Citizens need to be college prepared in higher numbers and with greater urgency than in the past. This growing need for a college-prepared workforce places increased demand on schools to create college-ready students. The Career and College Readiness Standards for much of public education foster the skills and dispositions for academic excellence,…

The College Ambition Program (CAP) is designed to encourage low-income and minority students to enroll in college. The following analysis presents updated results from my AERA presidential talk in 2014. Results indicate that CAP, which is a schoolwide intervention, increased college attendance for low-income and minority students in seven…

Postsecondary educators have expressed concerns for many years about how prepared high school students are for college. As a result, states and organizations have launched a variety of initiatives designed to increase high school students' readiness for college, including increased access to college-level courses. One of the most promising…

Nationwide, close to 40 million adults lack a high school diploma or a General Educational Development (GED) credential. About a quarter of high school freshmen do not graduate in four years, and while many high school dropouts eventually do attend GED preparation classes, too few ever pass the GED exam or go on to college. Students with only a…

Background/Context: Recent educational policy developments have sought to raise the academic rigor of students' high school experiences to increase student preparation for postsecondary education. The expansion of credit-based transition programs (CBTPs), both in number and in the type of student served, represents one such strategy. These…

Project 60 is a daily, three-hour college preparatory program at Ohio's Sidney High School that provides accelerated instruction in mathematics, science, English, and social studies to high school juniors and seniors and teaches them to cope effectively with free time. (Author/PGD)

Northwestern's College Preparation Program, a summer session to introduce college life to high school students, is described. The students take two courses for college credit while they live for six weeks in a campus dormitory. The students earn grades that will be added to their college records. (MLW)

Describes how New York City's unusual compensatory education program helps poor students become good students. (Author/DN)

Several hundred universities now sponsor summer sessions that offer high-school students the opportunity to live together on their campuses for several weeks, take college-level courses, and visit local attractions. Institutions have realized the financial value of keeping dormitories and classrooms filled during the summer months. (MLW)

This article describes a program called Educational Information Day which is presented to high school seniors to give them an overview of what college life is about and what to expect when attending college. (JC)

The Supergraduate program was developed by Hamilton High School (HHS), West Los Angeles College, and the University of California at Los Angeles to motivate and prepare underrepresented, "B minus" and "C plus" students to graduate from high school and consider pursuing postsecondary education. Twenty-five students started the…

Describes how one college-prep boarding school helps its students clarify career, college, and precollege planning. Outlines program objectives, program content, and evaluation strategies that can help gauge student progress. Discusses program benefits. (RJM)

This paper asks why college students fail, not only in the sense of academic criteria, but also in terms of the quality of the total college experience. It also considers what counselors can do to insure the best chance for success for their students in their new college environment. The author examines the developmental process of transition and…

A 2-year program entitled "Essential Skills for College Bound Students" conducted in a Mississippi high school is described in this paper. The introductory section describes the course of study in essential skills as designed to help average-ability students who plan to attend college increase their proficiencies in oral and printed material,…

The Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) Program was established in 1970 to increase the number of American Indian, Black, Mexican-American, and Puerto Rican students who graduate from a California university prepared to enter mathematics-based careers. Developed initially with an exclusive focus on high school students, MESA…