High school graduation rates in the United States are at an all-time high, yet many of these graduates are deemed not ready for postsecondary coursework when they enter college. This study examines the short-, medium-, and long-term effects of remedial courses in middle school using a regression discontinuity design. While the short-term test…

The purpose of this study was to explore the academic performance of entering college students in their first enrolled college English course by comparing students who entered with prior college English coursework earned through Dual Enrollment, with prior college English coursework earned through another accelerated mechanism such as AP or IB,…

The Florida Economic Security Report details economic outcomes of recent completers from Florida's public postsecondary educational institutions. Data from the State University System of Florida (SUS), the Florida College System (FCS), and District Technical Centers (DTCs) are included in this report. The report aims to document the variation in…

In this study, we use microdata from 12 Florida county-level school districts and a regression discontinuity design to examine the effects of early grade retention on the short-, medium-, and long-term outcomes of English learners. We find that retention in the third-grade substantially improves the English skills of these students, reducing the…

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting financial crisis are forcing millions of students to reconsider their educational plans--a development that's likely to increase the number of students transferring among institutions in the years ahead. Affordable and close to home, community colleges in particular are now poised to attract more students…

Objective: Statway is a community college pathways initiative developed by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching designed to accelerate students' progress through their developmental math sequence to acquiring college math credit in statistics. Statway is a multifaceted change initiative designed to address the complex problems…

Higher education often operates under old rules -- rules that continue despite an increasingly diverse student population and improved understanding of human behavior and choice. Under these old rules, fewer than half of students graduate on time, if at all, and troubling equity gaps exist based on income, race, and ethnicity. It is time for new…

Performance-based scholarships were developed to help tackle some of the financial obstacles facing students in the postsecondary education system. In general, these scholarships aim to help reduce the financial burdens of low-income college students, and are structured to help incentivize good academic progress. Performance-based scholarships…

Community colleges play a vital role in postsecondary education, enrolling more than one in every three postsecondary students. While their importance has grown over the past 50 years, their students' success rates remain low. Consequently, community college stakeholders are searching with mounting urgency for approaches that increase students'…

Performance-based scholarships have two main goals: (1) to give students more money for college; and (2) to provide incentives for academic progress. MDRC launched the Performance-Based Scholarship (PBS) Demonstration in 2008 to evaluate the effectiveness of these scholarships in a diverse set of states, institutions, and low-income student…

With the goal of increasing students' academic readiness for college, high schools in the United States are increasingly offering "credit-based transition programs," including International Baccalaureate (IB), Advanced Placement (AP), and dual enrollment. Existing research points to the promise of IB, AP, and other credit-based…

In 2006, the National Center for Postsecondary Research, of which is MDRC is a partner, launched a demonstration of one-semester learning community programs at six colleges; five of these programs focused on developmental education. This is the final report from the project and includes findings from analyses that pool data across these five…

A recent report on the impact of dual enrollment programs noted that "despite the popularity and growth of dual enrollment programs, little is known about their efficacy" (Karp, Calcagno, Hughes, Jeong, & Bailey, 2007). Furthermore, much of what is known tends to focus on "postsecondary"--full-time as opposed to part-time…

Using data from the Virginia Community College System and building upon prior Florida-based research, this study examines whether student success course enrollment has positive associations with shorter term student outcomes, including earning any college credits within the first year and persisting into the second year. The present study finds…

Dual enrollment programs are collaborative efforts between high schools and colleges, in which high school students are permitted to take college courses. These programs provide students with a challenging academic experience and the opportunity to earn college credit prior to high school graduation. Despite the popularity of dual enrollment, one…