Impact evaluations are important because they provide evidence about what works and does not work. It looks at what caused the improvement, or lack there of. This article from the Center for Effective Philanthropy talks about evaluation from the policy, practice, as well as philanthropy perspective.

Large research studies inside and outside California have established that the more levels of developmental courses a student must take, the less likely the student is to ever complete college courses in English and Math. The California Acceleration Project stresses that we can't keep attributing this problem to students' low skills or low motivation.

This resource contains the article "Exponential Attrition and the Promise of Acceleration in Developmental English and Math," which makes the case that high attrition rates are structurally guaranteed in long developmental sequences and that open-access accelerated courses are a promising way to increase completion rates in college-level English and Math.

"As many as four out of five community college students in the United States want to transfer to a four-year institution so they can obtain a bachelor's degree, according to a report released Thursday by the College Board."

NYTimes: The Choice: As many as four out of five community college students in the United States want to transfer to a four-year institution so they can obtain a bachelor's degree, according to a report released Thursday by the College Board.

The Undereducated American is a report from the Center on Education and the Worforce that highlights how America has not been producing enough highly skilled college-educated persons for the workforce.

Positive outcomes have been reported for university preparation courses for students without disabilities. Little is known about whether these courses can offer the same benefit to students with learning disabilities and whether the inclusion of psychosocial factors, in addition to academic skills, would benefit both groups.

This paper explores the power of personality traits both as predictors and as causes of academic and economic success, health, and criminal activity.

This research paper from the McGraw-Hill Research Foundation's paper, The Return on Investment (ROI) from Adult Education and Training contends that billions of dollars could be earned, saved and pumped back into the struggling economy as a result in investments in effective and efficient workforce development programs.

The pdf download of the report from the McGraw-Hill Research Foundation.

"Some of the conclusions from the review include: * Assessments appear to be more successful in placing academically prepared students than in placing academically underprepared students. * Students who narrowly miss an assessment "cutoff" score and who complete remedial courses are no more likely to complete credit coursework than students with similar scores who continue straight to credit coursework without taking remedial classes first. * Multiple measures for placement, such as high school transcripts and written essays in addition to assessments, may improve placement accuracy, as might the use of more diagnostic and affective assessments. "What we found is that assessment does not appear to be an effective means of placement for all students," said Dr. Hughes. "States may want to do more research in this area before relying too much on one measure, an assessment score in this instance, for placing community college students.""

"This article provides a rationale for incorporating the development of critical thinking skills into the online learning environment. The author also presents possibilities for building these cognitive skills into online classes. She maintains that incorporating critical thinking skills is a necessary component of learning; these skills assist learners to evaluate and link the abundance of information and ideas that is available via information communication technologies (ICTs). "

This brief addresses the current and projected need for skilled workers and the skills immigrants will need to be able to take these positions. These skills are based in academic and higher level thinking skills. The authors provide the rationale and research underlying the need to incorporate these skills into ESL classes, regardless of the level or purpose of the courses (e.g., beginning, life skills). These skills will assist them in transitioning to postsecondary work training, academic settings, or navigating life in general. They address the following skills as being essential to incorporate into the classroom: reading and listening, note taking and organizing information, and critical thinking.

This is the first year report of a three year longitudinal study by the American Council on Education to understand the effects of obtaining the GED on postsecondary enrollment, persistence, and completion. This study supports transitioning adult learners without a high school diploma to the GED credential and into postsecondary with accelerated learning. This first year study used the information gathered at the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC). The NSC holds 93 percent of postsecondary student enrollment. The study focused on adults who acquired the GED credential in 2003. The pilot study founded credential recipients had a significantly higher enrollment rate into postsecondary than non-passers; females enrolled more than males; there is no significant ethnic difference between enrollees and non-enrollees.

When black students reflected on the idea that everybody, regardless of race or ethnicity, initially struggles to adjust to college, their academic performance and longer-term well-being benefited, according to a paper published on Thursday in the journal Science.

From CLASP: Beyond Basic Skills describes strategies that can be used to strengthen connections between basic skills education and postsecondary education to help lower-skilled adults and out-of-school youth attain the postsecondary credentials they need to advance in the labor market. This includes state-level innovations such as: instructional strategies that provide a strong foundation in occupational skills required for jobs in the local economy; acceleration strategies that help students progress further and more quickly in education and training programs in a shorter period of time than traditional approaches, and funding formulas, assessment policies, and other administrative policies that support a statewide vision to provide adults and youth with pathways to better jobs through postsecondary education. The report also includes examples of states and local institutions that are effectively implementing one or more of these innovations.

Automated essay scoring (AES) has many benefits such as immediate grading, reliable reporting, and diagnostic feedback. While automation poses certain operational and technical challenges, more states are adopting AES for both formative and summative assessments. This presentation presents empirical data from the state of West Virginia online writing assessments on the reliability and validity of machine scores.

This article explores the difficulty in setting standards using cutscores. Although focused on K-12, it has some interesting observations about policy decisions, cut scores, standard setting, and measuring proficiency.

Stories of students with huge debt loads and a degree no one recognizes after attending a private, for profit, college. One school, Westwood College, has a class action suit against it.

Teachers tell how to improve public schools.

Amazing what happens when you ask teachers about improving schools. They have concrete, doable suggestions!