The 2012/17 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:12/17), conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) at the U.S. Department of Education, is the second follow-up of students who began postsecondary education in the 2011-12 academic year. BPS:12/17 draws from the 2011-12 National Postsecondary Student Aid…

These technical appendices are for the report, "English as a Second Language at California's Community Colleges: An Early Examination of AB 705 Reforms." Assembly Bill 705 (AB 705 Irwin) sought to increase successful completion of transfer-level math and English courses by addressing systemic problems in traditional placement policies…

Analysis of student-level data to inform policy and promote student success is a core function of executive higher education agencies. Postsecondary data systems have expanded their collection of data elements for use by policymakers, institutional staff, and the general public. The State Higher Education Executive Officers association (SHEEO), as…

Numerous studies over the past two decades have examined the prevalence, causes, predictors, and prevention of high school dropout, but comparatively little is known about students who drop out and later re-enroll. This study contributes to an emerging body of research on re-enrollees that challenges the perception that when students drop out,…

This report presents findings from the Access Evaluation, a study component that is designed to assess the potential impacts of direct certification-Medicaid (DC-M) on students' access to free school meals by conducting retrospective simulations of DC-M in school year 2011-2012, the year before the demonstration began. For the Access Evaluation,…

The focus of this study is to explore college outcomes for students who come from traditionally lower-income backgrounds, reporting a household income of $30,000 or less, and who were awarded a fee reduction to take one or more Advanced Placement® (AP®) Exams, compared to students with a similar background and ability who did not participate in an…

Using a unique dataset of 44 Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), this paper examines critical patterns of enrollment, engagement, persistence, and completion among students in online higher education. By leveraging fixed-effects specifications based on over 2.1 million student observations across more than 2,900 lectures, we analyze engagement,…

This First Look report presents selected findings about student financial aid during the 2015-16 academic year. These findings are based on data from the 2015-16 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:16), a nationally representative sample survey of undergraduate and graduate students enrolled any time between July 1, 2015, and June 30,…

The National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) helps fulfill the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) mandate to collect, analyze, and publish statistics related to education. The purpose of NPSAS is to compile a comprehensive research dataset, based on student-level records, on financial aid…

The National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) helps fulfill the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) mandate to collect, analyze, and publish statistics related to education. The purpose of NPSAS is to compile a comprehensive research dataset, based on student-level records, on financial aid…

This report describes the methods and results for the 2011-12 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:12), conducted for the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Washington, DC. The following legislation authorizes this and previous cycles of NPSAS, as well as two longitudinal studies deriving…

Since the 2008-09 academic year, the National Student Clearinghouse has provided its participating institutions with the option to include 13 additional data elements in their enrollment submissions. These additional data elements help make Clearinghouse data more comprehensive and enable StudentTracker? participants to utilize a more robust data…

This study examines the differential effects on student subgroups of using the ACT® College Readiness Assessment Composite (ACTC) score and high school grade point average (HSGPA) for making admission decisions. The subgroup characteristics investigated include race/ethnicity, gender, and income. For each student subgroup, we examine the effect of…

States have made tremendous progress in developing longitudinal data systems that can track student progress and answer critical policy questions. However, more work is needed, particularly on certain elements. Data on course-taking and grades (element 6), college readiness test scores (element 7), and other feedback from post-secondary…

This report examines the mobility of migrant secondary students and the frequency with which selected information actually appears on the Migrant Student Record Transfer System (MSRTS) records of secondary students. Additionally, the report considers migrant students who are at or below grade level. The report is based upon data from the MSRTS…