Issue/Policy Brief

Essential Elements of State Policy for College Completion: Transitional Courses for College and Career Readiness

This brief provides policymakers with elements to consider when developing state policies around implementing high school transitional courses aimed at improving college completion rates. The brief includes questions for consideration, examples of existing state policies and actions, and recommendations for effective policies for transitional courses. 

Predictors of Postsecondary Success

This brief summarizes early childhood through early postsecondary education research that identifies student skills, behaviors, and other characteristics that predict future academic and workplace success. This information can support policymakers and practitioners as they begin to develop and validate factors that identify students who are on a path to postsecondary success as early as prekindergarten and throughout their academic career.

Career Academies: An Investment in Students, the Workforce and the Economy

This fact sheet provides an overview of career academies as one approach to delivering CTE.  The brief offers a working definition of career academies, a history of their implementation, and research that supports the approach. In addition, the piece includes profiles of two states' (Florida and California) efforts and a description of one local career academy. 

CTE Research State Fact Sheets

This interactive map is a collection of state fact sheets summarizing CTE program delivery, funding, enrollment, performance as well as profiles of exemplary programs.  While the criteria for identifying these exemplary programs is unclear, these fact sheets may provide a starting place for state leaders to see how other states fund and deliver CTE programs.

Joint Guidance Letter on Career Pathways

This letter outlines a joint commitment of the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and U.S. Department of Labor to promote the use of career pathways, encourage alignment of state resources, and ensure all interested parties are aware of the commitment. This letter also defines career pathways and provides details of what a career pathways approach should include.

The Advanced Placement Program: Living Up To Its Promise?

This report reviews literature on Advanced Placement (AP) to answer several questions about student outcomes related to taking AP classes. It finds that research is inconclusive about the effect of AP course offerings on students and schools. Research has found that students who take AP courses and pass AP exams are more successful in college than those who did not take AP courses, but this report cautions that the research is correlational, not causal.

Understanding Accelerated Learning Across Secondary and Postsecondary Education

This brief catalogs accelerated learning options that are currently being implemented and highlights efforts made both within and across secondary and postsecondary education. An education system that is responsive to the needs of all students must provide students opportunities to move through secondary and postsecondary education at an individualized pace that meets their needs. Accelerated learning serves as a promising tool to provide such opportunities to students.

An Emerging Federal Role for Competency Education

This policy brief is the first in a series of briefs on how the federal government can support competency-based education. The brief opens with a description of competency-based education and a working definition, followed by state examples that illustrate a shift towards competency-based education. The brief also discusses the federal role in expanding competency-based education, including barriers in federal accountability and assessment policies.

Parent and Community Involvement in a College/Career-Ready Culture

This brief provides experimental findings and literature reviews that focus on the impact of parent and community involvement on creating a college- and career-ready culture for students. The brief reports study findings which indicate that parent and community involvement can have a positive impact on student success.The brief also includes strategies and resources for involving parents and community members as well as profiles of programs that have been successful in including parents and community members.

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