This study takes a social cognitive approach in examining the relationship between elements of the adolescent self-system (self-efficacy, self-esteem, ethnic-racial identity, and hope) in addition to state-mandated graduation tests, with students' later participation in higher education. The quantitative investigation of 733 tenth-grade White…

Recent research has increasingly been studying the long-lasting effects of secondary education structures and processes on higher education (HE) outcomes. While the influence of socioeconomic composition on higher education enrolment is established, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We posit that the composition effect partially runs…

We examined how ACT® Aspire® (from grades 8 to 10), PreACT® (from grade 10), and ACT® test scores (from grades 10 and 11) relate to students' chances of scoring a 3 or higher as well as 4 or higher on selected Advanced Placement (AP) exams. Data for the study was available for 49,220 students from 318 high schools who had taken at least one AP…

This study was conducted at a college in Ontario with a sample of students from the Game Development program for 5 intake years: 2014-2018, with the purpose of determining the validity of the Mathematics Diagnostic Test used to place 1st semester college students directly into an advanced math course (Math 10), or to leave them in the introductory…

We used longitudinal data on high school students in Washington State to assess the relationships between English Language Arts (ELA) teacher qualifications and the high school and postsecondary outcomes of their students, and whether these relationships differed for students with and without disabilities. We found that students assigned to…

At a time when most students aspire for college but not all necessarily attain it, do educational expectations still matter? High self-expectations are said to influence future educational success, but studies have often focussed on expectations at a single point in time. Thus, this research asks how stable, unstable, and later expectations…

This study predicts Latina/o student attrition at two phases in the college-going pipeline. Findings suggest that academic achievement mediates Latina/o students' attrition from expectations to college application. Preparatory commitment behaviors mediate attrition from application to attendance. Results also indicate that Latina/o students…

STEM majors offer pathways to lucrative careers but are often inaccessible to first-generation students. Using data from the Education Longitudinal Study, we conducted descriptive statistics, regression analyses, and group comparisons to examine differences between first-generation students and continuing-generation students across STEM degree,…

This longitudinal study of Mexican-American youth and emerging adults examines several ecodevelopmental factors longitudinally predicting high school and college graduation. Data from 1257 Mexican-American youth (including those born in Mexico and whose families are from Mexico) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add…

This study examined rural-nonrural differences in postsecondary educational expectations and the attainment of expectations for grade 10 students attending rural and nonrural high schools in the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Midwest region and how these differences compare with rural-nonrural differences in the rest of the nation. For…

In spring 2015 Mississippi began testing the college readiness of all grade 11 public high school students and found that approximately 18 percent were ready for college math, a percentage that had changed little by 2017/18. This study examined: (1) the sequences of math courses that Mississippi students took in grades 6-11; (2) the math…

The lack of students' persistence (or student's effort to continue their academic studies until degree completion) in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and the attrition of STEM students as well as the shortage of STEM workers have gathered much attention from policy makers, governmental agencies, higher education…

This study explored Asian American students' likelihood of selecting STEM over liberal arts or business college majors using the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002. Student-level variables were the strongest predictors of college major, followed by parent-level variables, and background variables. Academic achievement and interest were the…

During the 2013/14 school year two Florida school districts sought to develop an early warning system to identify students at risk of low performance on college readiness measures in grade 11 or 12 (such as the SAT or ACT) in order to support them with remedial coursework prior to high school graduation. The study presented in this report provides…

Description: Effective with the 2014/15 school year, Mississippi adopted new academic standards and courses aligned to these new standards. The new courses included both a subject-specific mathematics sequence (that is, algebra I, geometry, and algebra II) as well as an integrated mathematics sequence (that is, integrated I, integrated II, and…