This report finds that, when compared internationally, England achieves a high rate of student retention. However the variation between retention rates of different institutions and the worsening of some institution's continuation rates shows that there is scope for further improvement. This will be increasingly important as access to further education is broadened, bringing in students who are likely to need more support. Amongst the recommendations are: the monitoring of retention at student, faculty and course level; the use of early-leaver surveys when problems are identified; more positive student support that emphasises ways to improve grades; identification of students eligible for Disabled Students' Allowances; the adoption of good practice from other institutions.

Around 28,000 full-time and 87,000 part-time students who started first-degree courses in 2004-05 were no longer in higher education a year later. There has been little improvement in student retention since 2001-02, though participation in higher education has increased from around 40 per cent to nearly 43 per cent of 18-30 year olds. Universities have received around £800 million over the last five years to help improve retention and participation. In 2001-02 the Committee concluded (HC 588, ISBN 9780215005496) that there was a need for improvement in several areas: reducing the wide variation in retention rates; funding to support students from low-income backgrounds; tackling skills gaps; supporting disabled students; better information. The Committee's findings in this report include: there has been no reduction in the variation in retention rates; by widening participation in higher education, higher education institutions need to understand the needs of their changing student populations through the use of market research techniques; the Higher Education Funding Council for England should agree clear expectations for planned improvements in retention of students and make it part of any improvement plans; that only about half of part-time students obtain a qualification within six years and there is no specific framework to encourage improvement; that some students feel that academic and pastoral support is limited and does not meet their needs; information on why students withdraw from their courses is not reliable; substantial variations exist between universities in the proportions of students with disabilities that receive the Disabled Student's Allowances.

Staying the Course is about a college that many describe as being the way colleges used to be: beautiful, well-maintained buildings and grounds; caring, capable faculty; administrators who manage frugally and compassionately; a bright, energetic president willing to dedicate his life to assuring a solid future for the institution; and students who study hard and work hard to serve those in need. Still the college struggles to maintain what it has built and to increase its endowment, small by comparison to many private institutions, at the same time it continues to hold tuition low and provide funding to students who, even with Pell grants, need extra help to go to and stay in college. How the college is managing to build a sustainable financial base is described in chapters focusing on the kinds of students who attend, the faculty who teach, the administrators who oversee the multiple programs that support the students as well as design new courses and new ways of teaching, the trustees who guide the college, and the president who has stayed long enough to see many of his dreams for the college realized, to shape new dreams and to raise the funding that makes those dreams realities. The college still struggles in many ways but its struggles are far less than they would be without the lessons the institution has learned and is offering to other small, private colleges facing similar difficult circumstances. With the many stories about the sad state of higher education today, this book contradicts those stories with its description of how merging the values of the past with the information and strategies available today can enable a small college in a region of poverty and with a population of students with limited financial resources to rise above those threats and limitations to become a model for the future of such institutions.

The controversial career of marathon runner Dick Beardsley is featured in this look inside the head of a distance runner as it describes his difficult life, what life is like as a celebrated athlete, and many struggles to overcome obtacles ranging from an

This book presents current and aspiring school leaders with strategies, techniques, and recommended tips used by effective school administrators. It also shares selected principles and strategies used that assisted school leaders in maintaining their roles as effective instructional leaders and change agents for their schools. School leaders gain information and techniques they make use to increase their knowledge and skill based from veteran administrators who have been able to stay the course as they encounter challenges and changes faced throughout their career as school leaders.

The Professional Development School (PDS) movement has been a major vehicle for the simultaneous renewal of Pre-K-12 education and the teaching profession for nearly twenty years. This second volume in a series created by Towson University goes beyond «start up» stories and presents data-based discussions on a variety of topics about PDS implementation and assessment, including PDSs in specialty areas, such as music and physical education, mentoring, teacher development, standards, accountability, and sustainability. Chapters are written by researchers who presented their work at the Second National Professional Development School Conference sponsored by the Maryland State Department of Education's Professional Development School Network, and who represent public and private colleges and universities and school districts in Maine, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Georgia, Kansas, and Missouri, and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE).