Young Black and Latino men face profound academic obstacles in transitioning to college. Few studies have interrogated college readiness practices in urban schools through the lens of masculinity. Drawing on a yearlong ethnography, this study investigated how young men respond to college-readiness practices while enacting masculinity. Many young…

Often without guidance in completing college-related tasks, first-generation students face unique challenges during the summer before college. This case study investigates this critical time period by studying a cohort of 33 newly graduated students from the same urban, public high school. Guided by social capital, college readiness, and…

Academic preparation is a key factor in readiness for college-level work. Students who enroll in rigorous courses while in high school realize better secondary and postsecondary outcomes. Evidence from California suggests that rigorous learning opportunities may not be equally distributed across the state, prompting questions about course…

The college readiness of high school graduates has become a core objective of the education policy of the United States. Early college readiness programs now exist in 38 states, and early college transition curricula have been developed in 29 states. This article evaluates the oldest of these programs, the Early Assessment Program (EAP), operated…

The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of the effectiveness of a first-year experience program at one institution from the perspectives of the students, faculty, and staff through interviews and observations. This study was conducted at a community college located in Palm Desert, California on their first-year experience program,…

The responsibility to deliver college- and career-readiness education programs and services has evolved to include an array of organizational partnerships and alliances. Some act as intermediaries or hubs that coordinate communications, policy, and curriculum with state and local districts. Others operate whole-school models within a school…

In an effort to align its college admission requirements with the new K-12 science standards, the University of California (UC) recently proposed to increase its high school science admissions eligibility requirement--known as area D--from two to three years. UC's new policy has the potential of improving student science learning and readiness for…

During the past decade, education leaders and policymakers have made significant investments to better align California's K-12 and postsecondary education systems and to address persistent disparities in educational attainment by race and socioeconomic status. This report distills important lessons emerging from these efforts, integrating the…

Through interviews and focus groups with 21 high school seniors, this research examines the experiences of Latinx English learners in college and career academies in urban districts across California. In California, the college and career readiness landscape is varied and complex. However, many stakeholders see the Linked Learning approach as…

Thrive Public Schools, a K-8 charter school in San Diego, expands the concept of school beyond core academics to encompass social-emotional intelligence and "real world" understanding. The blended learning model at Thrive integrates technology throughout a curriculum built upon project-based learning, targeted instruction, and tinkering.…

The largest charter organization in Los Angeles serving more than 11,000 low-income students aims to prove it is possible to educate students at high levels across an entire system of schools. Alliance College-Ready Public Schools developed the PACE blended learning model, launched at the new Baxter High School, to more effectively prepare its…

California's Early Assessment Program is designed to notify students about their college readiness, encouraging them to take action to improve their skills during their senior year. The author uses qualitative methods and applies sense-making theory to examine how students attending majority Latino, low-income high schools make sense of the…

This quantitative study analyzed archival data to determine whether a significant difference existed in the reading comprehension scores and student success (enrollment in honors and or advanced placement classes and college after graduation) of at-risk African American male students who received Advancement via Individual Determination/African…

Community colleges, with their commitment to open access, admit millions of students each year who are unprepared for college-level work, even though they have earned a high-school diploma. For decades the schools had a built-in base of students attracted to their open doors and relative affordability. But enrollment at public two-year college has…

In September 2012, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Senate Bill 1458, which calls for California's school accountability system to shift from a near-exclusive reliance on state test scores to a broader range of measures demonstrating student achievement. At the high school level, starting in the 2015-16 school year, the Academic Performance…