This article describes the Buffalo Prep program. Housed at University of Buffalo, the program identifies disadvantaged but talented minority children, places them in academic-enrichment classes, and then finds them spots at private schools and a more selective public high school in the area to complete their precollegiate careers. In addition to…

A coalition of small high schools in New York state is challenging the notion that using standardized tests and curricula is the best way to prepare all students for college-level work. The New York Performance Standards Consortium is a network of 40 schools that have agreed to use common performance assessments as a requirement for graduation,…

Two national studies paint a portrait of the bumpy road that many students face after high school and suggest that better academic preparation and guidance could have smoothed the way. The studies, each based primarily on separate surveys of 1,300 or more 18- to 25-year-olds, come from Public Agenda, a nonprofit opinion-research group in New York…