Students in the United States change schools often, and frequent changes are associated with poor outcomes along numerous dimensions. These moves occur for many reasons, including both promotional transitions between educational levels and nonpromotional moves. Promotional student mobility is less likely than nonpromotional mobility to suffer from…

This research brief reviews and analyzes national data on college going, persistence, and graduation. It compares characteristics of students who enter college immediately after high school graduation with other types of postsecondary entrants, considers traditional versus nontraditional paths of college going, and examines college persisters and…