SHOW ME THE MONEY: Alliance Analysis Finds That States Could Generate Millions More in Wages by Raising High School Graduation Rates: Improving state high school graduation rates could produce significant wage increases, resulting in healthier state economies, according to calculations by the Alliance for Excellent Education. Indeed, some states could see earnings increases of $100 million or more if they could halve the percentage of students who do not finish high school in four years, the Alliance's analysis found.

CONFRONTING THE DROPOUT CRISIS IN CALIFORNIA: Conference Convenes Researchers on Dropouts, Hopes to Inform a Public That Is "Largely Unaware" of the Problem: California's misleading and inaccurate reporting of dropout and graduation rates has left the public "largely unaware of this educational and civil rights crisis," according to a report that emerged from a recent conference, "Dropouts in California: Confronting the Graduation Rate Crisis." Convened in March by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, the conference highlighted the fact that California reports a robust 87 percent graduation rate while in fact only 71 percent of California high school students graduated in 2002, and graduation rates for blacks (57 percent), Latinos (60 percent), and Native Americans (52 percent) were much lower.

A CITY AT RISK: New Research Identifies Sixth-Grade "Risk Factors" That Can Predict Future High School Dropouts in Philadelphia: Almost half of the students who ultimately drop out of Philadelphia high schools can be identified as early as the sixth grade, according to research by the Philadelphia Education Fund in conjunction with Johns Hopkins University. The research found that a student displaying any one of four risk factors-attendance below 80 percent, poor behavior, a failing math grade, and a failing English grade-has, at best, only a 10 percent chance of graduating from high school on time, and only a 20 percent chance of graduating one year late.

OVERVIEW OF 2005 SMALLER LEARNING COMMUNITIES ACTIVITIES: U.S. Department of Education Announces Special Competition to Evaluate Supplemental Reading Programs Targeted at "Striving Readers": This spring, the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) is administering two competitions under the Smaller Learning Communities (SLC) program. The first is a special competition that will fund a national evaluation of supplemental reading programs in freshman academies. The second will award SLC grants using new requirements and selection criteria.

SENATE APPROVES $5.4 BILLION INCREASE FOR EDUCATION BUDGET: Large Differences in House and Senate Budget Resolution Versions Could Spell Trouble in Conference: On March 17, the House and Senate each passed versions of the fiscal year 2006 congressional budget resolution, but not before the Senate added $5.4 billion for education and stripped $14 billion in mandatory spending cuts to Medicaid. These changes are expected to make it difficult for conferees to agree on a compromise after Congress returns from its spring recess at the beginning of April.

COLLEGE DREAMS LIKELY TO FADE FOR MANY STUDENTS: High School Sophomores Have High Hopes but Low Math and Reading Scores: Nearly three-fourths of the nation's high school students plan to get a bachelor's degree or higher. But over 50 percent of students who held that expectation could not read at a proficient level, and over 80 percent could not perform intermediate-level math, according to a new report from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The NCES also found that only about half of students are enrolled in a college preparatory program. The report, A Profile of the American High School Sophomore in 2002, surveyed tenth graders during the spring term of the 2001-02 school year and examined the cohort's sociodemographic characteristics, school experiences, tested achievement in reading and math, and educational expectations and plans.

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC: New Report Finds Lack of Parental Involvement and Little Useful Information on No Child Left Behind: According to a new report by the Public Education Network (PEN), Open to the Public: Speaking Out on No Child Left Behind, Americans generally support the No Child Left Behind Act's (NCLB) objectives, but say that they lack useful information about school performance and improvement. In addition, they say that efforts to get involved in schools are regularly rebuffed by school officials. Such lapses, the report argues, threaten to erode support for the law.

FROM THE CAPITAL TO THE CLASSROOM: New Report Finds Encouraging Signs of Positive Impact, but Calls for Midcourse Corrections in Year Three of NCLB: In the third year of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), a majority of states and districts are reporting that students' scores on state tests are rising and that the law has focused greater attention on students who need extra help to learn, according to a new report from the Center of Education Policy (CEP). However, the report, From the Capital to the Classroom: Year 3 of the No Child Left Behind Act, also found that many states and districts lack the capacity to help all schools that were "in need of improvement" and that many officials believe the goal of 100 percent proficiency for all students by 2014 is unrealistic.