In recent years Tennessee policymakers have focused on improving the college outcomes of high school graduates. For example, the Tennessee Promise scholarship established in 2014 offers two years of community or technical college free to eligible high school graduates (Tennessee Promise, 2015). Given such policy developments, it is important to…

In 2014, the state of California implemented the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) in order to align state assessment and accountability policies with the newly adopted Common Core State Standards (CCSS). At the heart of the new performance and accountability system is the Smarter Balanced Assessment. The Smarter…

Recognizing that post-secondary student attainment and achievement is of increasing import for economic success, this study compares the post-secondary performance of students who attended public and private high schools. The results generally indicate that students who attended Catholic high schools had higher college grade-point averages (GPAs),…

In 2010, McCracken County, Kentucky implemented the Community Scholarship Program (CSP) to provide graduates of high schools in the county an opportunity to receive a tuition-free community college education. Quantitative data was collected throughout the various stages of student progress through the program. As the first cohort of CSP students…

This study explored postsecondary trends of Houston Independent School District (HISD) high school seniors over the past three years, including students who participated in direct advising sessions through Launch Senior. Three cohorts of students attended HISD schools in ninth through twelfth grades, culminating in either 2017-2018 (Cohort I) or…

This report presents selected findings from the second follow-up of the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09). HSLS:09 follows a nationally representative sample of students who were ninth-graders in fall 2009 from the beginning of high school into higher education and the workforce. Key research topics for HSLS:09 include secondary to…

Idaho State University's Bengal Bridge is a summer program designed to help students successfully transition from high school to their first year of college at Idaho State University. All Bridge students at ISU take two general education courses, plus an additional credit of supplemental instruction focused on academic strategies specific to the…

Considered a non-academic factor that is not necessarily measured by academic indicators of college and career readiness (e.g., grade point average, college admissions exams scores), critical thinking is an important aspect of 21st century learning and thus should be embedded into secondary school instruction and assessment. In this study,…

This study presents findings from three cohorts of students--the classes of 2003, 2004, and 2005, in the School District of Philadelphia--that were admitted to the district's career and technical education (CTE) schools through a randomized lottery process. This study takes advantage of this so-called "'natural experiment' to compare high…

The concept of college readiness is complex because of its many components, and its meaning is further complicated by disparate definitions applied by different postsecondary institutions. The research featured in this study attempts to measure college readiness according to traditional indicators, such as high school GPA and course taking, but…

The purpose of this study is to describe and examine the structures and policies a public, comprehensive high school put in place to implement problem-based learning (PBL) across content areas. Starting in 2010, the school implemented PBL in the hopes of increasing students' career and college readiness skills. The research took place at a…

The ACES program is a collaboration between MCPS, Montgomery College (MC), and the Universities at Shady Grove (USG) to create a seamless pathway from high school to college completion. ACES focuses on identifying and supporting students who are underrepresented in higher education, the first in their family to attend college, or both. In…

PISA 2012 results indicate that school systems that group students based on ability levels tend to have lower performance than those that do not divide students by ability. One way some in the United States have sought to increase equity of opportunity is to mandate enrollment of students in college-preparatory mathematics, i.e., Algebra 1 in…

Prior academic achievement is often considered the best predictor and therefore the preadmission criteria for highly competitive medical schools. Most studies that advocate this viewpoint analyzed cohorts based on results of a central examination taken by students who come from various pre-university setups and backgrounds. Far less is known about…

This study examined and compared school attitudes, including academic self-perceptions, attitudes toward teachers, attitudes toward school, goal valuation, and motivation/self-regulation, using the School Attitude Assessment Survey-Revised (SAAS-R) in groups of students who varied in their potential for academic achievement and their actual…