Career technical education (CTE) has evolved markedly over the past century to provide a viable avenue for high school students who may seek an alternative and successful academic path that leads to a well-paid future career in the workforce. Recent studies have found that Career and Technology Education can lower dropout rates among high school…

Texas education is experiencing dramatic increases in enrollment in early college high school (ECHS) programs, and new programs are being developed equally quickly across the state. These programs require a partnership between secondary and postsecondary institutions, and system boundaries can be tricky for leaders to navigate when differences in…

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…

School leaders and policymakers seek various pathways to help minority, low-income, and other historically underrepresented populations matriculate to college after graduating high school. However, many students are not fully prepared academically or non-academically to transition to college, making it challenging to persist through completion and…

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 is the executive summary for the report, "College Acceleration in Action: Five School Perspectives." The first College Acceleration Playbook, "Accelerating Students from High School to College and Careers: A Playbook for State Policymakers" (ED612490) identifies a series of non-negotiables that states, colleges,…

This qualitative action research case study examined the high school to college transition experiences of 11 Latino/a parents of first-generation college students. Participants attended a two-day workshop series, the purpose of which was to provide parents with college knowledge information to better support their children when transitioning to…

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 reviews factors that prior studies have identified or failed to consider as barriers to post-secondary success. The three main areas include: academic success for Latinx students after high school, organizational systems and its impact on African-American students' postsecondary readiness and what workers think of their high school…

This study reviews factors that prior studies have identified or failed to consider as barriers to post-secondary success. The three main areas include academic success for Latinx students after high school, organizational systems and its impact on African-American students' postsecondary readiness, and what workers think of their high school…

Background: It is widely recognised internationally that participation in higher education is likely to lead to increased opportunities and resources. However, only a minority of learners from Roma backgrounds continue into post-compulsory education. As important research into inclusion continues, more attention must be paid to the identification…

Career academies are specialized educational programs that offer graduates a pathway to acquire the skills, knowledge, and credentials needed to enter the workforce or pursue further education in a specific career field. These programs are designed to improve student engagement, reduce dropout rates, and enhance post-graduation outcomes. The…

For most young people, social capital plays an important role in transitioning to postsecondary education and employment. For youth who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH), social capital can mitigate negative effects of challenges they will likely encounter after high school. In phase 2 of a two-phase qualitative study in Australia, we investigated…

The purpose of this qualitative single-embedded case study was to explore how dual enrollment (DE) English composition courses prepare students for academic success in postsecondary education as perceived by former DE students, postsecondary leaders and educators, and secondary leaders and educators in a southern state. Tinto's (1987)…