American community colleges have become important in the pursuit of a four-year degree. The state of Missouri established an Associates of Arts degree and the 42-hour general education block option to assist students with transfer and degree completion in the shortest time possible (Coordinating Board for Higher Education, 2000). If articulation…

This report documents the methodological procedures and evaluations of the 2008/09 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B:08/09). RTI, with the assistance of MPR, conducted B&B:08/09 for the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the U.S. Department of Education. Chapter 1 describes the background, legislative…

Attrition rates, completion rates, and time to degree are the key areas researchers have sought to examine influencing factors and patterns of behavior that describe the departure process of students in doctoral study. Through the lens of self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), the purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was…

Recently the state of Missouri, through the Missouri Department of Higher Education, has started to work toward the goal of having 60 percent of state residents hold some type of postsecondary credential. This goal aligns with similar initiatives in other states as well as President Obama's objective for the nation. In order to reach this…

Back-and-forth enrollment at different institutions--student swirl--and concurrent enrollment at two or more institutions--double-dipping--have become common experiences for students in the United States. However, empirical studies explaining student mobility are rather rare. This study examines how student departures from and returns to a single…

Concerns have been raised in the Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) doctoral education literature regarding: (a) the narrowness of research preparation, (b) the emphasis on disciplinary silos, (c) the lack of competitiveness and innovation within and beyond academia, and (d) the role of graduate assistants. These concerns mirror those in…

The objective of this article is to critically examine teacher education based on the concepts, principles, and practices of adult education, vocational training, and continuing vocational training. We will discuss a few aspects of teacher education from the perspective of our research and our theoretical frames of reference, touching on the…

Nearly 40 percent of the students entering 2- and 4-year postsecondary institutions indicated their intention to major in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in 2012. But the barriers to students realizing their ambitions are reflected in the fact that about half of those with the intention to earn a STEM bachelor's degree and…

The transition from high school to college can be more difficult for some students than others. States continue to report high numbers of students requiring remediation; Minnesota is not exempt from this trend. Examining Minnesota public high school graduates from the classes of 2007-2013 who enrolled in postsecondary education and those enrolled…

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…

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…

A substantial amount of research examines the benefits of high school college-credit attainment programs against non-participation. The growth in popularity of these programs, particularly Advanced Placement (AP) and dual enrollment (DE), has them competing against one another for student attention. However, students, schools, and policymakers do…

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…

This study employs administrative and survey data to assess the relationship between students' socioeconomic background and educational outcomes, using regression and quantile regression methods. We take into account the existing institutional framework which allows differentiation in the duration of studies among students. We examine the…

This Accountability Report shows the status and progression of Florida State University (FSU) from one year to the next. The Executive Summary is divided into the following sections: (1) Dashboard; (2) Key Achievements; and (3) Narrative. Data tables on FSU's financial resources, personnel, enrollment, undergraduate education, graduate education,…