The STEM Early College Expansion Project is an effort to integrate STEM strategies with the early college model and implement this in comprehensive high schools. This report summarizes findings from two separate quasi-experimental impact studies of the model in Michigan and Connecticut. Results from Michigan showed statistically significant…

"We were a high-performing school. Now we're not." These words--spoken in 2015 by the head of a respected network of "no excuses" charter schools--could have come from any number of school leaders across the country, as they adjusted to the "skyrocketing" demands of new college- and career-ready (CCR) standards. The…

For current college and career readiness efforts to be effective, it is important to recognize the value and contribution of career development activities in schools and take a critical look at the most effective strategies, programs, and research in this area. This integrative review synthesizes research related to the impact of school-based…

Student engagement in education is key to ensuring successful learning. Engagement becomes crucial as students progress through high school and transition into young adulthood; however, engaging them in high school can be an arduous task. A career/education plan can help students make strong connections between their work in high school and their…

The value of preparing students for college, careers, and civic life is a shared outcome of social studies and language arts teachers. This study explores how developing content and civic literacy to these ends can be fortified through language arts and social studies teacher collaboration in source-based planning and teaching. Although numerous…

This article examines the development and implementation of P-16 education reform in Texas and aims to understand leadership meaning-making at state and local levels. Findings suggest goal attainment and sustainability varied statewide according to how political actors defined problems and solutions, the type of and extent to which human and…

If our nation's colleges and universities are to become able to educate differentially prepared students, we need to understand better the ways that the growing number of underprepared students navigates college. In particular, research is needed that identifies the practices of the underprepared college students who complete remedial education…

As states evaluate whether they should continue with their current assessment program or adopt next-generation college readiness assessments, it is important to ascertain the degree to which current high school assessments can be used for college readiness interpretations. In this study, we examined the ability of a state assessment to serve as an…

The Florida College and Career Readiness Initiative (FCCRI) was a statewide policy requiring college readiness testing and participation in college readiness courses for high school students. We used regression discontinuity to compare outcomes for students scoring just above and below test score cutoffs for assignment to FCCRI. We also examined…

In light of increasing emphasis on the importance of post-secondary education to personal economic security, there is growing interest to promote college readiness initiatives in high schools, particularly for low-income and minority students for whom the harmful effects of institutional inequities on college readiness is well-documented.…

Transitioning from high school to college can be a formidable challenge, especially for students who are the first in their family to attend college (first-generation) and/or are from low-income backgrounds. The authors' qualitative investigation of a college mentoring program illuminates the potential value of relatable peer mentors in helping…

This article reports on data from a large-scale study investigating students' mathematical transitions to higher education. Three hundred and seventy-one undergraduate bioscientists were surveyed in order to investigate their perceptions and experiences of studying post-compulsory mathematics, as preparation for the mathematics elements of their…

This study examines the implementation of college- and- career- readiness content standards in Kentucky, Ohio, and Texas through the lens of distributed leadership theory, and determines the affordances and challenges of this distributed leadership through the lens of policy attribute theory. Data sources are 66, hour-long interviews of state and…

Transition curricula are courses, learning modules, or online tutorials typically developed jointly by secondary and postsecondary faculty and offered no later than 12th grade to students at risk of being placed into remedial math or English programs in college. Based on interviews and other data, this brief describes key elements of English…

New national and state science standards are different than those of the past. These new standards incorporate three dimensions in each performance expectation. Due to the recent release of Nebraska's College and Career Ready Standards for Science and lack of curricula resources available, school districts and teachers need quality models for…