A College Board survey finds that students who have graduated from high school highly value college, but wish they had been better prepared for it. The study also shows that only half of all respondents felt that school prepared them well for both college and the work force.

Using the ACT College Readiness Benchmarks and ACT test scores, The Condition of College & Career Readiness 2011 provides a series of graphical pictures highlighting the college and career readiness of the ACT-tested high school class of 2011.

In a new brief from the Pew Center on the States, Timothy Bartik argues that investing in early childhood helps with job creation in the short term and also creates a stronger future workforce. His comprehensive model combines well-designed business incentives with high-quality early childhood programs.

This report analyzes the effectiveness of the Schoolwide Performance Bonuses Program, which is an effort to improve student performance through school-based financial incentives. The three-year study, which found that the program did little to improve student achievement, examined student test scores; teacher, school staff, and administrator surveys; and interviews with administrators, staff members, program sponsors, and union and district officials.

More than 1 million youth ages 16 to 19 are not enrolled in school and do not have a high school diploma. Although states are beginning to use research to create successful dropout prevention policies and programs, more work needs to be done. This report summarizes recent policy developments in dropout prevention and recovery and recommends effective strategies for states to facilitate the reengagement of out-of-school youth.

The Center for Education Policy examines a decade’s worth of research on school vouchers, including the effects on graduation rates, parental satisfaction, public school achievement and the cost to taxpayers. Among the report’s key findings is that vouchers have no clear positive effect on student academic achievement. The report stresses the need for closer scrutiny of voucher research to ensure greater objectivity because CEP’s reviewers found that a majority of previous research has been conducted or sponsored by voucher proponents.

Today there is nothing short of a state of emergency in the delivery of education to our nation’s communities of color. As our communities quickly grow on pace to become a numerical majority, it is clear that confronting the issues we face is not just our challenge alone but all of America’s challenge. As a nation, we are failing to provide the highquality educational opportunities that are critical for all students to succeed, thereby jeopardizing our nation’s ability to continue to be a world leader.