A lack of access to a sequence of introductory to top-level curricula in rural schools has widened the achievement disparity between rural and urban students and influenced the number of college degree holders in rural areas. Recently, surging diversity and differentiation in income levels across nonurbanized areas can serve as determinants of the…

Prior research underscores the pivotal role high school freshman grade-point averages (FGPA) play in college enrollment, with a focus predominantly on urban settings. This study broadens this perspective, employing a diverse Arkansas sample (n = 33,207), spanning rural, suburban, and urban high school students and filling a notable literature gap.…

Most research on the effects of participation in career and technical education (CTE) in high school has looked exclusively at labor market outcomes, overlooking potential educational benefits. In this study, we capitalize on rich statewide administrative data and a change in graduation requirements in Arkansas to understand how increased CTE…

U.S. schools are facing chronic shortages of qualified teachers, resulting in the hiring of unqualified teachers who are disproportionately assigned to disadvantaged students. Further, changing demographics are resulting in racial/ethnic and cultural mismatch between teachers and students they serve, causing additional educational problems. This…

A college mathematics placement test with 25 basic algebra items and 15 calculus readiness items was administered to 1572 high school seniors, and first college mathematics course grades were obtained for 319 of these students. Test results indicated that more than two thirds of the high school graduates were not college ready, and the test…

Today, as many as 25 to 40 percent of students who attend college qualify for some form of remedial education program provided by postsecondary institutions (Kaye, Lord, Bottoms, Presson, & Cornet, 2006). Many colleges and universities view the inclusion of remediation as an integral part of their educational mission. However, the costs of…

By 2013, all 50 states and the District of Columbia had adopted college- and career-ready standards in English language arts and mathematics, placing a greater emphasis on argument writing to prepare students for life after high school. Solving the specific problem of how to help teachers teach to new standards for argument writing as well as the…

NCES (1996) reported that almost one-third of all students entering colleges and universities are unprepared for college coursework and therefore required to enroll in developmental courses. This study focused on developmental and regular mathematics courses at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. Using final mathematics grades from the…