This paper examines the long-term impact of the 1993 Massachusetts Education Reform Act (MERA) and the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) on postsecondary education outcomes, with a focus on historically underserved students. MERA aimed to improve educational standards and close achievement gaps through the introduction of MCAS,…

Although improvements have been made in terms of enhancing the number of students that enrol in higher education, the long-term educational pathways of adolescents to university studies are understudied. This calls for further research into the mechanisms that underpin the long-term educational pathways of adolescents who study at university…

This study focuses on members of Generation Z, born from the mid-1990s until the end of the first decade of the current century into a world of technology, social networks, and a culture of immediate messaging. The study seeks to examine the effect of this generation's pragmatic outlook both in general and in the context of acquiring a higher…

As admissions counselors expanded their footprint in online spaces to connect with prospective students and families during COVID-19, the same has been done by many institutions--for years and long before the pandemic--with digital swag. This study will provide a baseline from which enrollment managers can understand how "digital swag"…

First-generation immigrants (FGIs) are eager to achieve the American dream and acquire the advantages a bachelor's degree affords. FGIs compared to their second-generation, third-generation and native peers fare better educationally. But, this comparison obscures across racial variation within a single-nativity status. As such, it is important to…

Swedish universities and colleges have received a substantial funding increase since the turn of the millennium, as part of continued policies of expanding the admission of students to higher education to broader layers of the population and strengthen Swedish public research and development to increase the competitiveness of the Swedish…

We compiled the first longitudinal data set with detailed state funding information to examine whether different funding strategies for public higher education correlate with college access and completion, with a focus on outcomes among racially minoritized students. We found no relationships between funding mechanisms and student outcomes at…

School assignment policies are a key lever to increase access to high performing schools and to promote racial and socioeconomic integration. For over 50 years, the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO) has bussed students of color from Boston, Massachusetts to relatively wealthier and predominantly White suburbs. Using a…

Purpose: Immigrant-origin English learners (ELs) are the fastest-growing population in US schools. Most EL research examines the college-going outcomes of this population by focusing on those who are EL-identified in high school; here, we capture both current and former EL-identified students, or "ever-ELs." A subset of bilingual,…

California's public higher education institutions have been crucial in positioning the state as the 5th largest economy in the world. The economic benefits of higher education include higher annual wages, lifetime earnings, and wealth accumulation for individuals, as well as higher tax revenues and lower social program costs for the state. College…

This study takes a social cognitive approach in examining the relationship between elements of the adolescent self-system (self-efficacy, self-esteem, ethnic-racial identity, and hope) in addition to state-mandated graduation tests, with students' later participation in higher education. The quantitative investigation of 733 tenth-grade White…

Direct Admissions policies, first pioneered by Idaho in 2015, aim to simplify the path to college for high school students by proactively admitting students to state colleges and universities. Idaho's decision to implement Direct Admissions was motivated by a desire to boost its relatively low college-going rates and ensure that more of its high…

Using student-level data, we analyze the post-secondary enrollment of high school graduates across 29 states from an online charter provider from 2017 to 2020. We estimate the association between virtual charter student characteristics and the likelihood of college enrollment. We find that students who enroll multiple years in the virtual school…

Evaluations of Early College, a type of intervention that enables simultaneous enrollment in secondary and post-secondary courses in the United States, consistently find positive effects on educational attainment across racial and socioeconomic groups. Unlike Early College initiatives in other states, Massachusetts launched Early College in Fall…

In 2011, North Carolina implemented a tiered funding model for community colleges in an attempt to address program cost differentiation. In 2014, the funding model changed from a three-tiered model to a four-tiered model with additional funds for courses that address skills gaps and lead to higher-wage jobs. The purpose of this study was to…