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…

College education plays a crucial role in upward social mobility. However, despite applying to and being accepted by colleges, students often fail to matriculate -- a phenomenon known as "summer melt". The summer after high school graduation is a vulnerable period for these students due to limited counseling support from both high…

This report presents enrollment data for West Virginia Higher Education. The following topics of data are presented: (1) National Enrollment Trends, Undergraduate Enrollment; (2) West Virginia High School Graduate Projections; (3) College-Going Rate; (4) Student Persistence and Completion; (5) Credit Headcount Enrollment; (6) Fall 2024 Headcount…

This report provides outcomes for Austin Independent School District (AISD) graduates from the Class of 2018 who were ever classified as English learners (ELs) in terms of advanced coursework, college readiness assessments, and postsecondary enrollment.

This research brief summarizes student outcome findings from SRI International's evaluation of the California Linked Learning District Initiative, an effort to build robust district-level systems to sustain high school career pathways in nine school districts in the state. With funding from The James Irvine Foundation, SRI conducted a rigorous…

The 2022 Youth Transition Report underscores the persistent and pernicious gap between youth and young adults with disabilities and those without disabilities on measures of success in education, employment, opportunity, and poverty. While data and reports exist for the working-age adult population and children with disabilities, the Institute for…

The California Community College (CCC) system serves a large student body, diverse in backgrounds, experiences, and educational goals. This report uses data from the CCC system's records to measure variation in achievement across the state's Strong Workforce Regions. We consider a range of achievement measures, including initial enrollments,…

States have introduced a range of policies and strategies aimed at boosting college readiness by strengthening collaborations between secondary and postsecondary education sectors. One popular strategy is Early College High Schools, which allows historically underserved student groups to complete college-level coursework and improve their college…

The Tuition Opportunity Program for Students (subsequently renamed the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, also known as TOPS), Louisiana's merit-based student aid program, was created via Act 1375 of the 1997 Regular Legislative Session. The first freshman class to receive TOPS awards entered postsecondary education in the fall of 1998. Act…

Considerable research has examined the personal factors and practices associated with transition-age youth with disabilities achieving higher employment rates and greater self-sufficiency as adults, but there is limited evidence on the longer-term effectiveness of these practices and services. This study examines the role of youth's use of…

Even as the number of Latina/o students going to college has increased in recent years, Latino male students continue to face barriers in accessing America's institutions of higher education, a topic that remains complex and understudied. Using national survey data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, we sought to understand the role…

High school feedback reports can allow states, districts and schools to evaluate the transition of students from high school to postsecondary education. These reports or data systems contain a variety of information on a state's high school graduates, including postsecondary enrollment data, developmental education needs and first year…

This report examines the trends in post-secondary education in Massachusetts following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Massachusetts has had historically high rates of college enrollment and a highly educated labor force. We focus on two groups of high school graduates: those in the high school class of 2020, whose final year of high school…

This report summarizes the academic and post-secondary outcomes for student athletes and non-athletes in the 2017-2018 school year.

This three-study dissertation investigated how socioeconomic factors and policies are associated with educational outcomes for undocumented youth and, in one of the papers, to what extent education and employment outcomes intersect. Guided by the specific questions of each study, the three papers take different theoretical and methodological…