Higher education institutions have been grappling with significant enrollment declines and have urgently implemented retention strategies to sustain their student populations amid shifting demographics and economic challenges (American Association of Community Colleges, 2023; Hanover Research, 2021). However, these programs often neglect the…

Early college high schools (ECHS) in North Carolina are small public schools of choice on college campuses that seek to promote attaining postsecondary credits in high school, college readiness, and postsecondary enrollment for underrepresented groups. Evidence from randomized control trial (RCT) has shown positive effects of the ECHS model on…

Early college high schools (ECHSs) in North Carolina are small public schools of choice on college campuses that seek to promote attaining postsecondary credits in high school, college readiness, and postsecondary enrollment for underrepresented groups. Evidence from randomized control trials (RCTs) has shown positive effects of the ECHS model on…

Dual enrollment is an early college opportunity for high school students who are in an eligible high school class with a qualified high school instructor. Research has shown that participation in an early college program like dual enrollment increases college persistence and retention rates post high school. However, students from underrepresented…

In 2013, an art college in a large Northeastern city in the United States launched the Art College Scholars (ACS) program in response to the growing exclusion of high-achieving, low-income students from higher education, and a need to diversify the pool of art and design school applicants. The 3-year ACS program offers 80 hours of art and design…

While many policy makers attempt to close the educational divide, precollege programs have the ability to creating a college going culture and develop college aspirations throughout the entire K-12 pipeline. Exposure to college culture and the college system grants students opportunities to develop college aspirations, skills, confidence, and…

This study focuses on the disparities between the educational aspirations and expectations of high school students in the U.S., and explores why students do not expect to earn a bachelor's degree despite their aspirations. Using a national dataset and logistic/multinomial logistic regression analyses, the study identified the factors associated…

Past work and college-access programs often treat college knowledge as discrete pieces of information and focus on the amount of available college information. I use ethnographic and multiwave interview data to compare college-aspiring working- and middle-class black 9th and 11th graders across almost two years in high school along with their…

Most college readiness reforms in high school focus on academic preparation for college, while underprepared students who do not intend to enroll in college are often left underserved. Using a unique source of data from essays written by students, we examine the role that high schools play in supporting students who test below college-ready in…

This report describes findings generated from student focus groups across four GEAR UP campuses in the Fall 2021 semester. The focus group participants described their perspectives of the GEAR UP program, experiences with the GEAR UP activities, and plans for future education. Findings obtained from the 2021 fall student focus groups echoed those…

Helping students transition from high school to college typically involves creating online transition programs in high school, which could lead to higher retention rates in college. The course developers that create online transition programs for high school-aged students understand that online learning methods are an excellent way to reach more…

Background: It is widely recognised internationally that participation in higher education is likely to lead to increased opportunities and resources. However, only a minority of learners from Roma backgrounds continue into post-compulsory education. As important research into inclusion continues, more attention must be paid to the identification…

This case study examines how relationships with staff in a GEAR-UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) pre-college program positively influenced the college-going aspirations of Black ninth-grade students. Critical Race Theory and Possible Selves provide an intersecting analytical framework for understanding the…

This study considers whether participation in several out-of-class high school experiences increased the odds that a student would aspire to earn a bachelor's degree, whether these relationships were moderated by the student's race/ethnicity or socioeconomic status, and whether these experiences, considered together, had a cumulative influence on…

In Switzerland, the baccalaureate school is an important pathway to university education, and the aspirations of families and students to enter baccalaureate school have grown. However, vocational education and training (VET) remains the predominant educational pathway and has a strong lobby. We investigate how in this context, the transition from…