The College and Career Readines and Success Center closed on September 30,2019 because the grant cycle for the U.S. Department of Education Comprehensive Centers ended. The information on this website will no longer be updated. Visit www.air.org for updates on college and career readiness.
This report describes an AYPF-hosted field trip to Indianapolis, Indiana in order to showcase cross-system linkages aimed at increasing the number of students prepared for, attending, and succeeding in postsecondary education and the world of work.
This resource from the Data Quality Campaign is a checklist that can be used by state policymakers to support their efforts to increase college and career readiness. It is meant as a guide to policymakers to use as they develop policies and procedures. The checklist provides information on the State Role, the State Responsibility, and the National Landscape. Users are able to then analyze how their state fits in compared to the provided information.
This resource from the Data Quality Campaign is a primer for state policymakers. The authors discuss the role that data plays in developing college and career ready policies. They specifically discuss the importance of state policymakers supporting the efforts to use data. A checklist is provided that policymakers can use to determine whether they have the necessary data capacity.
This brief from CLASP discusses six promising programs that show how career pathway bridges help lower-skilled students move farther and faster along college and career paths through dual enrollment in linked basic skills and occupational certificate courses. The brief finds that these bridges both engage instructors and administrators and bring basic skills students into the mainstream of colleges. Finally, it is asserted that at minimum, career pathways bridges should create shorter, more relevant paths to credentials that matter in the local economy.
This study evaluates the performance of students enrolled in the College Board Advanced Placement Program (AP) compared to non-AP students on college outcome measures. Results revealed that AP students outperformed their non-AP counterparts with similar academic ability in all college outcome measures, and concurrent students typically earned more college credit hours in related subjects than other students, yet their GPAs were not higher.
This study examines the types of sources of information and approaches students use when making their decisions regarding postsecondary education, and the roles other individuals play and paths they follow regarding this decision. Information gathered from a literature review and 11 focus groups with 90 participants in eight states revealed that there was a lack of knowledge and about resources and general information on postsecondary education.
This report describes the effects that Project Graduation Really Achieves Dreams (GRAD) had on academic progress in select high schools in three states. Findings indicated that Project GRAD had a statistically significant positive impact on the number of students completing core academic curriculum in one site, some sites did not show an improvement in student academic preparation, and there were improvements made in attendance and promotion to 10th grade in some sites.
This 2-year study evaluates how Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEARUP) and Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) affected the college plans of 4 cohorts of high school students. Findings showed that there were higher aspirations and college knowledge for AVID and GEARUP students, and considerably higher academic preparation for AVID students.
This study uses descriptive case studies of 15 high schools in five states to determine the effects of parental involvement on school context and college opportunity. Three common themes were identified in the case studies analyzed: (a) parents shape college opportunity for their children, but involvement varies based on socioeconomic status; (b) parental involvement is shaped by, and also shapes, the school context for college opportunity; and (c) parental involvement is also shaped by their knowledge of the higher education opportunities in their state.
This report presents a national study that examines K-16 policies and practices and student, parent, teacher, counselor, and administrator understandings of them. The findings showed that students, parents, and educators are either confused or misinformed about how students should properly prepare for college, and a great deal of inequalities between students in honors versus those in non-honors courses in regards to the quality and amount of college counseling they received existed.
