Focusing on College and Career Readiness? Explore What Works for Students

Background

Postsecondary transition, and eventual college and career decisions, are focal points of students’ secondary education. Various targeted programs and strategies are designed to provide students with information and support throughout high school to facilitate their college and career pathway. Given the array of programs focused on college and career readiness, it is important for practitioners and education leaders to consider which programs have demonstrated evidence of success for certain student populations, schools, districts, or regions.

Educators in northeastern Tennessee sought to understand the availability and effectiveness of college- and career-readiness programs and interventions for students in northeastern Tennessee. In response, REL Appalachia developed an Ask an Expert response, which provided research-based answers to the following questions:

1. What interventions or intervention components have been shown to meet Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requirements for demonstrating evidence of improving academic and educational outcomes related to college and career readiness for secondary students?
2. Which findings are based on research conducted in a context similar to northeastern Tennessee, specifically, on students living in rural communities or in economically disadvantaged circumstances?

What We Did

REL Appalachia searched the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) to locate relevant interventions focused on preparation for and transition to college and careers. The team used the following criteria to identify relevant evidence-based interventions:

• One or more positive, statistically significant student outcomes.
• One or more of eleven focus outcomes in the high school, career, and labor market:

• Provision of evidence of effectiveness based on whether or not the intervention meets Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Tier 1 (T1), Tier 2 (T2), or Tier 3 (T3) requirements in the focus outcome areas.
• Research context: A focus on students from low-income households and/or in rural areas.

Using these criteria, the REL Appalachia team collected information on 15 interventions.

Choosing Interventions to Target Student Outcomes

To help practitioners and education leaders review, compare, and contrast interventions in order to choose a program, the REL Appalachia team classified the 15 interventions into four categories. These four are described below, along with one intervention example for each.

Advising, coaching, and counseling interventions: Four interventions support students with college and career decisions. For example, Bottom Line addresses two outcome domains – college access and enrollment plus college credit accumulation and persistence. With both Bottom Line Access and Bottom Line Success, support through advising and counseling begins in high school and spans the transition to college.

Earning college credits or preparing for a career: Four interventions support preparing for a career or college by earning college credits while still enrolled in high school. For example, dual enrollment programs support several college- and career-readiness outcomes and also increase high school attendance and completion.

Providing information: Five interventions lighten the lift for practitioners and administrators supporting college and career readiness. While addressing one outcome each, these messaging and information sharing interventions can be used in conjunction with other strategies to support college access and enrollment, such as through automated text messaging.

Teacher professional development for improved academics: This type includes two interventions that support teachers of high schoolers. For example, the Expository Reading and Writing Course provides English teachers with techniques and strategies to increase their own students’ skills, thereby reducing the students’ need for remedial English courses in college.

All four categories of interventions demonstrate evidence of effectiveness in supporting college and career readiness.

See the complete table of interventions by outcome domain, including evidence tiers and research contexts in the full Ask an Expert – College and Career Readiness response. The details in the Ask an Expert can help educators and leaders identify programs most relevant to their goals and local contexts.