Elisabeth Barnett of the Community College Research Center proposes a new dimension to the general understanding of how best to prepare high school students for higher education. She suggests considering the accumulation of momentum points--specific to college preparatory "experiences" and markers of educational "attainment" in…

This executive summary describes a paper that is part of a series intended to encourage the nation's secondary and postsecondary systems to take joint responsibility for substantially increasing the number of young people who are prepared for college and career success. In this report, author Elisabeth Barnett of the Community College Research…

Through Job For the Future's (JFF's) work with communities around the country on the Back on Track model, postsecondary bridging strategies have emerged as a particularly critical and especially replicable component of programming for vulnerable youth. This issue brief offers a typology of evidence-informed bridge programming, drawing on…

In today's digital age, it is widely accepted that effective use of data is essential to improving just about anything, and increasing college and career success is no exception. Yet, despite its proliferation, student information remains surprisingly underutilized, even in efforts to ease the critical transition from high school to college. This…

This first report in a new series by Jobs For the Future (JFF) provides the rationale for restructuring 12th grade and tying it more tightly to the first year of college through new high school and college partnerships. The paper proposes a new common benchmark of readiness that high schools and colleges can work together to meet to ensure…

When it comes to state education accountability systems, times are changing fast. This is clearer than ever with the advent of not only waivers from No Child Left Behind (NCLB) but also the multitude of state accountability index systems and "A through F" school-grading systems rolling out across the country. The multiple measures of…

More than 6 million young people in the United States are out of school, out of work, and, often it seems, out of luck. That's 17 percent of Americans between the ages of 16 and 24. This population includes dropouts and high school graduates, former foster children and juveniles in court custody; youth caring for siblings and teens cycling in and…

In recent months, several states have altered their high school course requirements in various ways, from creating endorsements within a single diploma to creating new diplomas. These states appear to be making changes for a variety of reasons: to elevate career and technical education; to emphasize STEM fields; to improve the alignment with…

The early college high school program at San Diego City College is a partnership of the college, San Diego Unified School District, and several state and national organizations. The partnership has successfully implemented a variety of college-readiness and college-connected strategies, including an early college school, to better prepare students…

Jobs for the Future and the Community College Research Center convened educators, policymakers, and researchers to discuss strategies for increasing college readiness and success by redesigning the senior year and improving the transition to postsecondary education. This brief highlights key issues and recommendations that grew out of the event…

Far too few students who enter college succeed in earning a certificate or degree. States are developing a range of strategies to increase college completion rates. Performance-based funding is an increasingly popular way for states to fund public colleges and universities: Produce more graduates; get more funding. The author suggests that in…

Among education researchers, there is a growing consensus that college and career readiness depends on not just academic knowledge and skills but on a wide range of social and developmental competencies, as well--such as the ability to monitor one's own learning, persist at challenging tasks, solve complex problems, set realistic goals, and…

To compete in today's global, knowledge-based, innovation-centered economy, young people must go beyond a high school diploma and acquire not just academic knowledge, but interpersonal and interpersonal capacities. That is, they must engage in deeper learning. As schools shift away from traditional education models in favor or providing deeper…

The low rates at which U.S. college students complete a degree and the amount time they spend in remedial coursework are national problems. The situation is particularly acute for low-income and other underserved youth, including populations such as Hispanic students that are growing the fastest in the country and that have some of the lowest…

This call to action is based on a simple but important premise: The nation cannot allow college placement policies, processes, and instruments to undermine promising efforts to increase student success in mathematics and increase attainment of STEM credentials. Efforts to redesign math pathways hold great promise for improving the teaching and…