Doing What Works: Helping Students Navigate the Path to College

To support efforts to increase postsecondary access for all students, the U.S. Department of Education has recently released new resources on Doing What Works, a website that translates research-based practices into practical tools for school improvement. The topic, Helping Students Navigate the Path to College offers free, online resources that translate research-based practices from the IES Practice Guide into tools and multimedia products to support educators seeking to increase postsecondary access. Under this new topic area, Doing What Works provides resources for four research-based practices:

• Prepare Students Academically: Prepare all students for college-level work and ensure they understand college-readiness standards.
• Assess and Intervene: Use assessment measures to inform students about their college readiness and close identified gaps.
• Foster College Aspirations: Surround students with adults and peers who support their college-going aspirations.
• Assist with College Entry: Help students and families understand and complete steps for college entry and financial aid.

Within each of the four practice areas, practitioners can further access a summary of each practice, learn about the research that supports each recommend practice; see how schools and districts have successfully implemented the research-based recommended practices; and view additional tools and ideas for putting research into practice. For example, you can watch multimedia overviews or expert interviews that explain each of the research-based practices and see these practices in action in schools across the country. You can also learn about how schools use checkpoints to guide the college application process, and check out a planning tool designed to help administrators choose college-ready assessments. Find out more about this topic, and other related topics, such as Dropout Prevention and Adolescent Literacy, by visiting Doing What Works at http://dww.ed.gov. Guest Author: Marlene Darwin is a Senior Research Analyst at the American Institutes for Research. She is the co-project director for the Doing What Works Initiative. Note: This blog post was originally authored under the auspices of the National High School Center at the American Institutes for Research (AIR). The National High School Center’s blog, High School Matters, which ran until March 2013, provided an objective perspective on the latest research, issues, and events that affected high school improvement. The CCRS Center plans to continue relevant work originally developed under the National High School Center grant. National High School Center blog posts that pertain to CCRS Center issues are included on this website as a resource to our stakeholders.