This agenda is Kentucky's plan to create a more inclusive, innovative higher education system that serves students of all ages, backgrounds, and beliefs. It reaffirms the goal for 60% of Kentucky adults to have a postsecondary credential by the year 2030 and builds on unprecedented gains in degree production over the last decade. It responds to…

Despite the myriad of challenges that families, students, teachers and policymakers faced in 2021, the momentum to transform education did not waver. New opportunities for students unfolded in more than a dozen states through expanded private and public school choice. An additional 1.7 million students gained eligibility for private choice alone,…

A substantial and growing body of research indicates that, all other factors being equal, students who dually enroll are more likely than their non-dually-enrolling peers to finish high school, matriculate in a postsecondary institution and experience greater postsecondary success. Spurred by this, states are increasingly viewing dual enrollment…

To innovate for the future and improve equity, while also protecting foundational and proven principles that support high-quality education, ExcelinEd is committing to 5 goals over 5 years to impact 5 million students. Those goals hold the key to impactful and far-reaching changes in education, with the power to transform schools, students' lives,…

In May 2017, the Investing in Innovation Fund (i3) College Access and Success community embarked on a project to compile shared challenges and lessons learned as a resource for fellow i3 College Access and Success grantees, the larger community of i3 grantees, and the broader field of college access. Through this project, the authors discovered…

One of the key priorities for the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is alignment and conformity across different federal and state systems. ESSA gives states the flexibility to hold schools accountable, measure student outcomes, and provide supports and technical assistance in a way that is aligned with their own priorities. States are encouraged…

"The Condition of College and Career Readiness" looks at the progress of the 2016 ACT®-tested graduating class relative to college and career readiness. This state briefing begins with statistics in the following categories for Kentucky: performance, STEM, career readiness, impact, behaviors that impact access and opportunity, pipeline,…

Middle Appalachia--defined in this report as the Appalachian portions of Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia--is an impoverished area that has been economically dependent on the coal industry for generations. Its schools face unique challenges in ensuring the college and career readiness of students, given that…

In this paper we estimate the impacts of the "pathways" chosen by community college students--in terms of desired credentials and fields of study, as well as other choices and outcomes along the paths--on the attainment of credentials with labor market value. We focus on the extent to which there are recorded changes in students' choices…

For 21st century workers, success is rapidly being redefined. A high school education is no longer sufficient for high-wage employment, and the path to a postsecondary credential of value can be a convoluted one. Each transition -- from secondary to postsecondary education, from postsecondary education to the workforce, or from adult basic…

In 1997, the General Assembly adopted the "Postsecondary Education Improvement Act of 1997" (HB 1), a bold and visionary act to reform Kentucky's public system of higher education. This piece of legislation established broad goals for increasing educational attainment at all levels, and charged the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary…

In the summer of 2012, the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) and the Alliance for Excellent Education conducted a survey of State Directors of Career Technical Education (CTE) to gauge state efforts to better connect CTE with a larger college- and career-readiness agenda. Survey questions…

The emergence of longitudinal data systems over the past decade has provided exciting opportunities to better understand students' educational trajectories over time and institutions. The stark reality for today's high school students is that some form of postsecondary education is a necessary ticket of entry to a secure economic future. This…

This brief report offers analysis of ACT and SAT results from 2008 to 2013 in the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) region. The brief focuses on the increase in test participation rates and points to policies that SREB states initiated that affected these rates. Five SREB states currently require 100 percent student participation on the…

"Gauging Progress, Accelerating Pace" is the seventh biennial report to SREB states on their progress in meeting SREB's Challenge to Lead goals for education. Each customized state report documents progress on both measurable outcomes and state policies. Through effective policy implementation, the goals can help states drive…