The chairman of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators talks to secondary school counselors about trends in financial aid to low-income students. He notes that technology, increasing regulations, and decreasing government funds have changed the face of financial aid. He urges continued dialogue with college and financial…

Dual-credit programs, carried out largely by community and technical colleges, have opened the door to thousands of secondary school honors students and vocationally oriented students who need to stay challenged and/or get ahead in their college work as they complete high school. Document describes dual-credit trends, examples, and issues.…

The Ohio Appalachian Center for Higher Education (OACHE) is a consortium of 10 public colleges and universities that funds proposals from regional schools for creative initiatives that encourage students toward postsecondary education. College attendance rates from Appalachian Ohio have increased, and the OACHE model is being applied to programs…

A survey of 281 rural Australian high school students in grades 10-12 found that academic achievement was the most important predictor of continuation to university. A survey of 125 of these students who attended college found that high school academic achievement and college course satisfaction predicted success in first-year courses. Contains 15…

Discusses a study that tracked students in dual-enrollment classes during a five-year period. Reports that students who had high school teachers for dual-enrollment mathematics courses earned significantly higher grades in subsequent coursework at the state universities than those students who were taught by college faculty. (Contains 31…

In three counties of western North Carolina, students who meet requirements of the New Century Scholars program during their last 6 years of secondary school are guaranteed a 2-year scholarship to Southwestern Community College. Financed by community fund-raising efforts, the program provides a close network of academic and social support for…

Uses Transfer Consortium data to track the academic path of a transfer cohort from Macomb Community College (MCC) in Michigan to five local four-year institutions. Finds that most transfers from a community college did not earn an associate's degree and that the average ASSET scores of the cohort are higher than the mean score for everyone tested…

Describes a music major program that was created at a high school to help students prepare for a future career in music, provide documentation of their four years of study in music for the college application process, and continue to study music after high school. (CMK)

Looks at books about college admissions, and at the unexamined prejudices fueling the elite college admissions frenzy. Powerful emotions, of students and parents alike, get mixed up in the college admissions process. Class anxiety, culture wars and other prejudices, not academic standing or faculty credentials, all contribute to making some…

Building on more classical status attainment and reproduction perspectives, this article examines the extent of class, race and gender inequality in high school vocational education, and the consequences for students' later educational and occupational trajectories. Analyses demonstrate significant class, race and gender disparities in vocational…

The role of testing in determining college admissions and the impact of that testing on high school students are commanding increasing attention. There is emerging evidence that admissions decisions made solely on the basis of high school record can serve the college as well or better than decisions based, at least in part, on scores obtained on…

This article presents a handbook for students, school counselors, teachers, and parents. This handbook is designed as a guide to help students with disabilities take another step in preparing for "life after high school." It includes information to help students understand their strengths and identify the support and resources they need…

It is time for high school and college educators alike to come to grips with the fact that high school and college are not nearly as well aligned as they need to be. As a result, many high school students who have set attending college as a goal never get there, and many who do make it struggle to succeed once they arrive. Merely taking…

Back in 1978 when the author was a young lobbyist in Washington, D.C., she recalls a presentation about the demographic change that would reshape the United States over the following 25 years. Whites would no longer make up the majority of the population, and the speaker talked of a "minority majority." The changes that were forecast…

The Big Picture schools focus on a "one student at a time" model, which eschews subject based-internships, independent projects, and exhibitions of students' work. The company's goal is to help students acquire the motivation, skills, and personal qualities they will need for college and life. In 1996, Big Picture founder Dennis Littky…