The College Ladder: Linking Secondary and Postsecondary Education for Success for All Students - This report reviews 22 programs that provide opportunities for high school students to earn college-level credit or take college-level courses to determine their impact on a range of student outcomes, including credits earned during high school, performance on high school tests, high school graduation rates, college-going rates, college remediation, college grades, retention in college and degree and job market attainment. An emphasis is placed on programs that traditionally serve high-achieving students, as well as those that serve first generation, low-income and low-performing students and underrepresented minorities. Although the research is limited, outcomes generally are positive, indicating that students who participate in these programs receive some benefit and may find a Secondary-Postsecondary Learning Option a good alternative to their regular high school experience. The College Ladder also describes various characteristics of effective programs, and analyzes issues of credit transferability, funding for these school-college partnerships and equitable access to programs. (Jennifer Brown Lerner and Betsy Brand, American Youth Policy Forum, September 2006)...

Value Added: The Costs and Benefits of College Preparatory Programs - This cost-benefit analysis provides research and recommendations for policymakers to maximize the effectiveness of pre-college preparatory programs. Included in the suggestions is the need for high-quality information to conduct high-quality analysis and the consideration of intangible factors and outcomes, including costs associated with the program that aren’t always calculated. Equally important is the need to focus on both long- and short-term impacts of college-prep programs. While short-term impacts such as program retention or gradepoint averages of participants are valuable indicators, the longer-term outcomes that track the effects of outreach programs are ultimately more indicative of program success. (Watson Scott Swail, Educational Policy Institute, November 2004)...