To evaluate how Advanced Placement (AP) courses affect college-going, we randomly assigned the offer of enrollment into an AP science course to over 1,800 students in twenty-three schools that had not previously offered the course. We find no AP course effects on students' college entrance exam scores (SAT/ACT). As expected, AP course-takers are…

This Information Capsule utilized data from the Scoir platform to report on post-secondary plans and enrollment for the M-DCPS class of 2022. Approximately 95% of the high school seniors enrolled in traditional high schools had available data on the platform and of those, 90% indicated they had plans to attend college after graduating from high…

Between the fall of 2009 and 2019, total postsecondary instituion enrollment in the United States decreased by 5%, and for those students who do enroll in college, many who lack clear career objectives drop out, making the U.S. the nation with the highest college dropout rate in the industrialized world. Students' academic aspiratoins and career…

As the Latinx population in the United States continues to increase, so does the enrollment of Latinx students in higher education. However, the growth in enrollment is not matched with graduation and retention rates due to a general lack of support from the institutions and barriers including experiences of discrimination and struggling with…

Recent research has increasingly been studying the long-lasting effects of secondary education structures and processes on higher education (HE) outcomes. While the influence of socioeconomic composition on higher education enrolment is established, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We posit that the composition effect partially runs…

Data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 were used to describe and compare postsecondary education enrollment patterns of first- and continuing-generation students. Social cognitive career theory was used to explain the processes of educational and career pursuit and attainment, as well as personal, behavioral, and…

Many students who earn a bachelor's degree also aspire to earn a graduate degree. In this study, we examined student and institutional characteristics that are related to graduate school enrollment. Student characteristics included demographic characteristics; high school performance measures, coursework taken, and extracurricular activities;…

The College Ambition Program (CAP) is designed to encourage low-income and minority students to enroll in college. The following analysis presents updated results from my AERA presidential talk in 2014. Results indicate that CAP, which is a schoolwide intervention, increased college attendance for low-income and minority students in seven…

The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) examines what students know in reading, mathematics and science, and what they can do with what they know. It provides the most comprehensive and rigorous international assessment of student learning outcomes to date. Results from PISA indicate the quality and equity of learning…

Underpaid and overworked, preschool teachers face multiple barriers in pursuing higher education. In the present study, we explored how logistical and financial barriers hinder early childhood education teachers and teacher's aides from taking college courses, as well as how academic self-concept and social support influence current enrollment.…

This report shows college enrollment and graduation trends among Asian American SAT® takers who finished high school in 2004 and 2010 by student characteristics, including aspirations, self-perceived ability, and academic achievements. In every case, students in the top categories (high aspirations, high-perceived ability, high-assessed ability)…

American Indians (AIs) have lower higher education enrollment and completion rates than Whites and most minority groups. AI women, however, participate at higher rates than AI men, White women, and White men. Research has not examined what contributes to their higher education aspirations. This study explored the middle and high school experiences…

This report builds on a foundation of knowledge about the academic readiness of the ACT-tested high school graduating class of 2012 as presented in "The Condition of College & Career Readiness" (see ED534761). An important conclusion of the "Condition" report is that far too many high school graduates are not prepared for…

Although foster youth approaching the transition to adulthood have postsecondary educational aspirations similar to those of young people in the general population, for too many foster youth with these aspirations, a college education remains an unfulfilled dream. Previous analyses of data from the Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of…

There is disagreement in the literature regarding the influence of social and cultural factors on the propensity for young people to undertake higher education. This study draws upon a national data set of over 45,000 young people to assesses their propensity to progress to bachelor level study, while controlling for their ethnic backgrounds,…