scholarly journals A Comparative Analysis of College Readiness Assessment Results of Illinois High School Agriculture Students

2017 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 110-125
Author(s):  
David Mouser ◽  
Zhaohui Sheng ◽  
Andrew Thoron ◽  
Andy Baker ◽  
Kevin Bacon
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
College Readiness ◽  
Readiness Assessment ◽  
Agriculture Students ◽  
Assessment Results

¡Sí se Puede en Colaboración! Increasing College Placement Rates of Low-income Students

2011 ◽  
Vol 113 (7) ◽  
pp. 1435-1476
Author(s):  
Matthew Militello ◽  
Jason Schweid ◽  
John Carey
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High Schools ◽  
College Readiness ◽  
Low Income ◽  
The United States ◽  
Intervention Strategies ◽  
Low Income Students ◽  
College Board ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
College Application

Background/Context Today we have moved from the debate of student opportunity to post-secondary educational setting to 100% access. That is, today's high school settings have been charged with preparing “college ready” graduates. Educational policy has leveraged mandates and sanctions as a mechanism to improve college placement rates, especially in high schools with a high percentage of low-income students. However, little empirical evidence exists to assist us in understanding how college readiness is actualized for low-income students. Focus of Study The purpose of this study was to identify specific strategies that schools employ to raise college application and attendance rates for low-income students. Research Design This study investigated 18 College Board Inspiration Award winning or honorable mention high schools across the United States. Phone interviews with all 18 schools informed the selection of five case study high schools. Data collection included interviews and observations with high school educators, parents, students, and other community members. Findings In this study, we describe evidence within and across the five case schools using a framework that was generated from the first phase of this study. These schools effectively improved college readiness by developing collaborative practices around: (1) Program Management, (2) External Partnerships, (3) Leadership, (4) College-focused Intervention Strategies, (5) Achievement-oriented School Culture, (6) Parental Outreach, (7) Systemic, Multileveled Intervention Strategies, (8) Use of Data, (9) Development and Implementation of Inclusive School Policies, and (10) Routinizing or Offloading Routine or Mundane Tasks. Conclusions/Implications This study operationalizes what effective practices look like in high schools with low-income students. The findings move beyond normative models to be implemented across sites to illustrations of exemplar practices that can guide collaborative efforts to enact the specific tasks necessary to improve college readiness for students.

Getting College-Ready during State Transition toward the Common Core State Standards

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
Zeyu Xu ◽  
Kennan Cepa
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
College Readiness ◽  
Common Core ◽  
Common Core State Standards ◽  
State Standards ◽  
Core State ◽  
Act Scores ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
The Common

Background As of 2016, 42 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Tens of millions of students across the country completed high school before their schools were able to fully implement the CCSS. As with previous standards-based reforms, the transition to the CCSS-aligned state education standards has been accompanied by curriculum framework revisions, student assessment redesigns, and school accountability and educator evaluation system overhauls. Purpose Even if the new standards may improve student learning once they are fully implemented, the multitude of changes at the early implementation stage of the reform might disrupt student learning in the short run as teachers, schools, and communities acclimate to the new expectations and demands. The goal of this study is not to evaluate the merits and deficiencies of the CCSS per se, but rather to investigate whether college readiness improved among high school students affected by the early stages of the CCSS implementation, and whether students from different backgrounds and types of high schools were affected differently. Research Design We focus on three cohorts of 8theighth-grade students in Kentucky and follow them until the end of the 11th -grade, when they took the state mandatory ACT tests. The three successive cohorts—enrolled in the 8theighth -grade between 2008 and 2010—each experienced different levels of exposure to CCSS transition. Using ACT scores as proxy measures of college readiness, we estimate cohort fixed-effects models to investigate the transitional impact of standards reform on student performance on the ACT. To gauge the extent to which the implementation of CCSS is directly responsible for any estimated cross-cohort differences in student ACT performance, we conduct additional difference-in-differences analyses and a falsification test. Data Our data include the population of 3 three cohorts of 8theighth -graders enrolled in Kentucky public schools between 2008 and 2010. The total analytic sample size is 100,212. The data include student test scores, student background characteristics, and school characteristics. Findings In the case of the CCSS transition in Kentucky, our findings suggest that students continued to improve their college -readiness, as measured by ACT scores, during the early stages of CCSS implementation. Furthermore, evidence suggests that the positive gains students made during this period accrue to students in both high- and low-poverty schools. However, it is not conclusive that the progress made in student college -readiness is necessarily attributable to the new content standards. Conclusions As we seek to improve the education of our children through reforms and innovations, policymakers should be mindful about the potential risks of excessive changes. Transition issues during the early stages of major educational changes sometimes lead to short-term effects that are not necessarily indicative of the longer-term effects of a program or intervention. Nevertheless, standards-based reforms are fairly frequent, and each takes multiple years to be fully implemented, affecting millions of students. Therefore, we encourage researchers and policymakers to pay more attention to the importance of transitional impact of educational reforms.

Does Delivery Location Matter? A National Study of the Impact of Dual Enrollment on College Readiness and Early Academic Momentum

2021 ◽  
Vol 123 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Xiaodan Hu ◽  
Hsun-Yu Chan
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
College Readiness ◽  
Dual Enrollment ◽  
College Campus ◽  
Socioeconomic Background ◽  
Full Time ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Academic Momentum ◽  
Delivery Location

Background/Context Although dual enrollment (DE) programs have indicated positive impact on various high school and postsecondary outcomes, access to DE programs remains unequal; historically marginalized students are less likely than other students to attempt college credits in high school. Despite DE being a widely adopted program at the state level, these programs vary greatly by eligibility criteria, funding models, delivery location, and modality. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study Guided by prominent learning theories, we hypothesize that the influence of early DE on later educational pathways and outcomes may vary by the location in which DE is delivered. This study examines whether the delivery location of DE (i.e., on a college campus or otherwise) influences students’ college readiness and first-year academic momentum in college, with a special focus on its heterogeneous effect among students of diverse racial and socioeconomic background. Research Design Using the restricted-use data from High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09), we use a quasi-experimental approach (i.e., inverse probability weighting models) with a nationally representative sample of students who have taken at least one DE course by 11th grade. Findings/Results The findings reveal that students who took at least one DE course on a college campus do not differ in their cumulative high school GPA, in their probability of attending college, in whether they took developmental courses, in whether they attended college immediately after high school graduation, and in their probability of full-time enrollment when compared with those who took DE course(s) elsewhere. However, the findings are not applicable to all students of varying background defined by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. Conclusions/Recommendations This study provides several implications: (1) Because DE courses taken on a high school or college campus equally fuel students’ college readiness and early academic momentum, advising practices should acknowledge the benefits of DE courses regardless of delivery location. (2) DE participation with college exposure may particularly benefit students of higher socioeconomic status (SES), so interventions that offer holistic college experiences beyond academic work are needed to effectively prepare lower SES students for college life and accumulate academic momentum are needed. (3) States and educational entities should be mindful about the potential disparate effect of DE programs and provide regulation, oversight, and quality assurance so that these programs can narrow the postsecondary achievement gap.

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