Other Report

This report includes the results of a study conducted by the Council for Adult & Experiential Learning which examined the effect of Prior Learning Assessments (PLA) on student outcomes at 48 higher education institutions.  The study findings indicate that PLA students had better graduation rates and persistence compared to students who did not receive PLA credit and PLA students also completed their degrees in a shorter period of time. The report also examined institutional policies expected to have the greatest impact on student degree completion in regards to PLA credit. 

This report explains the process colleges, states, and other organizations use to recognize prior learning and transfer credit. The report also examines institutional policies that impede student progress toward earning college credits and transferring these credits through and among institutions. Additionally, examples of colleges and systems that allow for successful recognition of prior learning and transfer of credit are provided and best practices for using competencies and other methods for college degree attainment, other than just credit hours, are presented. 

Part of the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) guidelines for a statewide college- and career-ready agenda, these guidelines are provided to support states, districts, and schools develop teacher development plans for senior-year transitional courses. The guidelines include seven specific policy recommendations for the development of statewide teacher development plans for transitional courses and shares promising practices and policies from the states in the SREB region.

This report provides a progress update on the work the Southern Regional Education Board and its partner states completed on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded grant project, Strengthening Statewide College/Career Readiness Initiative (SSCRI). The grant focused on strengthening the college- and career-readiness initiatives in five states: Florida, Kentucky, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. This report focuses on the progress these states have made in regards to the design and implementation of transitional courses in reading, writing, and mathematics.

This report provides a final progress update on the work the Southern Regional Education Board and its partner states completed on Strengthening Statewide College/Career Readiness Initiative (SSCRI), a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded grant project that began early in 2008 and ended in April 2011. The project focused on strengthening the college- and career-readiness initiatives in six states: Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

This report includes vignettes from teachers reflecting on their use of tools--the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) and Mathematics Design Collaborative (MDC)--aimed at preparing students for college and careers. The vignettes included in this report are the result of interviews with teachers between September 2012 and January 2013 where educators reflected on their teaching styles, changes in student motivation and engagement, and changes in their own behavior while using the LDC and MDC tools. 

This report describes a constructivist career course, "Orientation to Self and Career," aimed at helping students meet the demands of the world of work. The report also explores the theoretical foundations, modules, activities, and outcomes of the course. Outcomes of the course include increases in students' career decision self-efficacy and decreases in students' self-defeating thoughts.

This report presents information on demographics, course-taking, extracurricular activities, education and occupational aspirations, and life values of U.S. high school seniors studied between 1972-2004. The focus of this report is to present similarities and differences over time by observing seniors in 1972, 1980, 1992, and 2004.

This report presents a review of improvement strategies and reforms that educators and policymakers can develop and implement to support low-performing high schools. The report explains the theories that drive each reform strategy, reviews the evidence supporting the strategies, and provides suggestions for implementing the reforms. Some of the reform strategies include dual enrollment, early college high schools, learning communities, career academies, and charter high schools. 

This report includes a scan of K-12 credit policies in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The scan explores which states have policies that define credit based solely on seat time and which states allow for more flexibility when awarding course credits. The report uses five categories to organize state credit policies ranging from the complete abolishment of the Carnegie Unit to the use of alternative credit policies only in special circumstances such as credit recovery.