While students have enrolled in college at increased rates since 1996, graduation rates have remained mostly stagnant (NCES, 2022). First-generation Appalachian students, specifically, had lower college completion rates but higher college enrollment rates than their peers (ARC, 2018). Since 2007, researchers have supported the use of non-cognitive…

Dual enrollment (DE)--where students earn college credits during high school--is expanding rapidly. To facilitate DE, institutional actors across K-12 schools and colleges must build or repurpose structures across separate organizations to determine course offerings, assignments, modality, and composition. Yet the organization and implications of…

Between the fall of 2009 and 2019, total postsecondary instituion enrollment in the United States decreased by 5%, and for those students who do enroll in college, many who lack clear career objectives drop out, making the U.S. the nation with the highest college dropout rate in the industrialized world. Students' academic aspiratoins and career…

This study investigated the impact middle school tracking has on outcomes in high school and the factors associated with those outcomes. Utilizing data from a large, diverse school district, this quantitative study investigated the relationships between middle school and high school English course enrollment among 4,503 middle school students. The…

The middle-income trap (MIT) refers to the state that middle-income economies have found it challenging to upgrade to reach the high-income stage over an extended period. Overcoming the MIT has long been discussed as an important social issue, notably in Southeast Asia. One major problem in addressing the MIT is directly linked to fewer job…

Recent research has increasingly been studying the long-lasting effects of secondary education structures and processes on higher education (HE) outcomes. While the influence of socioeconomic composition on higher education enrolment is established, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We posit that the composition effect partially runs…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether secondary student engagement was predictive of college attendance. Data were drawn from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 9th grade (n = 21,444) and 11th grade (n = 20,549) cohorts. Multilevel modeling was used to analyze whether demographic, academic, financial, and engagement variables…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between visits to college campuses by middle school and high school students and postsecondary enrollment rates, where campus visits are classified as both formal college visits and also informal campus visits. Specifically, Traditional Campus Visits and Educational Campus Field Trips are…

Although dual enrollment programming and interest in how that programming shapes students' college outcomes have expanded considerably in the past 20 years, policymakers, educational administrators, and practitioners do not have adequate information about which dual enrollment structural options are most effective. Using statewide administrative…

With the population of English learners (EL) entering Texas public schools increasing, it is essential to understand how the current school system supports these students. This study investigated the language used in school handbooks as a predictor of English Language Learners' (ELL) academic outcomes in Texas independent school districts. Student…

Title IX prohibits sex-based harassment (SBH) in all federally funded educational activities, yet little is known about SBH in K-12 schools. We used the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) data (N = 96,440) to examine rates and school-, district-, and state-level predictors of SBH in K-12 schools. Results found the vast majority of schools had…

In an effort to increase college access and success rates, the state of Texas has expanded dual enrollment programs and Early College High Schools (ECHS) that provide students with the opportunity to begin their collegiate careers while still in high school. More recently, these dual enrollment and ECHS programs have tried to broaden inclusion…