While there is consensus that taking advanced coursework in high school is strongly related to subsequent academic outcomes, well-qualified Students of Color are less likely than White students to take advanced high school courses. K12 schools have sought strategies to encourage more qualified Students of Color to take advanced courses in…

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, online credit recovery (OCR) was the most popular use of distance learning in high schools in the United States. With high course failure rates during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, high schools have turned to OCR to help students recover lost credit. This study examined the potential consequences of…

This memorandum provides information on Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) course enrollment, exam participation, and exam performance during the 2023-2024 school year. During the 2023-2024 school year, 136 AP or IB courses were offered across high schools. Among the 25 comprehensive high schools, all offered AP courses,…

Taking advanced courses in high school predicts a broad array of positive postsecondary and labor market outcomes. Yet students from historically disadvantaged groups and low-income backgrounds have long been underrepresented in these courses. To address this problem, more than 60 districts in Washington state implemented a policy that…

For this brief, EdTrust and Just Equations partnered to explore differences in patterns of math course enrollment for high school students using data from students who participated in the 2009 High School Longitudinal Study (HSLS:09). Like other research has shown, the authors find that high-achieving Black and Latino students and students from…

Career and Technical Education (CTE) has long played a substantial, though controversial, role within America's public schools. While supporters argue that CTE may increase student engagement and prepare students for success in the workforce, detractors caution that CTE may inhibit students' access to the rigorous academic coursework needed for…

Background/Context: Scholars and practitioners continue to work to identify ways to change structural conditions, school-level policy, and stakeholder mindsets to support minoritized youth in advanced coursework. Open access policies, in which students do not need a previous teacher's approval or a prerequisite grade to enroll in an advanced…

Career and Technical Education (CTE) course equivalencies provide students with the opportunity to meet the learning standards for a specific core subject while simultaneously earning credit for the aligned CTE course within a single CTE class. Each year, according to Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 28A.300.236, the Office of Superintendent of…

Increasing the rigor of courses taken in high school is a crucial part of education policy. However, existing knowledge about high school coursework is outdated. Using data from a recent nationally representative data set, this brief reports results that expand our knowledge base on the relationship between rigorous coursework and postsecondary…

Online course taking is widespread in K-12 education and even more so as schools have turned to virtual learning during the global health crisis. Educators across the country are actively seeking evidence-based guidance, only to discover that there is limited rigorous research related to online learning. The need to understand how to prepare…

Online course taking is widespread in K-12 education and even more so as schools have turned to virtual learning during the global health crisis. Educators across the country are actively seeking evidence-based guidance, only to discover that there is limited rigorous research related to online learning. The need to understand how to prepare…

Nationally, credit recovery has been used as a strategy to encourage and enable students to re-take previously failed courses needed to graduate. The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) offers both in-person and online options for recovering failed or missing credits required for graduation. This study provides a snapshot of the district's…

Student participation and performance in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) have been an education concern in the United States for years. In 2013, Texas lawmakers passed House Bill 5 (HB5) to support increases in STEM awareness, particularly among ethnic minority and female students. To date, no studies have been conducted on the…

Career and technical education (CTE) has dramatically changed over the last 50 years. Because of this major shift of understanding in purpose and benefits, the role of the education system is vitally important in raising awareness and reshaping the perception of CTE. This research focused on the influence of high school stakeholders, specifically…

There are substantial and ongoing concerns in the Australian and international secondary and tertiary education sectors about students' transition from secondary to tertiary mathematics. Of recent concern is the number of students choosing Advanced Mathematics (AM) in the last two years of secondary school. Declining enrolments in AM in secondary…