Higher Education Access for America’s Vulnerable Students - This PowerPoint, presented at the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) 2012 National Conference, identifies obstacles to postsecondary participation, particularly among disadvantaged students. The presentation notes current state approaches to providing college counseling, highlights programs in Oregon and Colorado that have improved college participation for traditionally underserved youth, and points to other obstacles to postsecondary participation states are increasingly addressing. (Omari Scott Simmons, Wake Forest University, and Jennifer Dounay Zinth, ECS, October 2012)....

From the ECS State Policy Database: Student Supports--Counseling/Guidance - This policy database—updated weekly—is made possible by your state's fiscal support of the Education Commission of the States....

Strategies to Empower Low-Income and Minority Students in Gaining Admission to and Paying for College PDF - This policy brief identifies barriers created by federal, state and local policies that pose a particular challenge for aspiring first-generation college students in the college and financial aid application process, and provides suggestions for how state-level policy might address each barrier. A final section on "other" barriers to college entry seeks to alert policymakers to emerging issues for which adequate institutional, state and federal policy responses are needed. (Jennifer Dounay, Education Commission of the States, November 2008)...

Helping Equip Teachers to Answer Students’ Questions on College Knowledge MS Word PDF - While a majority of both honors and non-honors track high school students in Stanford University's Bridge Project sample reported speaking with a teacher at least once about college admissions requirements, teachers reported receiving very little, if any, information to answer their students' questions. This ECS Policy Brief examines the findings of the Bridge Project's research on students' questions to teachers on "college knowledge," teachers' responses to these questions, and state policies that would better equip teachers to provide students with accurate information on college policies. (Jennifer Dounay, Education Commission of the States, April 2007)...