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
California’s education system is highly fragmented. K–12 schools, community colleges, and the two university systems, California State University (CSU) and University of California (UC), operate under entirely separate governance structures, and…
Report 3 of a 3-Part Series
There is growing concern that the remedial math courses taken by most community college students unnecessarily divert some students from earning a degree. Anecdotes of students who thought they had completed their math requirements in high school…
Report 2 of a 3-Part Series
The conventional algebra-intensive math curriculum commonly dictates students’ options for entering and completing college, including their ability to transfer from two-year to four-year institutions. The assumption that higher-level algebra is…
Report 1 of a 3-Part Series
This is the first report in Degrees of Freedom, a series being published by LearningWorks and Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) to explore the role of math as a gatekeeper in higher education.Since the mid-20th century, the standard U.…