Transition: High School to College

This study analyzes the success of Advanced Placement (AP) students in college compared to other high achieving students. A questionnaire and college grade point averages of 41 high achieving college students in courses in natural science and English are examined. Results showed that AP students did not earn significantly higher grades in college compared to those that were considered high achieving students, and AP students also did not find their high school courses more beneficial than their high achieving peers.

The College and Career Development Organizer was created to synthesize and organize the field of college and career readiness initiatives. The organizer can be used to map the efforts of state educational agencies (SEAs) and local education agencies (LEAs) as well as the many organizations researching and providing support for college and career readiness. The organizer can also be used as a set of building blocks to help users develop college and career readiness strategies and initiatives to address student needs.

This study examined college readiness benchmark scores for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) to determine the accuracy of the benchmarks for indicating college readiness. The findings revealed that students who met the benchmark were more likely to have enrolled in a postsecondary institution, earned higher grades in high school and their postsecondary institution, and to have taken a core curriculum and more rigorous courses in high school.

Using American College Testing (ACT) data, this study assessed whether students have the knowledge and skills necessary to enroll and succeed in a first-year course at a postsecondary institution. The report presents the percentage of students meeting the benchmarks in each area, alignment of student aspirations and workforce demands, graduates exposed to college entrance tests and students pursuing a core curriculum, overall academic achievement and behavior, and policies and practices to improve college readiness.

This study examined survey data of potentially eligible scholarship recipients to determine the effects a state-level merit-based financial aid program had on college access for underrepresented students. Findings showed that African American and low-income students' decisions to apply for college are likely to be impacted by their eligibility for scholarships.

This study examines the alignment of the American College Testing (ACT) and the American Diploma Project (ADP) national college readiness standards sets with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English language arts and reading (TEKS ELAR) standards for 9th-12th grade students, and their cognitive complexity. It was determined that a majority of the content in the ACT and ADP standards sets is addressed to some extent by the TEKS ELAR standards, and that the TEKS ELAR standards require higher levels of cognitive complexity than the other standards sets.

This study analyzes four different English language arts college readiness standards sets to determine the alignment of content and standards statements in three comparison sets to a benchmark set, and examines the cognitive complexity of all of the sets. Approximately 5 percent of the benchmark statements align with content in all three comparison sets. 53-68 percent of statements in the four sets were rated level 3 on a four-level cognitive complexity scale.

This study examined the effects of the Comprehensive Intervention Programs (CIP) on students’ preparedness for college by reviewing their reading and mathematics abilities. CIP provided a variety of activities and services intended to increase success in postsecondary education. Sixth grade students were tracked over a period of two years. The study did not find statistically significant program effects on CIP students’ standardized test scores in reading and math.

This report describes the Keeping Options Open program, a collaborative partnership between Johnson County Community College and Johnson County high schools that help students develop career and life plans. This three-year tiered pilot program for parents and students intends to link academic readiness with career development. The program led to communication among school counselors and parents.

This report from the California Dropout Research Project discusses the improvement of high school outcomes by combining career-technical education (CTE) with college preparatory coursework in the curriculum. The author examines the effects of three approaches - like career academies or career-technical sequences - to this curriculum on high school students, and recommends that efforts to combining the curriculum should continue to develop despite implementation difficulties and uncertainty surrounding the effectiveness.