Advancing in key courses in ninth grade is an early, crucial step in preparing for college. Students who miss academic targets early in high school may not be ready to go to college 4 years later. In the United States, when students fail key courses in ninth grade, they may struggle to catch up to their peers who successfully took and passed these…

Higher education in the UK is pressured to widen participation due to the social justice issues of mobility and movement through the class divide. However, those from lower classes and mature students elect for qualifications that do not classically allow entry into university, for example, the Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) and…

This qualitative research study contains a focus on first-generation students' perceptions of their school's comprehensive school counseling program and their school counselor. Through a social capital theory lens, three themes emerged, (a) received school counselors' emotional, motivational, and tailored support, (b) increased social capital…

This study investigated the preparedness and experience of students for the fast-paced convergence of ICT and higher education. Overall, 366 distance students with a history of self-directed learning through correspondence courses were profiled using structured text-based online interviews. Twelve students' attributes on ICT material possession…

English language learners (ELs) often attend schools where there are (1) inequitable access to appropriately trained teachers and limited professional development opportunities, (2) inadequate instructional time, and (3) inequitable access to instructional materials and curriculum. These conditions place ELs at a considerable disadvantage.…

This study examines implementation of college-and-career-ready (CCR) education standards across five school districts in Ohio, Texas, California, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. Drawing on the policy attributes theory, we found that the specificity of districts' approaches to two long-recognized policy levers, curriculum and professional…

This study investigated the sustained impact from elementary fullservice community school programming on middle school STEM academic outcomes that could lead to greater college and career readiness, as well as increased STEM career options for underserved urban students. Quantitative findings suggest middle school youth who attended an elementary…

This study examined the effectiveness of the Carolina College Advising Corps (CCAC) on two college readiness outcomes: advanced college preparatory course enrollment and SAT test-taking behaviors. The focus of this study is on concrete college readiness measures beyond mere college aspirations, as these measures more accurately predict college…

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.…

Direct Entry Programs (DEPs) at Australian universities are designed to enhance students' English language and academic skills, with the primary goals of preparing and assuring students' readiness for university studies. Given that university tasks often require the integration of language skills (e.g., writing assignments using information from…

Background/Context: The "college-for-all" movement has guided education reform efforts over the last few decades. Of college-for-all adopters, the "no-excuses" charter school model is arguably the most successful and controversial. Schools that use this model produce high standardized test scores and four-year college…

The purpose of the present study was to examine how Advanced Placement (AP) course participation influences the postsecondary persistence of Black students compared to other commonly examined factors, using a nine-predictor logistic regression model. We extracted data from the 2012/14 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study…

In this article, Jackson Toby discusses President Biden's proposal for free community college and substantial subsidies at public four-year colleges. Toby points out that if Biden means to require the beneficiaries to demonstrate that they have enough aptitude to graduate if they choose to study, the idea would be in the tradition of Thomas…

Successful retention of students through understanding their motivations and behaviours is a challenge to universities worldwide. Whilst the impact of withdrawals is an issue for all institutions, attrition for distance-learning providers is particularly problematic owing to higher non-completion rates, less physical visibility, and because…

Kentucky's Targeted Interventions (TI) program is a statewide intervention intended to prepare non-college-ready high school students for college-level coursework. Using a difference-in-regression discontinuity design, we find that TI reduces the likelihood that students enroll in remedial courses by 8 to 10 percentage points in math. These…