TOPIC

College access & postsecondary success

College Access and postsecondary success

Preparation for college and career is critical for both individual and societal economic prosperity. Yet, educational attainment is not sufficient to meet economic demand and educational opportunities are not equally distributed. State policymakers and education leaders across the state are working to increase opportunity and improve student outcomes.

At the heart of these efforts is better alignment of California’s K–12 education system with higher education systems and the labor market to ensure successful transitions for young adults between high school and postsecondary pursuits.

In this topic area, PACE researchers investigate students’ educational trajectories and the state and local endeavors to decrease disparities in access to educational opportunities and improve student success in college and career.

Recent Topic Publications
Report Polikoff Feb 2020
Views from the 2020 PACE/USC Rossier Poll
With important state and national elections looming, where do California voters stand on some of the major education policy issues of the day? This report examines findings from the 2020 PACE/USC Rossier Poll of California voters. The poll…
pb_friedmann_jan20
The Scale and Distribution of Community College Participation Among California High School Students
Research shows that dual enrollment—a practice in which high school students take college courses while they are still in high school—has multiple benefits for student success in both systems. To capitalize on those benefits, California and other…
California’s College Readiness Standards and Lessons from District Leaders
During the past decade, education leaders and policymakers have made significant investments to better align California’s K-12 and postsecondary education systems and to address persistent disparities in educational attainment by race and…
In this report we explore the patterns in mathematics course-taking among California public high school seniors. We describe what courses students are enrolled in and how course participation varies by key student characteristics, such as race/…