Homeless and low-income students share multiple overlapping risk experiences; however, some studies report little to no observed differences in outcomes between these students. From the cumulative risk perspective, homelessness is perched at the extreme edge of economic insecurity, suggesting that homeless students encounter additional hardships…

This paper investigates the intersection of income and race in structuring access to higher education among students that participate in a national high-stakes exam in Brazil. Our objectives are (1) to estimate the probability of students coming from different income strata, racial groups, and performance levels to access higher education and (2)…

This report describes results from the Long-Term Impact of Early College High Schools Study--funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) (#R305A210017)--which aimed to explore the long-term impacts of early college (EC) high schools on students' academic outcomes (e.g., college enrollment, degree attainment) and workforce, financial, and…

Background: School based health centers (SBHCs) are essential for providing health care to students. Literature demonstrates student characteristics such as race and income are associated with SBHC utilization; however, little data exists on temporal trends in utilization. This gap in knowledge is crucial for informing policies and resource…

Previous research has provided compelling evidence of a strong connection between extracurricular activities and positive youth development. While both school offerings and student participation affect the outcomes of extracurricular activities, earlier studies have primarily focused on student participation. In contrast, this study shifts the…

In this study, we examined college and career readiness (CCR) support for students with and without disabilities using data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2012. We selected variables relevant to CCR and focused on the interaction of disability, race and ethnicity, and household income across a range of disability categories,…

To understand students' perspectives on high school GPA, in September 2023, ACT reached out to a random sample of high school students via an online survey. The survey questions centered on students' perceptions of how well high school GPA represents content mastery, whether it is fair to use high school GPA as a benchmark in college admissions,…

Among students in the 2024 ACT-tested graduating class, over 374,000 took the PreACT 8/9® or PreACT test before taking the ACT. This issue brief compares the ACT scores and college enrollment rates for students who took a test from the PreACT Suite of Assessments versus those who did not. The brief also examines average PreACT-to-ACT gain scores…

Maryland law allows districts to apply exclusionary approaches to unexcused absences. Exclusionary practices can include removing students from the classroom and preventing students from getting credit for completed work. This report examines how long-standing policies and practices of the truancy system--the application of the unexcused absence…

This paper presents the first evidence of how students make career technical education (CTE) course-taking decisions. Among the universe of Michigan high-schoolers we find large disparities in CTE access and participation by gender, race, and income. We decompose participation gaps between supply (access) and demand (preferences) with a simple…

This Data Byte uses data from a previous study to analyze whether indicators of having taken advanced coursework in specific subjects (i.e., English, math, science, and social studies) can reduce the negative impact of grade inflation.

Local teacher recruitment through "grow-your-own" (GYO) programs is a prominent strategy to address workforce shortages and ensure that incoming teachers resemble, understand, and have strong connections to their communities. Despite the growing popularity of GYO programs, there is little credible evidence of their effectiveness. The…

In this study, we asked whether Montessori schools, which tend to have high student engagement, are associated with lower average rates of chronic absenteeism and/or smaller racial disparities therein relative to non-Montessori schools. We use multilevel modeling to answer this question, following an approach proposed in Author et al., (in press)…

We combine a large multi-site randomized control trial with administrative and survey data to demonstrate that intensive advising during high school and college leads to large increases in bachelor's degree attainment. Novel causal forest methods suggest that these increases are driven primarily by improvements in the quality of initial…

This study investigated the value of ACT Composite scores and high school GPA (HSGPA) in predicting first-year college GPA (FYGPA) and degree completion of students with disabilities who took the ACT with accommodations and enrolled at a two-year or four-year public institution in a single state in the southern US. Descriptive analyses found that…