Transition: High School to College

This report from the National Center on Time & Learning discusses key practices in optimizing increased learning time. The authors surveyed 30 high-performing schools, including 11 high schools, with longer school days and/or years and identified eight “powerful practices” of using increased learning time to improve student performance and engagement. The report provides case study illustrations to show school-level implementation for each of the eight practices.

This report from <i>American Educator</i> discusses five features of successful early college high schools (ECHS). The authors examine the effects of these five features on high school educators, college educators and students, and provide recommendations that include providing a packaged curriculum, and proactively monitoring and guiding students, among others. This resource may be especially relevant to district administrators and teachers looking at way to improve disadvantaged students’ transition to college within their districts or classrooms.

This report from Jobs for the Future highlights successful practices from North Carolina’s early college high schools. The report examines the effects these practices have had on students successfully completing the schools’ requirements. Successful practices include collaborative group work, literacy groups, and classroom conversations, among others.

This report discusses barriers to high school graduation rates and college readiness for Latinas. The author examines the challenges facing Latinos to achieve a high school degree and continuing on to higher education. The resource provides recommendations for federal, state, and local policy makers including additional funding, providing mentors, and ensuring that the school environment is culturally inclusive.

This MDRC resource provides an overview of the College Match Program which has been designed to support students who may not plan to attend college or may plan to attend a less competitive (academically) college, and who are prepared for college. The program is designed to support students who may not have resources of parents/households with information about college and particularly how to make decisions about the best college that fits students needs (academically, financially and socially).

This report provides information on student levels of college and career readiness across the United States based on their performance on the ACT. In addition to showing performance on ACT-related college and career readiness metrics and trends in performance over time, the report provides recommendations to states, districts, and schools to help increase college and career readiness.

This report provides information on transition services for students with disabilities as they moved toward postsecondary pathways. Four federal agencies, the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Labor, and the Social Security Administration all provide transition services, but these efforts are not well-coordinated around a common goal.

This report from the Annenberg Institute for School Reform highlights successful college readiness strategies, identifies college readiness research and policy gaps, and discusses the role of the community in college readiness initiatives. The information, collected through a scan of the field, is organized using three college readiness dimensions (academic preparation, academic tenacity, and college knowledge) and provides brief descriptions of policies and programs reflecting each dimension.

This article presents a four-year case study on the impact that an urban college preparatory charter high school had on the postsecondary outcomes of its graduates. Through analysis of staff and teacher interviews, the impact that logistical constraints and staff turnover had on the implementation of the school’s mission to prepare educationally and socially disadvantaged students for college was revealed.

This article presents on the degree to which college-going indicators in urban high schools are associated with low-income students applying to, enrolling in and attending four-year colleges. Findings indicate that students that are provided substantial guidance through the college application process, attend schools with patterns of and high expectations for college attendance and have high participation in financial aid applications are more likely to apply to, enroll in, and attend four-year colleges that match their qualifications.