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…

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…

The 2024 Nebraska Higher Education Progress Report is the 18th annual progress report designed to provide the Nebraska Legislature with comparative statistics to monitor and evaluate progress toward achieving three key priorities for Nebraska's postsecondary education system. These priorities were developed by the 2003 LR 174 Higher Education Task…

Background/Context: To enhance postsecondary completion and minimize equity gaps, researchers have focused on defining, measuring, and developing students' college readiness, or the preparation required to persist in higher education. While this work has been useful to identify the ingredients of postsecondary success, the emphasis on individual…

The Global Assessment Certificate™ (GAC) program helps international students develop the academic knowledge, learning practices, and English language skills required to enroll at universities and earn a bachelor's degree (ACT, 2019). The GAC program includes three levels of instruction (Level I, Level II, and Level III), each entailing a…

Serious attention has been directed in recent years towards the need for increasing the number of high school graduates in the United States who are prepared for postsecondary education, training and careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The number of jobs in U.S. STEM occupations grew by 10.5 percent…

In the UK, students who want to progress to higher education have a number of possible pathways at age 16. The most common of these is traditional, academic focussed, 'A' levels, but increasingly students are taking alternative qualifications (e.g. BTECs, IB, Pre-U). The focus of this research is to infer which (if any) of these qualifications are…

Research has discovered that underprepared students are more likely to exhibit an external locus of control and low self-efficacy than those considered prepared. What differences exist between prepared and underprepared college students that may account for the variation in college performance? The objective of this study was to explore…

Background: Policymakers wish to know what changes must be made to the primary and secondary education system so that when students apply to college they are highly prepared, ready to perform at high levels, and likely to be successful in college. Purpose: The purpose of the current study was to investigate the significance of strong educational…

To assess the impact of a college preparation program, district-wide changes in high-stakes test pass rates are examined, followed by an examination of specific program elements that are associated with students' score changes. Changes in pass rates for districts with and without services are compared for the Latina/o and overall student…

The authors examined the state of United States student academic readiness for higher education from a global perspective utilizing data from the Organization of Economic and Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which tests over a half a million 15 year old student's skills and knowledge.…

Research has shown that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors who are more academically prepared--especially in terms of their mathematics and science test scores--are more likely to be successful across a variety of outcomes: cumulative grade point average (GPA), persistence in a STEM major, and ultimately earning a STEM…

During the 79th Texas Legislature, the bill "Advancement of College Readiness in Curriculum" was passed (THECB). As a response to this, high schools and colleges have combined forming an early college high school. The result of this union was a program that condensed the time it took to complete both the high school diploma and up to two…

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) initiative is the latest effort by educational leaders to improve educational outcomes of American students. The standards are intended to bring uniformity in educational content of what is being taught in schools across the nation in order to promote rigor and academic portability. Proponents claimed the new…

Many community colleges consider online learning central to the mission of providing adults with access to academic, professional, and personal enrichment opportunities; however, the issue of student success in the online learning environment remains an area of concern. The low rate of online course completion in community colleges may be…