This memorandum provides information pertinent to the participation and performance of Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) examinations for 2023 graduates in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). In 2023, 59.3% of MCPS graduates took one or more AP exams; 17.3 percentage points more than graduates in Maryland and 24.6…

This memorandum provides information pertinent to the participation and performance of Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) examinations for 2022 graduates in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). In 2022, 63.2% of MCPS graduates took one or more AP exams--21.9 percentage points more than public school graduates in…

This case study of one small urban California high school enrolling predominantly low-socioeconomic status (SES) Latinx youth and many emergent bilinguals found that a college-for-all school culture, guided by leadership and school vision, was enacted in classrooms as caring, safe, productive spaces promoting college-going comportment. However,…

This memorandum provides information pertinent to the participation and performance of Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) examinations for 2021 graduates in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). In 2021, 66.6 percent of MCPS graduates took one or more AP exams, a rate that was 23.0 and 31.7 percentage points higher…

This memorandum provides information pertinent to the participation and performance of Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) examinations for 2020 graduates in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). In 2020, 66.6 percent of MCPS graduates took one or more AP exams, a rate that was 20.8 and 28.3 percentage points higher…

Undocumented Latino students who enroll in and attend colleges and universities face a multitude of barriers and often must navigate complex situations and structures that make them more vulnerable of not completing their education (Diaz-Strong & Meiners, 2007). When undocumented students attend colleges and universities, they often encounter…

Access to higher education begins with a student's decision whether and where to apply to college. This paper examines racial and ethnic differences in college application behavior of high school graduates, using two recent graduation cohorts from Texas. We estimate racial and ethnic differences in the probability of applying to college,…

Pennsylvania's students consistently score above the national average on overall student achievement. However, the state's achievement gaps between White students and Black and Hispanic students are consistently among the worst in the country, even when controlling for gaps in family income, poverty, unemployment, and parental educational…

The college readiness and success of all students continues to be of growing national concern due to the increasing number of jobs requiring a postsecondary degree (Gonzalez, 2012; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). The Obama administration formalized this concern into policy, making college and career readiness for all a national education…

Non-traditional college students benefit from unconventional teaching methods. Hispanic students now attend colleges and universities in growing numbers, and still this demographic is the least likely to earn a postsecondary credential. Due to the projected growth of the nation's Hispanic population, efforts to support the success of…

This study examined leadership style as a predictor of career readiness among a sample of (N = 281) students from two early college high schools from the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas. Participants included 165 females and 116 males ranging from 14 to 19 years of age and 96.8% identified as Hispanic. Participants provided demographic…

This case study explores the first year college transition experiences of a cohort of eight first generation Latinx students who graduated from the same low-performing urban high school. Drawing on Tara Yosso's (2005) model of community cultural wealth, I examine the challenges students confronted at their respective postsecondary institutions and…

The COVID-19 pandemic and protests against systemic racism have shaken the nation in recent months. In addition to presenting an update to the nation on progress and challenge in increasing high school graduation rates on a path to postsecondary and workforce readiness, this report also addresses some of the gaps, barriers, and innovations seen…

The Expanded Success Initiative (ESI) evaluation was designed with two overlapping and interacting components: (1) a study of the initiative's implementation in the participating high schools; and (2) a study of its impact on student experiences and other outcomes. As the document of record evaluating an important, large-scale initiative, this…

Oregon students attend schools in a variety of geographic locations across the state and the sizes of the schools range from more than 3,000 students to fewer than five. This brief highlights schools in small and medium-sized towns, with a median 9th through 12th grade enrollment size of 92 for a school in a small town and 385 for a school in…