This guide is designed for counselors, teachers, and advisers who work with high school students from low-income families and students who are the first in their families to pursue a college education. It offers strategies for helping these students identify, consider, and enroll in "match" colleges, that is, selective colleges that are…

In Fall 2009, officials from Chicago Public Schools changed their assignment mechanism for coveted spots at selective college preparatory high schools midstream. After asking about 14,000 applicants to submit their preferences for schools under one mechanism, the district asked them re-submit their preferences under a new mechanism. Officials were…

Most high school reform efforts understandably focus on boosting the success of low-income students who are underachieving academically, but in every school district where students struggle, there are academically capable low-income and minority students who do graduate prepared for college. Yet each year, many of these students choose to attend…

One of the most pressing problems facing our nation is the large percentage of students who enroll in college but never complete a degree. The U.S. Department of Education estimates that only 57 percent of students who sought a bachelor's degree and enrolled in a four-year institution in the fall of 2002 completed that degree within six years. For…

The authors interviewed Black and Latino students from five high-poverty high schools as they attempted to make the transition into college. Their ability to exert individual agency with regard to their entrance exams and their college transition was circumscribed by the messages and behavioral norms that dominated their low-performing high school…

This report examines the path to college for students in academically advanced programs-- graduates of Chicago's seven Selective Enrollment schools, those who completed International Baccalaureate programs, and graduates who had taken a sequence of at least six honors and two Advanced Placement classes. This report expands on the findings of…

An Illinois study found that parents' (n=823) college savings and awareness of college financial aid possibilities had significant indirect effects on the tuition levels of colleges under consideration. Effects of a number of other demographic variables and knowledge factors were found. (Author/MSE)

Norridge High School counselors developed a program using peer counselors to obtain and share information from college representatives. After initial training sessions they interviewed the representatives, posted descriptions of the colleges, and answered students' questions. (JAC)