Since 1983, policymakers and politicians have worked to stave off a perceived decline in the academic preparation of American students. Stubbornly low scores on international exams and signs that many U.S. graduates are ill-equipped for college and the workforce have lent urgency to this perception, and many states have made high-school graduation…

This research focuses on course-taking patterns of beginning community college students enrolled in one or more non-remedial science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses during their first year of college, and how these patterns are mapped against upward transfer in STEM fields of study. Drawing upon postsecondary transcript…

This is a narrative case study that analyzes Carl's experience as a nontraditional student who enrolls in a transition course after a 15-year hiatus from college. Specifically, the study aims at understanding the perceived impact that the course had on shaping the personal narrative of learning in college of a reentry student. Using a…

This paper outlines current student-level indicators at the high school and middle school levels that predict college success. In this bulletin, indicators are divided into three categories: assessment scores (e.g., SAT® exam scores), transcript attributes (e.g., course rigor), and additional indicators (e.g., attendance) that impact achievement.

This First Look introduces new data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, collected in 2013 when most sample members were recent high school graduates, and in 2014 from the high school transcripts of students who were freshmen in 2009. The analyses examine students' high school completion status; plans for postsecondary enrollment and…

This study describes a typology that allows us to explore and analyze the career and technical education (CTE) credit-taking experience of all high school students, not just those traditionally considered CTE (or vocational) students. We argue that this new typology provides a better framework for understanding CTE than the more traditional…

This research examines the effect of undergraduate course letter grades on future course selection and major choice. Using a Regression-Discontinuity design, we exploit the fact that the probability of earning a particular letter grade jumps discontinuously around letter grade cutoffs. This variation in letter grades allows us to isolate the…

Community college students typically have access to a large selection of courses and programs, and therefore the student transcripts at any one college or college system tend to be very diverse. As a result, it is difficult for faculty, administrators, and researchers to understand the course-taking patterns of students in order to determine what…