With growing demand for workers in science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and health care, it is important to assess not only whether education interventions impact educational attainment, but also students' majors. This study examines the impact of Early College High Schools (ECHSs) on bachelor's degree attainment by field of study…

In 2016, the GED® introduced college readiness benchmarks designed to identify testers who are academically prepared for credit-bearing college coursework. The benchmarks are promoted as awarding college credits or exempting "college-ready" GED® graduates from remedial coursework. I show descriptive evidence that those identified as…

Early colleges are high schools that blend the high school and college experiences. They have been shown to increase college enrollment and completion; however less is known about the costs of the early college model relative to traditional high schools. We leverage randomized assignment of North Carolina students to early colleges to estimate the…

As the Hispanic/Latin* population in the United States experiences rapid growth, a concerning decline in college completion rates among these students demands further investigation. This study aims to establish an understanding of historical disparities that pervade the provision of advanced education and experiences, which consequently impact…

Purpose: Jointly operated by school districts and postsecondary institutions, Early Colleges are either whole school program or programs within schools designed to serve students traditionally underrepresented in higher education. The Early College High School Initiative was established in 2002 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, along…

This brief examines the experiences of California high school seniors from the graduating class of 2023, offering insights into their preparation, plans, and concerns for college prior to enrollment. Drawing on results from a large-scale survey of seniors, the findings reveal important variation in students' secondary school experiences and their…

Early colleges are a model of schooling that combines the high school and college experiences, providing students the opportunity to simultaneously earn a high school diploma and an associate degree or 2 years of college credit. This article updates findings from a 17-year longitudinal experimental study of the model, examining the impact of the…

This paper investigates patterns of racial/ethnic and gender gaps in post-secondary degree attainment trajectories by the levels of students' pre-college academic preparation. We follow four cohorts of Missouri public high school freshmen for five years beyond on-time graduation among White, Black, and Hispanic male and female students. A…

Youth with foster care experiences (i.e., foster care alumni) have poor educational attainment outcomes (Texas Education Agency, 2021). These poor outcomes compound earlier disadvantages and have individual and collective consequences. Annually, approximately 20,000 youth are emancipated from foster care in the United States (National Youth in…

This study focuses on the disparities between the educational aspirations and expectations of high school students in the U.S., and explores why students do not expect to earn a bachelor's degree despite their aspirations. Using a national dataset and logistic/multinomial logistic regression analyses, the study identified the factors associated…

This report describes results from the Long-Term Impact of Early College High Schools Study--funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) (#R305A210017)--which aimed to explore the long-term impacts of early college (EC) high schools on students' academic outcomes (e.g., college enrollment, degree attainment) and workforce, financial, and…

The Latino population is the fastest-growing community in the United States yet falls behind in the percentage of students who successfully graduate from college compared to other cultural groups. While trends of Latino students applying to college are on the rise, many cannot successfully obtain a degree due to detrimental barriers. These…

Early colleges (ECs) provide high school students access to college coursework with the goal of increasing postsecondary opportunities for traditionally underrepresented students. We examine the impact of ECs on postsecondary attainment, calculate the resulting monetary benefits, and then estimate the per-student costs of ECs compared with…

This study considers whether participation in several out-of-class high school experiences increased the odds that a student would aspire to earn a bachelor's degree, whether these relationships were moderated by the student's race/ethnicity or socioeconomic status, and whether these experiences, considered together, had a cumulative influence on…

The Upward Bound Math and Science (UBMS) program at Temple University (TU) seeks to guide first-generation, low-income high school students from Philadelphia in their quest to obtain postsecondary STEM degrees that lead to related careers. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of the program by analyzing its students' performance in light of…