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…

Racial and ethnic achievement gaps contribute to the lack of underrepresented minorities in STEM-related careers. This research is grounded in the expectancy-value model of achievement motivation which posits that motivation is influenced by social-cognitive variables such as self-efficacy and beliefs about the usefulness or utility of the task.…

The lack of college readiness in the United States is a critical issue that jeopardizes our economy. The demographic inequality of the crisis, particularly for low-income as well as Black and Latinx students, emerges from systemic problems of race and class in American education and society which suppress students' educational and economic…

This study investigated predictors for ACT Science scores, a test used by many universities to rank applicants. This study utilized quantitative research methods using the Montana Office of Public Instruction's GEMS (Growth and Enhancement of Montana Students) data set. All advanced statistical analysis was conducted using Stata software IC/15.…

With a steady increase of virtual learning courses taught throughout K-12 education, limited empirical research exists to allow educational leaders and policy makers the ability to accurately identify student demographic characteristics that correlate to the acquisition of virtual course credit (Barbour, 2009). The purpose of this quantitative…

The Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBAC), implemented in California in 2014-15 as part of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, is designed to evaluate students' levels of college and career readiness. Student scores on the Smarter Balanced Assessment are currently used for both accountability and school improvement…

Executive functions (EFs) show promise as important mediators of adolescent academic performance. However, the expense of measuring EFs accurately has restricted most field-based research on them to smaller, non-longitudinal studies of homogeneous populations with specific diagnoses. We therefore monitored the development of 259 diverse, at-risk…

This longitudinal study of Mexican-American youth and emerging adults examines several ecodevelopmental factors longitudinally predicting high school and college graduation. Data from 1257 Mexican-American youth (including those born in Mexico and whose families are from Mexico) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add…

In 2014, the state of California implemented the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) in order to align state assessment and accountability policies with the newly adopted Common Core State Standards (CCSS). At the heart of the new performance and accountability system is the Smarter Balanced Assessment. The Smarter…

Research has shown that students in Advanced Placement (AP) classes and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs experience higher levels of stress compared to students in general education classes. Elevated stress can serve as a risk factor for students' academic and mental health problems. Given the documented stress of these students,…

This study was conducted in two high schools located in suburban, Long Island, New York, with a predominantly white population. The respondents in this study consisted of 234, 11th grade students. The data was analyzed using the structural equation model. Findings show that there is a positive correlation between percent of participation in…

We examined 482,418 students who took the ACT in the seventh grade and again in high school, taking an exploratory analytic approach to examine academic growth trends from 1996 to 2017. Predictors included sociodemographics, interests, high school (HS) characteristics, HS coursework and GPA, and extracurriculars, which explained 25% of the…

This article focuses on California's efforts to improve the alignment between K-12 and postsecondary schooling through the Early Assessment Program (EAP). Implemented in 2004, the EAP was designed to give high school students information about their academic preparedness for postsecondary education and to encourage teachers to teach for college…

In this paper we focus on California high school students' transition to community colleges. Our unique dataset tracks five cohorts of California high school juniors into their freshmen year at in-state community colleges. We evaluate the extent to which high school achievement tests (currently not utilized by community colleges in course…

Goal orientations are thought to be an important predictor of scholastic achievement. The present paper investigated the joint influence of goal orientations, intelligence, and personality on school performance in a sample of N=520 11th and 12th graders (303 female; mean age M=16.94 years). Intelligence, the Big Five factors of personality…