Two-year colleges have served as vital stepping-stones for students seeking to earn a bachelor's degree. To achieve that goal, these students must complete their current program's requirements and then matriculate at a four-year college--a process known as "vertical transfer." This is commonly extolled as a cost-saving strategy, but it…

This article documents the patterns of White-Black and White-Hispanic enrollment gaps in Advanced Placement (AP) and Dual Enrollment (DE) programs across thousands of school districts in the United States by merging several data sources. We show that the vast majority of districts have racial enrollment gaps in both programs, with wider gaps in AP…

Objective: This study examines the characteristics, course enrollment patterns, and academic outcomes of students who started their college careers in noncredit courses. Method: Drawing upon a rich dataset that includes transcript and demographic information on both for-credit and noncredit students in multiple institutions, this study explores…

Advanced Placement (AP) and dual enrollment (DE) are the two most popular programs that allow students to earn college credits while in high school. Researchers have noted several benefits of college acceleration programs on students' postsecondary outcomes. Particularly, these programs offer the opportunity to improve college attendance rates…