For many years, U.S. employers have stated that today's youth are not prepared for college or equipped with the skills necessary to succeed in the 21st Century workforce. As we enter into an age where the American Dream is no longer possible with just a high school diploma, there is an increasing need to prepare students for college and the…

The University of Texas at Austin's OnRamps dual-enrollment initiative aims to increase the number and diversity of students who are fully prepared to follow a path to college and career success. Supported by the Texas Legislature, OnRamps provides high school students access to eleven UT Austin courses, developed and delivered by UT Austin…

This chapter examines the Early Assessment Program, which provides California high school students with early signals about their college readiness and allows them to improve their skills and reduce the need for developmental education in college.

High school graduates must be College and Career Ready to be successful in their future academic and employment pursuits. Employability skills such as communication, leadership, and critical thinking are in high demand from colleges and employers. High school academic success is an indicator the person has the skills and background necessary for…

The purpose of the present study was to better understand how college readiness initiatives prepare graduates of New Tech Network (NTN) high schools to succeed in their postsecondary experiences. Twelve graduates of NTN high schools participated in the present study. Each participant participated in a semi-structured interview designed to…

This article explores the ways in which social scaffolding and cultural brokering processes within educational spaces engender ideological tensions among predominantly Latinx youth participants and educators within a college and career readiness organization. Based upon data from an 18-month ethnography, they engaged in forms of resistance through…

Positive psychology is one of the newest branches of psychology to emerge, and there is a growing research base of scientific study to validate the significance of this psychological approach in people's lives. This research investigates a unit of study that was developed for students entering university through an enabling program in order to…

Preventing attrition for racially minoritized, first-generation, and low SES postsecondary students continues to be a challenge despite significant efforts of educational researchers, college administrators, and high school teachers and counselors. Cultural capital (skills necessary to successfully navigate an environment) may help to explain and…

As the standards movement continues into its third decade, there remains a need for alignment methodologies that can be broadly applied to study instruction and policy. This article reports on a series of development efforts meant to revise the Surveys of Enacted Curriculum (SEC) surveys and methods to study the implementation of new college- and…

This essay integrates pieces and parts of three recent talks given at three separate professional conferences, all with a common goal of commenting on the future of the field. "The Field" is offered as a placeholder to allow individual members of the community to make connections to their own professional identities. Community wisdom…

This study investigates the impact of an urban community school reform initiative that focuses on an immigrant and refugee population in middle school. A 6th-8th grade cohort of students in the community school are followed over time and compared to a propensity score matched group on overall GPA, mathematics, and science academic outcomes and…

The State of Maryland has always prided itself on being a leader in higher education. In 2012, the Career and College Readiness and College Completion Act (CCRCCA) set an ambitious goal: that 55% of Marylanders would have at least one degree by 2025. Reaching this goal requires increasing college access and completion across a wide variety of…

The purpose of this study was to build a better understanding of the issues that students encounter during the summer that deter them from enrolling in the first semester of college in the fall. In Study 1, responses to a short survey were examined, and 4 critical factors were identified as deterring students: lack of college-bound identity, life…

Sacramento City Unified School District's (SCUSD) college and career readiness initiatives, as cited in the "2016-2021 Strategic Plan," only equip students with half of the skills and requirements necessary for graduates to succeed in their post-secondary options (Conley, 2012). Namely, SCUSD fails to assess critical soft skills, such as…

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,…