Transition: High School to College

This study examines the long-term impact of Advanced Placement (AP) programs on measures of student success in college. Student performance data was collected of both AP students and a non-AP comparison group from 1998-2002 through their fourth year of college. Results revealed significant evidence of benefits of students that participated in AP courses and exams in regards to credit hours earned, four-year college graduation rates, and stronger GPAs.

This study uses a nationally representative sample of parents to determine their perceptions of college costs and the extent to which misrepresentations are connected to family income and parental race/ethnicity and education. Results revealed that socioeconomically disadvantaged and minority parents are more likely to make larger errors when estimating the cost of college tuition, and parents, regardless of their race, ethnicity or socioeconomic status, provide predominately biased estimates of college costs.

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 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 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.

Implementing response to intervention (RTI) in high schools requires educators to work across traditional boundaries. This brief presents a portrait of RTI implementation in three Colorado high schools as well as the state and district practices that support implementation at the school level.

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 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.

In this report, the author discusses the shift to a mentality that all students need to go on to college in order to be successful in life. He identifies several reasons within the changing economy that support this belief and describes skills that are crucial in today's workforce.