Curriculum

This study analyzes the impact of students participating in High School Puente, a program aimed at increasing the number of educationally disadvantaged students enrolling in a postsecondary institution. Data was collected form 1,000 Puente and 1,000 non-Puente students in 18 high schools. Results showed significant differences between Puente students and the non-Puente comparison group in terms of attitudes on school, college aspirations and preparation, and students attending a four-year postsecondary institution.

This study examines the impact of Gateway to Higher Education, an intensive program which entails an extended year and day, information and support for college, enrichment experiences in sciences and math, and internships. Longitudinal data was examined for Gateway participants and a comparison group of students and site visits, focus groups and interviews were conducted. Findings showed significant differences in high school graduation and college attendance rates, completion of high school coursework and strong Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) performance.

This national study examines Phase I of the implementation of Talent Search, a federal program designed to encourage students to participate in the federal aid program for postsecondary education. This report provides program growth, regulatory and legislative changes that occurred during this period and how the program was operating in terms of providing academic assistance, using technology to serve students, and issues faced when serving middle school students.

This document extends the National High School Center’s Eight Elements of High School Improvement: A Mapping Framework and offers specific school-level benchmarks that provide a deeper level of detail for each indicator of effectiveness and describe school-level practices that can be implemented to support high school improvement at the local level. High school improvement teams will find this tool useful once they have already identified areas of strengths and concerns through the use of the Center’s self-assessment tool.

This online self-assessment tool is a starting point for identifying high school improvement priorities and enables users in schools and districts to a) identify the strengths and weaknesses of their current high school reform efforts, and b) align and build on these current and planned reform initiatives to develop a comprehensive high school improvement plan that will result in rigorous and high-quality teaching and learning for all students.

This series of fact sheets From Achieve provide strategies, key talking points and resources for discussing the college-and career-ready agenda. These resources may be most useful to state and local administrators in discussing the college and career readiness reforms within their state or district.

This brief from Achieve provides advice to policymakers and practitioners on how to promote college and career readiness to the community at large. The document contains practical suggestions on phrasing when to help change the perception others may have of education reform being implemented.

This document states the need for statewide longitudinal data systems that can help facilitate sharing of student-level data across the education spectrum. The brief notes that doing this could help schools answer policy questions critical to increasing college and career readiness among students. Example questions include the number of high school graduates that have taken the required coursework to prepare for college, how many students are "on-track" for future success, etc.

This brief from Achieve identifies the key areas that state policymakers should consider in order to implement the new Common Core State Standards with fidelity. The brief provides suggestions for aligning these new standards with their existing standards and course requirements, as well as aligning assessments for collecting data and measuring achievement. The brief lists steps each state can take to ensure they are implementing the standards effectively.