This study synthesizes theories of achievement motivation to better understand the development of academic task values in high school students and their relation to college major selection. We utilize longitudinal structural equation modeling to understand how grades relate to task values, how task values across domains relate to one another over…

Sixteen years ago, the Kalamazoo Promise went into effect guaranteeing full college scholarships to eligible graduates of the Kalamazoo Public Schools (KPS) district. The Kalamazoo Promise provided the model for a unique type of college scholarship program, one in which the allocation of funds is based not on merit or need, but on…

The COVID-19 pandemic greatly reduced the college enrollment rate for students during the Fall 2020 semester. National data show that although enrollment of new students declined overall, it varied substantially by institution type and student characteristics. What national data do "not" reveal is how certain communities with already…

Chapter 1 studies how the interaction of student information with constraints dictated by market design determines higher education choices and outcomes. I study strategic application incentives in imperfect implementations of centralized assignment mechanisms in higher education. I ask whether, in markets with both a central match for public…

I conduct a statewide experiment in Michigan with nearly 50,000 high-achieving high school seniors. Treated students are mailed a letter encouraging them to consider college and providing them with the web address of a college information website. I find that very high-achieving, low-income students, and very high-achieving, minority students are…

This report provides a cost estimate for the first ten years of a Promise scholarship program for the Evart Public Schools (EPS) (Michigan) that would provide a flat rate ($2,500 per year for up to four years) middle dollar scholarship that covers remaining costs after Pell and TIP [Michigan Tuition Incentive Program] are awarded. The program…

This report provides a cost estimate for the first ten years of a Promise scholarship program for the Buchanan Community Schools (Michigan) patterned after the Kalamazoo Promise. Moreover, it presents a detailed outline of the method used in the calculation of the cost estimate. All the major assumptions and variables, as well as their sources,…

A substantial and growing body of research indicates that, all other factors being equal, students who dually enroll are more likely than their non-dually-enrolling peers to finish high school, matriculate in a postsecondary institution and experience greater postsecondary success. Spurred by this, states are increasingly viewing dual enrollment…

The Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University explained, "Across the country, 10- 40% of seemingly college-intending students, particularly those from low-income backgrounds, fail to enroll in college the fall after graduation. This phenomenon is known as "summer melt" (Castleman, Page, and Snowdon, 2013). In order…

As the price of a public college education has risen at well above the rate of inflation for decades, college affordability has become a key concern in public policy discussions. At the same time, recent high school graduates from lower-income and middle-income families are nearly 20 percentage points less likely to enroll in college the following…

This topic paper details how dual and concurrent enrollment programs can help states overcome workforce readiness and postsecondary access and completion challenges and how governors can strengthen these programs by using their bully pulpit, agenda setting authority and budgetary authority to do so. It concludes with a number of examples of how…

Early awareness strategies, from outreach campaigns to cohort-based learning groups to scholarships, are a group of efforts that help middle school students stay on the path to college and understand how to fund their education. These strategies become part of early awareness programs, which seek to put students on a college-going path by…

This book focuses on the topic of the multiple-stakeholders that comprise the education community across the P-20 continuum. In various ways and forms, the authors of the chapters found within this book promote the importance of engaging with the diverse array of stakeholders in order to truly improve education in an increasingly interconnected…

Since its launch in September 2015, Heads Up America has collected information on nearly 125 promise programs across the country, many of which were instituted long before President Barack Obama announced the America's College Promise (ACP) plan in 2015. At least 27 new free community college programs have launched in states, communities, and at…

Education leaders have long worried that many high school students don't get adequate help in choosing a college. Nationwide, there is an average of one full-time guidance counselor per 315 public high school students, according to a 2003 report by the National Center for Education Statistics. And counselors don't necessarily spend much time…