Participation in Kentucky's College Preparatory Transition Courses: An Update

Kentucky offers college preparatory transition courses in math, reading, and English to grade 12 students. The courses are designed as one possible intervention for students who do not meet state college readiness benchmarks in one or more of those subjects on the ACT in grade 11. This study updates a previous Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Appalachia report on participation in transition courses in 2011/12 (Mokher, 2014) by examining data for 2014/15. Kentucky's transition course program has evolved in two key ways since the study for 2011/12 (Mokher, 2014). First, transition courses are now offered in English; in 2011/12 they were available only in math and reading. Second, the Kentucky Department of Education has modified its recommendations on which students could be considered for enrollment in a transition course in grade 12 to include all students who score below college readiness benchmarks. These changes make some comparisons between 2011/12 and 2014/15 participation rates difficult. Key findings for 2014/15 include: (1) The proportion of students entering grade 12 who did not meet college readiness benchmarks was 53 percent in math, 50 percent in reading, and 40 percent in English, a decrease of about 6 percentage points in math and reading since 2011/12 (benchmarks for English were not examined in the earlier study); (2) Nearly two-thirds of Kentucky high schools--mostly small, rural, and low-performing schools--offered transition courses; (3) Approximately 40 percent of students who did not meet college readiness benchmarks in math and approximately 20 percent who did not meet benchmarks in reading or English participated in a transition course in those subjects; and (4) From 2011/12 to 2014/15 participation in transition courses in math increased 3 percentage points overall and 9 percentage points among students who were approaching college readiness benchmarks in math. Identifying college preparatory transition courses is appended.