In the 2014-15 school year, 47 states are administering high school assessments to gauge students' mastery of college and career readiness standards in English language arts (ELA) and math. These new assessments represent a departure from prior high school exams that measured acquisition of high school (or lower) content but provided no actionable…

Every year, the Student Transitions Project (STP) collects post-secondary enrollment and credential completion data from the twenty-five British Columbia (B.C.) public post-secondary institutions and links this data to secondary enrollment information via encrypted personal education numbers (PENs). Now comprising fourteen full years of…

The purpose of this study was to examine Kentucky high school students' participation and pass rates in college preparatory transition courses, which are voluntary remedial courses in math and reading offered to grade 12 students in the state. Three groups of students were compared using the population of grade 12 students in Kentucky public…

In response to growing concerns about college readiness, the Kentucky legislature revised the state's assessment and accountability system in an effort to increase the number of students who are ready for college when they graduate. The Kentucky Department of Education and the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education responded by redefining…

College Readiness for Rural Youth is an innovative, postsecondary education bridge program that gives youth the opportunity to explore college attainability, admissions, financial aid, and application processes. The initiative aims to support academic success and transition to college for rural youth.

Research demonstrates that students' success in rigorous middle and high school math courses is positively associated with their admission to college, earnings later in life, and career prospects. The sequential nature of math course-taking, however, can create an opportunity structure that puts certain students at a disadvantage, specifically…

This qualitative within-site case study ("N" = 10) is a follow-up study to a 2006-2007 investigation that analyzed how 1 high school created a community of care for its ninth-grade students through the implementation of a ninth-grade transition program--Freshman Focus. All participants were interviewed again 3 years later during…

In this article, the author discusses a transition program at the Iowa School for the Deaf (ISD) that helps students learn to search for, find and keep jobs. ISD's personal and career development (PCD) classes, which began in the fall of 2005, are required for the school's ninth through twelfth graders. The goal is to ease transition from school…

Many educators complain that the blight of senioritis and the absence of rigor and relevance prevent the final year of high school from being the capstone year it should be. Helping seniors focus on the life-changing transition they are about to experience is an effective strategy for engaging seniors and infusing relevance and rigor in a profound…

The transition from 8th grade to 9th grade is one that is replete with challenges for students, especially for minority students who live in economically disadvantaged communities. One low-income, high minority comprehensive high school in the western United States implemented five separate strategies to create a freshman transition program to aid…

Many educators consider the final year of high school to be a "vast wasteland," an epidemic of disengagement. Although high schools across the country have struggled with senioritis, their approaches to the problem have largely fallen into one of three types of responses: vertical acceleration; remediation; and structured containment.…

Concerned that their special education students were not being adequately prepared for the post-high school world, a rural Arkansas school district made a concerted effort to provide a systematic transition program in which opportunities for life after graduation could become a meaningful reality. A significant component of the transition program…

This correlational study samples twelfth grade (senior) students in one central Midwest high school and examines their participation in credit-based transition programs and their changes in educational aspirations. Surveys and community college data are used to collect quantitative data to address six research questions. Using Hossler and…

Recent publications raise three concerns about the traditional senior year: (1) it lacks rigor; (2) it fails to provide students with clear pathways to work and postsecondary education; and (3) it does not prepare students for a successful transition from high school to postsecondary experiences. These documents suggest that high schools should…

The "National Dropout Prevention Newsletter" is published quarterly by the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network. This issue contains the following articles: (1) Why Do I Have to Learn This?; (2) 2008 NDPN Crystal Star Winners; (3) Effective Freshman Transition for School Improvement (David Livingston, John Greene, and Lindy Stahlman); (4)…