and the percentage of students who are retained in the grade or drop out of school as a result has not changed significantly in the past ten years. Freshman year in high school is truly a pivotal year in the lives of many students and a few cost-effective and simple interventions can be implemented to change the current trends of high failure and graduation rate deficits. Although some schools are making gains in this area, the problem is so widespread and commonplace the percentage of improvement is almost negligible. Author Robert Marshall has written this book containing a series of best practices, ideas, interventions and solution strategies to improve ninth grade success and curtail the common practice of grade level retention. Features include: _ Checklists or sample documents to assist with planning and implementation of successful interventions _ A set of web links to successful ideas and practices around the nation _ Successful programs and practices currently working in schools around the nation For middle and high school principals, teachers, and parents.

Based on the results of more than a decade of research by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change, Smart Communities provides directions for strategic decision-making and outlines the key strategies used by thousands of leaders who have worked to create successful communities. Smart Communities offers leaders from both the public and private sectors the tools they need to create a better future for all the community's citizens. Using illustrative examples from communities around the country, Smart Communities shows how these change agents' well-structured decision-making processes can be traced to their effective use of seven key leverage points: Investing right the first time Working together Building on community strengths Practicing democracy Preserving the past Growing leaders Inventing a brighter future

Almost no one in the West had heard of the Hmong before National Geographic ran a cover story on the Southeast Asian ethnic group that had allied with the United States in the Vietnam War, and few knew of them before their arrival in the U.S. and other Western nations in 1975. Originating in China centuries ago, they have been known by various names--Miao, Meo, Miaozi, Meng or San Miao--some of them derogatory. The Hmong in the West are war-displaced refugees from China and Laos, though they have been misidentified as belonging to other ethnic groups. This mislabeling has caused confusion about the Hmong and their history. This book details the history of the Hmong and their journey from Eastern to Western countries, providing a clear understanding of an immigrant culture little understood by the American public. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Winner of the 2004 Critics' Choice Award presented by the American Educational Studies Association This useful classroom resource for professors wishing to incorporate notions of justice into their courses examines a variety of America's most challenging social issues (education, poverty, homelessness, crime, and health care), interwoven with racial and ethnic themes. Anthony J. Cortese illustrates how the tension between moral relativism on the one hand, and universal ethics on the other, makes concrete policy discussion difficult. He illustrates how, through a synthesis of justice, law, and power, a social ethics approach to public policy could resolve various intergroup conflicts and social problems. Included at the end of each chapter are "What You Can Do" exercises and activities that encourage students to apply what they have learned to their own lives.