Many students who enter college do not finish, reflecting numerous academic, financial, and social barriers to postsecondary completion. Success Boston Coaching (SBC) provides students in the Greater Boston area with coaching during their first 2 years of college to help them overcome barriers to postsecondary completion and connect them to…

This cross-sectional, observational study examined how school-level academic performance and enrollment in the physical sciences (Earth science, chemistry, and physics) mediate the predictive value of socioeconomic status on graduation rate in U.S. high schools. Data were collected from N = 555 schools (475,539 students) that reported enrollment…

Dropping out of high school creates barriers to economic self-sufficiency. Career and technical education (CTE) may help students engage with school by showing the connection between school and work. Prior research has shown that high school CTE participation promotes positive academic outcomes including high school graduation. This paper uses a…

This policy brief examines the long-term outcomes of Texas high school students who graduated via the Individual Graduation Committee (IGC) pathway, a mechanism that permits graduation for students who fail one or two End-of-Course (EOC) standardized exams. Drawing on a matched comparison of students who narrowly failed versus narrowly passed…

We combine administrative data from a regional public university with a novel revealed-preference indicator of student friendships to show that socially connected first-year university students are more likely to be retained into their second year. The impact of friends on retention is statistically and economically significant: each friend raises…

The Utah Board of Higher Education's strategic plan prioritizes expanding access to higher education, improving college affordability, and reducing the time it takes students to complete their degrees. Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) supports these goals by awarding college credit for knowledge and skills gained outside the traditional classroom.…

This qualitative phenomenological study investigated the perspectives of university students who self-identified as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) regarding the academic support systems they received and/or required to graduate on time. The study's primary objective was to discover support mechanisms that supported DACA recipients…

Policy research established that it is possible to predict a student will drop out of school based on academic, attendance, behavior indicators. Little is known about the processes that put Early Warning Systems (EWS) in place. This case study of the Montana EWS describes the characteristics of a statewide implementation, the efficiency of the EWS…

Higher education's interest in remedial college coursework and its bumpy impact on student success drove this collaboration between the mathematics department and institutional research at a small, private 4-year university. For first-time freshmen needing math remediation, national research shows that these students struggle with earning required…

Students with various Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5) diagnoses have increasingly enrolled in colleges and universities. Although graduation rates are lower for this group, some students succeed, and mentoring programs are increasingly part of this success. The purpose of this article is to describe a…

This brief provides an overview of positive transition rates among California high schools eligible for inclusion in the Dashboard Alternative School Status (DASS). Both state and federal law rely on high school graduation rates as a key indicator of high school accountability and performance. The California Department of Education (CDE) uses a…

On January 9, the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) released high school graduation rates for the State of Florida and the School District of Palm Beach County. The fiscal year 2024 (FY24) Federal High School Graduation Rate includes standard diplomas but excludes special diplomas and General Education Diplomas (GEDs). Students with…

School districts increasingly gauge school quality with surveys that ask about school climate and student engagement. We use data from New York City's middle and high schools to compare the long-run predictive validity of surveys with that of conventional test score value-added models (VAMs). Our analysis leverages the New York school match, which…

Researchers increasingly have access to two types of data: (i) large observational datasets where treatment (e.g., class size) is not randomized but several primary outcomes (e.g., graduation rates) and secondary outcomes (e.g., test scores) are observed and (ii) experimental data in which treatment is randomized but only secondary outcomes are…

High school graduation represents a pivotal milestone with far-reaching implications for an individual's future in social, economic, professional, and personal spheres. Despite its significance, only approximately 85.5% of students in the United States successfully earn their diploma each year, with groups such as black, Hispanic, American…