Using multiple methodological approaches in a sample of Chinese high school students (N = 1511), this paper reports on the development and initial validation of a 32-item Student Perceptions of School Guidance Support Scale (SPSGSS) initially intended to measure guidance support students perceive they receive from schools in four key areas of…

School systems across the United States increasingly use performance-based assessments (PBAs) as alternatives to traditional standardized tests, like the SAT, to make post-secondary and workforce readiness (PWR) determinations. However, very little research has been conducted to validate such alternative assessments as valid indicators of a…

With the 84th Legislature's House Bill 505 expansion of dual credit in Texas in fall 2015, students became eligible to begin coursework as early as ninth grade. Allowing students to begin college earlier in their high school journey triggered questions about their college and career readiness during transition to postsecondary coursework, which…

A quarter of Wisconsin's high school students earned some college credit in a dual enrollment program during the 2021-22 school year. The two-fold increase in students over the past decade represents a substantial potential savings of time and money for students and families, but better data collection and analysis is needed to determine how these…

Introduction: Many underserved adolescents, defined as those with inequitable access to educational resources, face limited access to interventions that develop their college and career know-how. In our study, we implemented and evaluated a pilot college and career readiness curriculum intervention called Paths to the Future for All (P2F4A). P2F4A…

Social and emotional (SE) skills are known to be linked to many important life outcomes, some of which fall in the academic domain. For example, meta-analytic analyses show that conscientiousness (a trait related to self-management, perseverance, and being organized and planful) accounts for 28% of the explained variance in academic performance…

This report explores the development of a bridge between secondary and postsecondary education through professional development and college preparation by examining the current processes that high schools are using to address student success outside of the counselor setting. This research seeks to understand how Alaska schools can use an…

Social and emotional (SE) skills are known to be linked with many important life outcomes, including academic performance, performance on standardized college entrance exams, and college enrollment, although research on enrollment is limited. In this report, the authors present data points from a study that evaluated test-criterion validity…

Social and emotional (SE) skills are related to many positive outcomes, including academic performance, degree attainment, and life satisfaction, and are often taught through social and emotional learning (SEL) programs. Furthermore, a positive school climate is important for students' social and emotional wellness and ability to learn. For…

Social and emotional (SE) skills are "individual capacities that (a) are manifested in consistent patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, (b) can be developed through formal and informal learning experiences, and (c) influence important socioeconomic outcomes throughout the individual's life" (Organisation for Economic…

Supporting college and career readiness among youth who encounter significant academic and life challenges requires innovative strategies to help them envision their futures, leverage their strengths and develop dispositions that promote positive trajectories. For youth development professionals who develop and implement novel programmatic…

Despite significant societal changes, the high school experience hasn't changed much in recent decades. Joshua P. Starr reflects on his own high school experiences and that of his son and considers how schools might change their focus away from requiring students to learn specific facts and toward having them develop skills as they engage in rich…

"Continuous Improvement in High Schools" gives educators and policymakers an accessible, actionable framework to address one of the nation's most important educational priorities: improving high school graduation and postsecondary preparedness rates. Martha Abele Mac Iver and Robert Balfanz, national experts in dropout prevention, apply…

The purpose of this research was to explore the lived experiences of high school mathematics teachers with regards to postsecondary readiness, specifically how those experiences informed their perceptions of and experience with developing postsecondary readiness skills in their students. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in person and via…

Purpose: Universities of Small Island States (SIS) have the potential to fulfill a crucial role in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) but also face barriers to local capacity building. The University of Aruba partly addresses these challenges through the development of The Academic Foundation Year (AFY), a one-year…