Background: Early Colleges (ECs) are a type of rapidly growing dual enrollment program proven to be successful in helping underrepresented students get a jumpstart on their postsecondary education. To date, the most rigorous evidence on the impact of ECs has come from two lottery-based natural experiments conducted by the SERVE Center (Edmunds et…

Black students in high schools do not matriculate in advanced level coursework, such as advanced placement (AP) classes, at the same rate as their White peers. The opportunity to participate in AP in high school has been shown to influence enrollment in college, earning higher overall grades, and better performance on high stakes assessments such…

Many physics students have experienced the difficulty of internalizing concepts in electrostatics. After studying concrete, measurable details in mechanics, they are challenged by abstract ideas such as electric fields, flux, Gauss's law, and electric potential. There are a few well-known hands-on activities that help students get experience with…

Across the nation, headlines have trumpeted soaring high-school graduation rates. Ohio is no exception. Lofty rates leave the impression that the vast majority of students are ready to take their next steps in life. But the truth is that too many students exit high school not fully prepared for college and career. This new study goes beyond…

While many policymakers see college credit attainment programs as potential cost savings, little research has examined the actual savings (if any) tied to taking college classes in high school. This Rapid Response brief helps fill the gap, investigating and comparing the costs of providing college credit in high school in three states with the…

The National Math + Science Initiative (NMSI) is a nonprofit organization committed to improving educational outcomes that traces its roots back to the early 1990s. NMSI's College Readiness Program (CRP) is a long-standing program with the goal of promoting STEM education in high schools to improve students' preparation for college. The three-year…

Early college high school models are designed to encourage and assist traditionally underrepresented groups of students- low income, Latino, and African-American- to persist in and graduate from high school while earning college credit. Some of the models target high school dropouts, with the aim of helping them acquire the education and training…

Earning college credit in high school matters to students and parents. Students who earn college credits by taking a college-level course while in high school are more likely to enter college and succeed. Through these experiences, students become familiar with college expectations, academic behaviors, and habits of mind; get a head start on…

Allowing high school students to fulfill a math or science high school graduation requirement via a computer science credit may encourage more student to pursue computer science coursework. This Education Trends report is an update to the original report released in April 2015 and explores state policies that allow or require districts to apply…

In 2002, the Stark County Preschool through College (P-16) Compact set the goal of achieving an 80% college going rate. Such a goal seemed both audacious and daunting for a community where in 2001 only 17.9% of the adults held a Bachelor's Degree, or higher, and where only 49% of all high school graduates went directly to college. Nine years have…

For more than two decades, the vision of a statewide system of student mobility has driven Ohio's articulation and transfer initiatives, which guarantee that specific courses will be applied to degrees and certificates at public two- and four-year postsecondary institutions. This chapter outlines how Ohio developed a comprehensive, guaranteed…

"Seizing the Future: How Ohio's Career and Technical Education Programs Fuse Academic Rigor and Real-World Experiences to Prepare Students for College and Work," demonstrates Ohio's progress in developing strong policies for career and technical education (CTE) programs to promote rigor, including college- and career-ready graduation…

This is the eighth annual report by the Stark Education Partnership on dual enrollment and other post secondary opportunities (PSOs) for the county's high school students. In addition to dual enrollment, this report looks at a portfolio of the county's PSOs that includes Canton Early College High School, and the opportunity to bank future college…

Early college schools are succeeding at our nation's most daunting educational challenge--propelling students from underserved backgrounds to graduate high school and earn postsecondary degrees. These schools combine high school and college in rigorous, yet supportive environments that embrace acceleration over remediation. Their "college for…

This report provides educators and policymakers with information they can use to celebrate their successes, understand their unique challenges, and set meaningful goals to increase opportunity for all students. It is important to note that while AP® Exams are valid measures of students' content mastery of college-level studies in specific academic…