This article explores English policy on widening participation in higher education (HE), drawing on insights from a research study into higher education transitions and "dual sector" institutions. Although further and higher education in England are divided into two sectors, it is possible for one institution to offer both further and higher…

Learning objects have quickly become a widely accepted approach to instructional technology, particularly in on-line and computer-based learning environments. While there is a substantial body of literature concerning learning objects, very little of it verifies their efficacy. This research investigated the effectiveness of learning objects by…

The focus of this study is to examine the early reports and studies concerning the development of two-year colleges in Oklahoma. The basic inquiry is the examination of the reports of the Oklahoma State Superintendent of Instruction and the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education as well as dissertations or theses produced by University of…

The Breaking Through (BT) initiative of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation seeks to prepare low-skilled adults, adult learners who are below college-level in reading, writing and/or mathematics, often lacking a high school diploma, and frequently low-income, to be successful in college and the labor market by strengthening and expanding policies…

Only a quarter of the class of 2008 graduated from Alain Locke Senior High School in Los Angeles after four years. This was unsurprising since nearly 60 percent of the class had left Locke by the end of their sophomore year. A majority of Locke teachers--frustrated with the school's mediocrity--petitioned to allow charter management organization…

Produced every four years by the Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board, the education cost study provides detailed instructional cost information for the state's public two-year and four-year institutions. The cost analysis is based on expenditures drawn from two sources: state Near-General Fund appropriations and tuition revenue. By…

Collaborative efforts appear to have great potential for increasing effectiveness and efficiency in the fiscally constrained environment of higher education. However, they represent a relatively new organizational arrangement about which we know very little. To better understand this new arrangement, it is helpful to consider the conditions that…

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…

This brief explores three examples of state policies designed to help students and families cope with rising tuition costs at four-year institutions: the Wisconsin Covenant, the Georgia HOPE Scholarship Program, and the Indiana Twenty-first Century Scholars Program. Although the authors acknowledge the important role two-year colleges play in…

Using the data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, this issue of "Data Notes" is the second of a two-part series investigating the characteristics of late stop-outs--students who accumulate at least 30 credits within the first two years, only to stop out without completing credentials or transferring. The data show that male…

Institutional diversity, or the existence of many different kinds of colleges and universities within a specific higher education system, has long been recognized as a positive and unique attribute of the U.S. higher education system. This paper describes a study that examines the change in institutional diversity across all 50 states between two…

In 2007, the Virginia Board of Education directed the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) to study academic indicators that are associated with high school students' successful preparation for college and careers. VDOE then embarked on a multi-year effort to identify available data sources and conduct research on high school indicators that…

This dissertation empirically tested Tinto's student integration theory through structural equation modeling using a national sample of 2,847 first-time entering community college students. Tinto theorized that the more academically and socially integrated a student is to the college environment, the more likely the student will persist…

In response to a reader query, this article traces the origins of the ionic-radius ratio rules and their incorrect attribution to Linus Pauling in the chemical literature and to Victor Goldschmidt in the geochemical literature. In actual fact, the ionic-radius ratio rules were first proposed within the context of the coordination chemistry…

The study examines community college presidents' perceptions about two--year college intercollegiate athletics. Presidents in six states were surveyed about their perceptions of whether community college athletics: (a) enhances pride in the institution among various constituencies, (b) increases enrollment and augments student recruitment, (c) has…