Using data from the first National study on high school preparation for college calculus success, the Factors Influencing College Success in Mathematics (FICSMath) project, this article connects student high school instructional experiences to college calculus performance. The findings reported here reveal that students were better prepared for…

Most students finish high school with low levels of financial knowledge, yet they are months away from important decisions about how to finance college. Students may not know about family finances, even though parental income is a key determinant of financial aid for college. This study measures the financial knowledge of high school students by…

This study addresses a longstanding question among high school mathematics teachers and college mathematics professors: Which is the best preparation for college calculus-- (a) a high level of mastery of mathematics considered preparatory for calculus (algebra, geometry, precalculus) or (b) taking calculus itself in high school? We used a data set…

Improving student persistence, especially in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, continues to be at the forefront of national educational policy discussions. Living in university housing, with its focus specifically on assisting students in transition, has consistently been positively related to student persistence.…

Based on previous research, there are several student characteristics that have been identified to affect academic success of first-year students in college. However, there are few studies that examine if the type of high school (public, private faith-based, private secular, or homeschool) from which a student graduates affects grade point average…

We surveyed 237 first-time college students to examine the extent to which social-cognitive factors--self-efficacy, perceptions of mentorship, high school GPA, ACT scores, first-semester college GPA, and demographic characteristics-- influence freshmen's intent to persist. Standard multiple regression and MANOVA were conducted to determine the…

The demand for STEM graduates has increased, but the number of incoming freshmen who declare a STEM major has remained stagnant. High school courses, such as calculus, can open or close the gate for students interested in careers in STEM. The purpose of this study was to determine if high school mathematics preparation was a significant…

In 2017-2018, the Houston Independent School District (HISD) launched Achieve 180, a program centered upon a comprehensive action plan to increase student achievement at 45 schools, including the 27 schools that received the Texas Education Agency Campus Accountability rating of "Improvement Required" (IR) in 2016-2017 and 18 former IR…

This study presents a survey developed to measure the skills of entering college freshmen in the areas of responsibility, motivation, study habits, literacy, and stress management, and explores the predictive power of this survey as a measure of academic performance during the first semester of college. The survey was completed by 334 incoming…

This mixed methods action study examines the relationship of students' three psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness and competence as presented in the Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) to the level of achievement of high school seniors at Litchfield High School. In the quantitative phase of the study, the quantitative…

School-based agricultural education programs provide contextualized learning environments for the teaching of core academic subject matter. This study sought to examine the mathematics efficacy and professional development needs of Wyoming agricultural education teachers related to teaching contextualized mathematics. Wyoming agricultural…

This study gathered, analyzed, and compared perspectives of students who were honors-eligible but never began the program, students who began in honors and discontinued their enrollment, and those who were persisting in honors. Broadly speaking (and not surprisingly), the responses of students persisting in honors reflected the most positive…

Large achievement gaps have been found in ACT scores between high schools throughout the same state and in comparisons between states. In Missouri, four public high schools have consistently scored four points higher than the Missouri average for years 2007-2011. States, such as Nebraska, Minnesota, and Iowa, have shown consistent above average…

Helios Education Foundation has sponsored administration of the ACT test to all high school juniors in selected Arizona school districts since 2009 through the District Choice State Testing (DCST) program. Morrison Institute for Public Policy was asked to identify highly achieving low-income students from this group. Highly achieving students were…

This research examined the effects of the new English/Language Arts standards, brought about by the Tennessee Diploma Project, on the ACT Reading test scores of high school seniors. The effects on student achievement, perceptions of secondary and postsecondary educators, as well as the effects on the test scores of at-risk students were measured.…