This study examines disruptions to postsecondary education plans in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using nationally representative data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey from August 2020 through March 2021, we investigate the prevalence, forms, reasons, and disparities of education disruption across different…

Aspirations and expectations are conceptually and empirically different. Given their differential impact on various educational outcomes, it is expected that they, and consequently their convergence, would be affected by different factors. This study examines the factors leading to high aspirations, high expectations and to their alignment by…

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) youth report hostile school climates and sexuality-based harassment, but scholarship has not clearly documented how these climates might be associated with college aspirations among this population. Given college has become a common aspiration for many high school youths, we sought…

This paper explores educational inequalities through an analysis of the educational aspirations and future expectations of British girls and young women who identify as Muslim. It draws on qualitative interviews and focus group discussions with teen girls (aged 13-19) and young women in their early 20s living in the north and south of England, the…

Internships can be valuable learning experiences, providing opportunities for professional exploration, development, and growth. While 74% of freshmen plan to participate in an internship during college, only 48% of seniors are completing these experiences (National Survey of Student Engagement, 2017a, 2017b). This study examined the ability of…

The Wake County Public School System's Student Engagement Survey is administered annually to measure students' perceptions of their learning experiences. This report is the first publication on student engagement results in the school system since 2018-19. Approximately 34,692 students from grades 5 through 12 responded in the spring of 2022 for a…

Research shows that students who take advanced mathematics courses perform better on measures of college readiness than students who take less rigorous courses. However, no clear effect has been shown on requiring all students to take more advanced courses. This study examined whether increases in the number and level of mathematics courses…

The California Community College (CCC) system serves a large student body, diverse in backgrounds, experiences, and educational goals. This report uses data from the CCC system's records to measure variation in achievement across the state's Strong Workforce Regions. We consider a range of achievement measures, including initial enrollments,…

In dual enrollment programs, high school students can take college courses and earn both high school and college credit--but in the past, dual enrollment had been used mostly by high-achieving students. In 2016, the California Legislature passed a law that expanded access to students who had been underserved in higher education. The resulting…

The Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles (APCSP) course was introduced in 2016 to address long-standing gender and racial/ethnic disparities in the United States among students taking Advanced Placement Computer Science (APCS) in high school, as well as among those who pursued computing majors in college. Although APCSP has drawn a more…

This study examined student perceptions towards testing mandates. The specific purpose was to gain an understanding into the perceptions students have towards testing mandates and determine their perceived value in the areas of (1) Improvement, (2) External Attribution, (3) Affective Benefits, and (4) Irrelevance. In analyzing the perceptions of…

This study examined the personal characteristics and counseling needs of high school seniors who were strongly committed to attending a 4-year university. The results of this comparison study revealed that prospective first-generation college students reported lower perceived academic ability and a higher need for counseling in academic planning…

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…

'Asian whiz kids' perfect test scores.' 'Selective schools and tiger parents.' These types of headlines highlight the increased visibility of academically successful students from Asian migrant backgrounds, in Australia and other Western countries. They also point to anxiety about the perceived aggressive 'tiger' parenting often associated with…

Using data from the 2015 "Dane County Youth Assessment" (n = 12,886 students, 22 high schools), we identified disparities between students with Individualized Education Programs (IEP) and without IEPs across multiple post-high school aspirations. We identified significant IEP status × grades earned interactions in predicting students'…