Developmental education reform has shown promising evidence toward improving short-term outcomes, yet questions remain about whether these early gains contribute momentum toward mid-term and longer-term postsecondary success. In 2014, Florida implemented one of the nation's most comprehensive developmental education reforms. Many students became…

This study was designed to analyze the perceptions of required college admissions testing by graduates in the state of Oklahoma. Students in the state of Oklahoma were required to take the ACT or SAT to comply with the Every Student Succeeds Act, following the adoption by the state in 2017. This study was conducted to determine: whether graduates…

This fifth of six briefs exploring data from the 2020-2021 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) data, released earlier this year, explores the access of students with disabilities to the educational opportunities that make college possible for most students: SAT and ACT testing, Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB)…

The question of how to better prepare ethnic minority students to access higher music education has raised concerns around the world in terms of educational equity and cultural diversity. In China, despite similar concerns, little is known about the preparation process and experiences of ethnic minority students to take the Music College Entrance…

To understand students' college preparation experiences, in May 2021, the authors surveyed high school seniors who took the ACT® test between September 2020 and June 2021. These students reported their intentions to attend a postsecondary institution (i.e., a four-year public college or university, a four-year private college or university, a…

I conducted this study to determine if rural scholars faced unique challenges as applicants to medical schools. I created a 34-question, novel survey, "Challenges of Medical School Applicants," and broadly distributed it to medical schools across the country. I collected and analyzed a total of 178 responses. Rural and urban cohorts were…

Schools no longer have a choice between providing students with either college or career readiness; they are now accountable for guiding students through the achievement of both (Malin, Bragg, & Hackmann, 2017). This requirement includes those who participate in a career and technical education (CTE) sequence of courses, defined as a program…

This dissertation investigates whether dual credit students' academic performance in subsequent university courses is comparable to that of non-dual-credit students. The study uses data from a Midwest regional public university over a ten-year period and employs propensity score matching and proportional odds ordinal logistic regression to create…

As in other nations, higher education has many benefits for individual participants and for communities in the United States. But, the opportunity to attain higher education is unequal. To understand the forces that contribute to higher education attainment in the United States, this essay first provides a brief overview of the characteristics of…

Postsecondary education is vital to thrive, not just survive. Eighty percent of good-paying jobs require postsecondary education, and 56 percent require a bachelor's degree or higher. While the nation's high school graduation rate has reached an all-time high of 85 percent, students are insufficiently prepared for postsecondary education and the…

Self-determination theory (SDT) and the job demands-resources (JD-R) model of burnout have been identified as important in understanding psychological distress among university students. This study aimed to investigate key factors influencing distress (depression, anxiety, stress and burnout) among students, using stepwise multivariate regression…

With increased public accountability implemented by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for the academic success and graduation of student-athletes, colleges and universities are compelled to consider the influential factors of academic success or failure for collegiate student-athletes. This study explored pre-college academic and…

Ensuring postsecondary readiness is a goal of K-12 education, but it is unclear whether high school students should get different messages about the required levels of academic preparation depending on their postsecondary trajectories. This study estimated readiness benchmark scores on a college admissions test predictive of earning good grades in…

As of 2010, about 15 percent of residents older than age 25 on Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) had completed an associate degree or higher. To increase the number of college graduates, the Pohnpei Department of Education and the College of Micronesia--FSM are working together to improve the early college outcomes of their…

The "Using High School Data to Explore Early College Success on Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia" study examined high school academic preparation characteristics and college student characteristics to determine whether they are associated with five early college success outcomes: College of Micronesia--FSM Entrance Test result;…