Original Research

This paper examines the impact of dual enrollment on college degree attainment for low socioeconomic status (SES) students. The author examined data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, and data from a follow up study completed in 2000 resulting in a sample size of 8,800. The author found dual enrollment increases the probability of attaining a degree within 12-years of completing the 8th grade, and that dual enrollment did not hinder students from low SES backgrounds from attaining a degree.

This report describes the key findings of a national survey of state approaches to college and career readiness. The survey sought to answer four basic questions: how do states define career readiness; how is career readiness assessed; how do states use these assessments; and what other issues do states face related to assessing students for career readiness?

This report includes findings from an impact evaluation of the Early College High School Initiative, launched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The study compared the educational outcomes of students who applied and received admission into Early College through a lottery system to the outcomes of students who participated in the lottery system but did not receive admission. The study sample included 2,458 students and included data from 2004 to 2012.

This study calculates high school graduation rates and the percentage of all students who left high school eligible to apply for college from 1991 to 2002. The study finds that during this period the graduation rate went from 72% to 71%, while the college readiness rate increased from 25% to 34%.

This evaluation of New Jersey GEAR UP assessed the quality of program implementation and outcomes of the program implementation in middle and high schools.

This third year follow-up study evaluated the impact of Upward Bound, a federally-funded precollegiate program that aims to assist economically disadvantaged students prepare for, enter and succeed in college. Students were randomly assigned into Upward Bound and control groups. The study found that although Upward Bound students were not more likely to attend post-secondary institutions or earned more credits, the study does suggest that Upward Bound may increase the likelihood of attending a four-year post-secondary institution.

This report evaluates the effectiveness of six types of school-to-career (STC) programs, with specific focus on participation resulting in increased post-secondary college enrollment or employment. National longitudinal survey data were analyzed to assess the results. The study indicated that some STC programs (school enterprises) increase post-secondary college enrollment, other programs (cooperative education and internships/apprenticeships) increase post-secondary employment, and Tech Prep reduces post-secondary college enrollment but may increase post-secondary employment. 

This research report provides results from a longitudinal study of GED test-takers from a 2003 cohort of approximately one-half million candidates. Data were obtained from the GEDTS International Database (IDB) and the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC), a nonprofit organization. About one third of GED test passers enrolled in 2-year colleges. These enrolles tended to have higher GED test scores than non-enrollees, although the effect size was small. 

This study explored the relationship between career and technical education (CTE) course taking and high school completion rates. Data analysis was conducted with a longitudinal database of a nationally representative sample of nearly 9,000 students. Results show that for youth who are younger than 15 years when entering ninth grade, CTE combined with core academic course taking, may decrease the risk of dropout. The most favorable results are found when students take one CTE course for every two core academic courses. 

This study explored the benefits of career and technical education. The author examined dropout rates, academic achievement, and postsecondary outcomes. The four groups consisted of (1) academic concentrators, (2) CTE concentrators, (3) dual concentrators, and (4) neither academic nor CTE concentrators. The study found that academic concentrators had the highest 1992 achievement scores in reading, mathematics, science, and history, and CTE students scored the lowest.