The Afterschool Centers on Education (ACE) program managed by Foundations Communities provided academic assistance, enrichment, college and career readiness, and family engagement activities at community learning centers to students from three AISD elementary schools, using Cycle 9 funding through the Texas Education Agency. This report compares…

The cost-effectiveness of the CTE program continued to improve in 2012-2013. The percentage of college-ready CTE seniors increased over the previous year, and expenditures declined. Seniors' college readiness rates did not differ by CTE status.

Jobs for the Future (JFF) set out a little over a year ago to create such models for bridging the secondary-postsecondary divide, developing strategies for high schools and colleges to build paths from the 12th grade through critical milestones of success in the first year of college. These partnerships of school districts and community colleges…

Emboldened by the provisions of the Every Student Succeeds Act, state and local education leaders are increasingly interested in redesigning their systems of assessment to further align with college and career readiness and to support meaningful learning for all students. This paper presents stories from three states undertaking this work:…

Emboldened by the provisions of the Every Student Succeeds Act, state and local education leaders are increasingly interested in redesigning their systems of assessment to further align with college and career readiness and to support meaningful learning for all students. This paper presents stories from three states undertaking this work:…

Summer bridge programs have long been utilized by postsecondary institutions to improve the college readiness of students; however, the research on their effectiveness is limited. This study presents evidence from an experimental study of one summer bridge program model specifically designed for recent high school graduates who placed into…

Since 2012, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has maintained a statewide predictive analytics system providing schools with an early warning in middle grades of students at risk for not completing high school. DPI is considering extending and enhancing this system, known as the Dropout Early Warning System (DEWS). The proposed…

Each edition of the IDRA Newsletter strives to provide many different perspectives on the issues in education topics discussed and to define its significance in the state and national dialogue. This issue focuses on College Preparedness and includes: (1) Ready Texas: Gathering Stakeholder Input to Guide Research on New Texas High School Graduation…

As the prevalence of mentoring programs in higher education institutions continues to grow, there remains little research on the growth and development that comes from serving as a mentor. In this phenomenological study, the researchers examined college students' personal and educational gains through serving as mentors to high school students in…

Despite increasing high school graduation rates, students are not enrolling in or completing postsecondary education at similarly increasing rates. Although the state's performance has improved in recent years, Texas's overall college attainment rates fall well short of where they could be and reflect significant achievement gaps. These…

Dallas Independent School District's (ISD) efforts to develop a system of college readiness indicators began in 2008, when they received a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant under the foundation's College-Ready Education initiative. With this grant, Dallas ISD's Performance Management and Analytics department developed a college readiness…

Research suggests that far more students are referred to developmental education courses than necessary, and that developmental education presents a barrier to students' success. As a result, many in the field have called for reforms to developmental education to address these challenges. This report documents developmental education practices…

Since 2012, community colleges have made a considerable effort to increase student success and completion. Today, as much greater attention is being paid to drawing stronger linkages between education and workforce needs, institutions are becoming more strategic and deliberate in this work. In particular, many institutions are building stronger…

The State of Student Aid and Higher Education in Texas (SOSA) annual report from Trellis Research provides information helpful in informing policy and programs for higher education student financial aid. The report serves as a reference for colleges, universities, and policymakers, and provides a comparison of Texas state and federal student aid…

This paper argues for a radical restructuring of education for grades 11-14--by erasing the arbitrary dividing line between high school and college--to open opportunities for the learners the current systems leave behind. The authors make the case for an entirely new type of institution--neither high school nor college--designed specifically to…