There is a need for understanding if promising practices that appear to work for the general student population are effective in increasing access and success in postsecondary education for low-income and underrepresented students. This report addresses accelerated learning options and how they might improve rates of college enrollment, persistence, and graduation for underserved students. However, there is a need to improve data collection and data reporting systems across states to understand how underserved students would benefit from accelerated learning programs. Among the recommendations in this report is a call for policymakers, researchers, practitioners, and external funding groups to improve collaboration and evidence-based research to begin efforts to improve student outcomes through accelerated learning options.

For the underperforming high school student, traditional course offerings do little to support or inspire these students to graduate, much less continue successfully to college. This report examines a study that found career-focused dual enrollment students more likely to graduate from high school than non-participating students, earn more college credits, persist in postsecondary education, and less likely to enroll in developmental education courses. Based on the study, the report offers lessons from the field: recommendations for effective dual enrollment practices and related policies to expand the success observed for these underprepared students.

When forging new territory, such as school reform, there is a dearth of good examples from which to learn. This paper profiles one Ohio early college high school that has a unique learning environment for providing STEM education. The author describes how partnerships with key funders from the onset, enabled the school to implement a sustainable model of operations, while a partnership with the local college supported rigorous, college-ready academic programs for students. The author also discusses innovative approaches that bridge the transition from high school to college with greater success.

While dual enrollment programs historically have focused on high-achieving students, these programs can benefit underperforming students as well, particularly when integrated with a career focus. This report examines eight dual-enrollment partnerships in California that included a career-focused strategy for engaging struggling students. The authors describe each partnership and discuss the program variations among them, including the advantages and disadvantages of particular program features related to location, instructors and pedagogy, and course selection and content, among others. These findings are lessons to be considered when redesigning a dual enrollment program.

The high dropout rate of Latino high school students means that Latino students are not enrolling in college, earning degrees, nor participating in the economy at the rate they should be. Based on the research, this report identifies six effective, replicable programs that have reduced dropout rates and have increased college attendance and student performance. Additionally, the authors describe other college attendance/dropout prevention programs that are used in California for improving outcomes of Latino students and present common program themes found among them.

Students forced to complete a long sequence of remedial or English language classes before they can begin their postsecondary program are less likely to earn college certificates or degrees. This brief highlights six promising programs that show how career pathway bridges help lower-skilled students move farther and faster along college and career paths through programs that link basic skills and occupational certificate courses. The author explains two career pathway bridges models — the paired course approach and the integrated course approach — and describes how six colleges implement either approach to meet the particular needs of lower-skilled adults.

Offering financial aid incentives to students who graduate high school early may allow states to reduce their overall spending on education, but such policies need to be carefully designed to make sure they offer long-term benefits to students. This brief outlines the factors that policymakers need to address to ensure that early graduation incentives provide real impact in improving college readiness and access for the most in-need students. The authors provide an overview of the current programs in eleven states.

This report describes the efforts of one school district on the Texas-Mexico border that implemented dual enrollment and career pathway programs districtwide and successfully turned around a district known for high dropout rates and high populations of low-income students and second language learners who did not go on to college. The author describes how the district created rigorous career pathways and a range of early college options, and then explores the instructional changes in the classrooms implemented to prepare students for the challenges of college-level work.

This brief, drawn from a longer report of the same title, identifies and discusses the features of credit-based transition programs that seem most promising in meeting the needs of middle- and low-achieving students. In particular, the authors focus on the importance of providing a wide range of students with access to college-level course work and comprehensive college-preparatory support services, as well as conducting regular analysis of student performance data and the perceived benefits of participation.

In the past twenty years, many school reform models have been initiated to improve college preparation, access, and success for underserved students. This paper examines the predictors of college-going behavior and how they have been addressed within the high school reform movement. The authors review and analyze a variety of school reform initiatives including AVID, Talent Development High Schools, International Baccalaureate, Project GRAD, and GEAR UP, among others. The authors extrapolate promising practices from existing reform initiatives and make recommendations for addressing the predictors of college-going behavior. Among the predictors, the authors find that academic rigor and strong social and academic support are the most crucial predictors of a student’s successful enrollment in, and completion of, postsecondary education.

Using existing research, the authors evaluate the evidence base of four different models for addressing the needs of remedial students— preventative interventions (e.g., dual enrollment and bridge programs), acceleration, contextualized instruction, and supplemental supports. For each program type, they include examples of successful implementation.

Improving college attendance and persistence is critical to the goal of improving student success rates. This report examines the college-going behaviors of students enrolled in dual enrollment programs — a strategy that can help lesser prepared students get ready for college. Based on studies, the report describes positive outcomes for students in dual enrollment programs and the benefits students experience from taking dual enrollment courses.