Successful transition to college requires understanding the college system as much as the academic subjects taught therein. This article describes the creation of the Transitions Lab, a T.I.D.E.S. model (Boylan, 2009) of student support including collaboration with institutional and community partners, advising, tutoring, and retesting assistance…

Despite efforts to improve college student success, such as through first-year initiatives, significant numbers of students at two- and four-year institutions still do not persist past the first year to graduation. The challenges only increase for community colleges serving diverse populations such as first generation, low income, and immigrant…

This article provides an overview of GED holders admitted into the Successful Transition and Retention Track (START) two-year pilot-project. An enhanced college-success course, career and mental-health counseling, and English and mathematics tutoring acclimated GED holders to college. Results suggest that postsecondary educational attainment of…

This paper provides an analysis of international literature and focus group data arising from a three-year critical ethnographic study with 795 young people, educators and parents speaking about transitions through public education in Canada. It fills fissures in qualitative and process-based sociological work on youth transitions and redresses…

In this article, we describe an approach to uncovering learners' literacy-oriented conceptualizations while they are enrolled in transitional, or developmental, reading and writing classes in a college context. This approach entailed eliciting and then analyzing the metaphors for academic literacies produced by students in 15 sections of a…

Whenever educators are asked to identify the major problems they face, behavior management is near the top of the list. Research shows that effective teachers are able to build relationships with students and implement well-developed classroom procedures (Holt, Hargrove, & Harris, 2011, p. 18). Yet schools give scant attention to developing…

Although "access" to higher education has increased substantially over the past forty years, student "success" in college--as measured by persistence and degree attainment--has not improved at all. Thomas Brock reviews systematic research findings on the effectiveness of various interventions designed to help at-risk students remain in college.…

High schools and middle grades schools are making special efforts to keep students in school and to help them look forward with confidence to the next stage of life. They are connecting students to adult mentors or counselors who assist them in setting goals and completing a program of study for college and career readiness. They are assisting…

This article discusses how to help struggling students in high school. The author describes the Early College High School Initiative that helps minority and low-income youths to earn one to two years of college credits while in high school. The program is part of a nationwide effort to bridge the gap between secondary and postsecondary…

This article discusses College Summit, a nonprofit effort centered around the premise that there is a sizable number of students who are more capable of college academics than their test scores and grade point averages suggest. Its four-day summer sessions are focused not on ramping up students' academic performance but in mining students'…

By offering information, counseling, and tutoring, college outreach programs attempt to smooth the path between high school and higher education for at-risk students. But do these program work? This paper uses longitudinal data from the Education Longitudinal Study to construct two quasi-experiments to assess the effectiveness of college outreach.…

If everyone needs an education through two years of college or the equivalent, then the nation has an obligation to provide a far more certain pathway for postsecondary success than it does now. Because so many young people fail to complete the final years of high school, graduate but do not apply to college, or begin postsecondary education only…

To successfully make the transition from school to adult life and the world of work, adolescents and young adults need guidance and encouragement from caring, supportive adults. The best decisions and choices made by transitioning youth are based on sound information including appropriate assessments that focus on the talents, knowledge, skills,…