We provide the first experimental estimates of the long-term impacts of a voucher to attend private school by linking data from a privately sponsored voucher initiative in New York City, which awarded the scholarships by lottery to low-income families, to administrative records on college enrollment and degree attainment. We find no significant…

While previous research has focused on the continuing educational disparities between the growing Latinx population and other racial/ethnic groups, this study focuses on the importance of the assets and enrichment opportunities that determine variability in Latinx student college access. Using the nationally representative 2009-2016 High School…

A key strategy for meeting Colorado's workforce needs is ensuring that Colorado's high school graduates are enrolling and succeeding in career-connected postsecondary education. According to Education Commission of the States, Colorado is one of only a few states that could, in theory, near its educational-attainment goals through increased…

The Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching initiative, which was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was a multiyear effort to improve student outcomes--particularly high school graduation and college attendance among low-income minority students--by increasing student access to effective teaching. The RAND Corporation worked…

Postsecondary education is widely seen as a necessity in the modern economy. Yet students at community colleges often face steep odds when it comes to completing a degree. Community colleges serve many low-income and first-generation students as well as students of color, all of whom must contend with many obstacles to success. At the same time,…

Using a sample of youth who graduated from high school in the late 1990s and early 2000s, this paper examines the impact of high school math curriculum on the decision to go to college. Results that control for unobserved differences between students and their families suggest that a more rigorous high school math curriculum is associated with a…

Educational expansion has led to greater diversity in the social backgrounds of college students. We ask how schooling interacts with this diversity to influence marriage formation among men and women. Relying on data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N = 3,208), we use a propensity score approach to group men and women into…

Current scholarship focused on a college-going culture, and college readiness in schools often underestimates or gives little attention to the role of the school leader. This study draws on qualitative data from a larger descriptive case study to help fill this gap by examining the role and approach of one principal at a public high school in…

This study is an examination of the relationship between participation in precollege outreach programs and students' college access patterns (i.e., enrollment patterns and timing in postsecondary institutions), comparing different racial/ ethnic groups. The study included a series of logistic regression models to investigate relationships between…

In recent years, "No Excuses" charter schools have been hailed as a promising solution to closing the "achievement gap" between low-income students of color and their high-income White peers. These schools, which have the explicit goal of college completion for all, measure success in terms of standardized test performance and…

This study examines the relationship between academic undermatch theory and the college-going decisions, experiences, and aspirations of first-generation, rural Hispanic community college students in the new destination meatpacking town of Winstead, Kansas. Ethnographic data from rural high school guidance counselors, community college faculty,…

This report is an annual look at Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students' likelihood of obtaining a college degree within 10 years of beginning high school finds that 18 percent of 2016 ninth-graders are projected to earn a bachelor's degree within six years of high school graduation, a number that has held steady since 2015. The report also finds…

Finishing high school and attaining a college degree have become increasingly important to finding stable employment and earning a living wage. By age 19, most youth in the US have earned a high school credential and many have entered college. However, the educational attainment of young people who were in foster care as adolescents lags behind…

This report, which is the first in-depth analysis of LAUSD graduates' postsecondary outcomes, links data on college enrollment, persistence, and completion from the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) with LAUSD data on students' high school performance and ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Our report examines where LAUSD graduates enrolled…

Since the Obama administration launched the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in 2012, which offers temporary relief from deportation and the right to apply for work authorization for certain unauthorized immigrants who came to the United States as children, 55 percent of the 1.2 million youth who immediately met the program's…