In January 2020, the Florida Department of Education announced the required full implementation of the new Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking standards for the 2022-2023 school year. The Florida Department of Education emphasized the importance of the intentional progression of the new Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking standards and…

To complete the bachelor's degrees that 82% of community college students aspire to and that the knowledge economy needs, there is an obstacle: most students have to transfer to a four-year institution. But less than one third of all students and about one sixth of Black, Latinx, and Native American, or underserved minority (USM), students get…

The 2024 Articulation and Transfer Report provides an update on the progress made toward full articulation between public institutions in Tennessee. This report uses data from National Student Clearinghouse Student Tracker (NSC), the Tennessee Higher Education Commission's Student Information System (THECSIS), and the Tennessee Board of Regents…

Only 11% of community college (associate's-degree) students transfer vertically and obtain a bachelor's degree within six years, despite over 80% originally intending to do so. These leaks in the transfer pipeline disproportionately affect students from underrepresented groups, who are more likely to attend community colleges and to leak out of…

The Independent Transfer Pathways in North Carolina Project served as a catalyst in forging a culture of cooperation between community colleges and independent colleges and universities in North Carolina by creating a unique opportunity to bridge the gap between the two systems. The project focused on developing discipline-specific articulation…

To support state education agency (SEA) leaders in establishing a statewide vision for serving the whole person, WestEd drafted and piloted the guide, "Serving the Whole Person: An Alignment and Coherence Guide for State Education Agencies," in collaboration with several SEAs. This case story describes Delaware Department of Education…

Latin American universities have struggled to ensure pedagogical continuity since the beginning of the pandemic. The objective of this research is to find out how Latin American universities responded to the many challenges posed by their commitment to pedagogical continuity, namely in the technological, pedagogical, financial, and socio-emotional…

Both policymakers and educators have identified the pressing need for clear and consistent pathways from two-year to four-year postsecondary institutions in STEM fields. Though numerous interventions for transfer pathways have been designed and implemented, there remains a need for effective and sustainable models of transfer partnership that…

The College of Education at Rowan University has held a sustained commitment to the tenets of the National Association for Professional Development Schools' Nine Essentials. Using the essentials to guide the work of the Rowan PDS Network, each PDS partner focuses on the four cornerstones of teacher preparation and ongoing professional development.…

The transition from primary to secondary education tends to have deleterious effects on student achievement and motivation in mathematics, and these effects have been significantly linked to lack of curricular and pedagogical continuity at transition. Curricular and pedagogical practices in each phase of schooling are influenced by a number of…

Associate in Applied Science (AAS) degrees are designed to prepare individuals for career opportunities, but they are increasingly prevalent among students transferring to universities. Still, transfer experiences for AAS holders are fraught with barriers such as credit loss and credit applicability toward baccalaureate degrees. Using statewide…

The rapidly changing higher education landscape offers transfer students more choices for achieving their educational goals. In order to be competitive in this environment, four-year institutions must be prepared to respond to the needs of transfer students (Montgomery 2015). In the Online and Professional Studies Division (OPS) of California…

An early college high school is four-year public high school whereby students are concurrently enrolled in high school and a postsecondary institution. Students are eligible to graduate with a high school diploma and an associate's or bachelor's degree from an institution of higher education. This document contains a model policy for the creation…

Using data from a south-west alliance between two-year colleges and four-year universities, this study provides insight into the needed resources at partner institutions to promote the successful transfer and retention for minoritized students in STEM. The study includes responses from over 500 students who were engaged in alliance-related…

Gaps, redundancies, and bottlenecks in undergraduate curricula can markedly affect faculty teaching courses and the successful preparation of students for the professional biomedical engineering workforce. Anecdotal observations from faculty of potential curriculum deficiencies, the rapidly changing landscape of biomedical engineering education,…