After decades of advancement in education equality, a disproportional number of racially minoritized students are placed in special education. Addressing the disproportionality is a complicated issue due to various contributing factors. One possible cause is racial bias from teachers who rate problem behaviors of African American boys for special…

This brief presents findings describing how Pennsylvania compares to other states in providing its students with access to educational opportunity. Following a more detailed discussion of the indicators used to define educational opportunity, Pennsylvania's rankings on overall access are first examined and then how Pennsylvania compares to other…

Student leadership and activism on college campuses has received more widespread attention in recent years, with attention to how student identities inform these organizing efforts. But, how students make sense of their leadership and activism practices is less understood, particularly in graduate student contexts and for different marginalized…

Promise programs are proliferating across the United States, with wide variation in their design. Using national data on 33 Promise programs affecting single, 2-year colleges, this study examines program effects on first-time, full-time college enrollments of students by race/ethnicity and gender classification. Results suggest Promise programs…

Pennsylvania's students consistently score above the national average on overall student achievement. However, the state's achievement gaps between White students and Black and Hispanic students are consistently among the worst in the country, even when controlling for gaps in family income, poverty, unemployment, and parental educational…

Many programs and practices aim to improve college persistence and completion, including "Single Stop USA's Community College Initiative," hereafter referred to as "Single Stop." "Single Stop" supports community college students with screening and applications for public benefits and other wraparound services that can…

Many programs and practices aim to improve college persistence and completion, including "Single Stop USA's Community College Initiative," hereafter referred to as "Single Stop." "Single Stop" supports community college students with screening and applications for public benefits and other wraparound services that can…

Many programs and practices aim to improve college persistence and completion, including "Single Stop USA's Community College Initiative," hereafter referred to as "Single Stop." "Single Stop" supports community college students with screening and applications for public benefits and other wraparound services that can…

Although minority-serving institutions (MSIs) educate nearly one fifth of the nation's college students, there is to date little research on MSI's return on investment (ROI). To address this, the University of Pennsylvania and Educational Testing Service commissioned four papers focusing on the ROI for MSIs, which were presented originally in…

Historically, Pennsylvania has struggled to integrate its public schools, especially with much of the racial diversity concentrated in urban regions. Starting in the 1960s, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC) was the state's enforcing body to combat school desegregation, but since the early 1980s, when it comes to education, the…

In the fall of 2014, students took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) to help determine their level of readiness for college. The PSAT/NMSQT 2014 State Summary Reports summarize the characteristics, scores and educational plans of the Class of 2016 and Class of 2017.

In the fall of 2014, students took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) to help determine their level of readiness for college. The PSAT/NMSQT 2014 State Summary Reports summarize the characteristics, scores and educational plans of the Class of 2016 and Class of 2017.

This report provides educators and policymakers with information they can use to celebrate their successes, understand their unique challenges, and set meaningful goals to increase opportunity for all students. It is important to note that while AP® Exams are valid measures of students' content mastery of college-level studies in specific academic…

National and regional trends mask important variation among states in the supply of high school graduates. This profile provides brief indicators for Pennsylvania related to: current levels of educational attainment, projections of high school graduates into the future, and two common barriers to student access and success--insufficient academic…

This report provides information about the performance of Pennsylvania's 2016 graduating seniors who took the ACT as sophomores, juniors, or seniors; and self-reported at the time of testing that they were scheduled to graduate in 2016. Beginning with the Graduating Class of 2013, all students whose scores are college reportable, both standard and…