The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study is to describe a particular phenomenon: the lived experiences of high school teachers who were responsible for creating and teaching a senior-year English Transition Course. Moustakas’ methods, framework and data analysis guidelines, coupled with interviews using Seidman’s three-interview process, is the best procedure for achieving the research aim. Thus, the study is based upon the results of interviews of 10 high school teachers from schools within a specific geographic region who collaborated with four English faculty members from a comprehensive four-year institution within the same region, over a period of three years. It is important to capture this phenomenon, as it occurred within a time of broad educational reform and uncertainty and will allow others to understand how teachers respond to interventions designed to reduce the need for remediation in reading and writing. This research examines the following questions: (a) What is the essence of high school teachers’ experiences planning a senior-year English Transition course designed to achieve college readiness in reading and writing? Specifically, how do teachers experience planning as a result of collaborative sessions with University English faculty? Additionally, how do teachers experience planning (e.g., course goals, units of study, individual lessons) as result of their individual efforts? (b) What is the essence of the experience of teaching a senior-year English Transition course designed to achieve college readiness in reading and writing? The fundamental textural-structural synthesis revealed four common themes as well as a variety of sub-themes across all participants. Scientific terms were used as metaphors. The juxtaposition of this scientific metaphorical depiction, ostensibly at odds in a study of literacy instruction, intends to reveal the complexity of teacher experiences and the totality of external circumstances as well as internal conditions they encountered. The insights from this study may inform curriculum specialists, policy-makers, school administrators, and English teachers.

abstract: In 2010, the Arizona Legislature established a performance-based diploma initiative known as Move On When Ready (MOWR). The policy relies on an education model designed to evaluate students' college and career readiness by measuring their academic ability to succeed in the first credit-bearing course in community college. Move On When Ready is a structurally oriented, qualification system that attempts to attain a relatively narrow goal: increase the number of students able to successfully perform at a college-level academic standard. By relying on a set of benchmarked assessments to measure success and failure, MOWR propagates a categorical binary. The binary establishes explicit performance criteria on a set of examinations students are required to meet in order to earn a high school qualification that, by design, certifies whether students are ready or not ready for college. This study sought to reveal how students’ perceptions of the policy and schooling in general affect their understanding of the concept of college readiness and the college readiness binary and to identify factors that help formulate those perceptions. This interpretivist, qualitative study relied on analysis of multiple face-to-face interviews with students to better understand how they think and act within the context of Move On When Ready, paying particular attention to students from historically vulnerable minority subgroups (e.g., the Latina (a)/Hispanic sub-population) enrolled in two schools deploying the MOWR strategy. Findings suggest that interviewed students understand little about MOWR's design, intent or implications for their future educational trajectories. Moreover, what they believe is generally misinformed, regardless of aspiration, socio-cultural background, or academic standing. School-based sources of messaging (e.g., teachers and administrators) supply the bulk of information to students about MOWR. However, in these two schools, the flow of information is constricted. In addition, the information conveyed is either distorted by message mediators or misinterpreted by the students. The data reveal that formal and informal mediators of policy messages influence students’ engagement with the policy and affect students’ capacity to play an active role in determining the policy’s effect on their educational outcomes. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2015

abstract: Communication between parents and school personnel plays a significant role in student achievement. Spanish-speaking parents are rather hesitant to seek assistance from their child’s school as cultural and language barriers have created a mindset that they are not supported, understood, or valued. Key stakeholders in education therefore need to acquire a clearer understanding of the Latino culture in a dire effort to better serve Hispanic students in high school and their families. This study examined the perceptions of first-generation Latino parents of high school students while identifying parental needs to improve their child’s college readiness upon completion of high school. It also investigated high school graduation rates and student dropout rates across the United States as well as effective and efficient ways in which the school can enhance the provision of school-related resources to their students. There is wide consensus that parental involvement (including home-based involvement, home-school communication, and school-based involvement) is essential for student success. Despite this understanding, there exists a gap in literature regarding the information, resources, and support available to first-generation Latino parents with children in high school. Using a conceptual framework that draws on theories of cultural and social capital, and a qualitative approach that included field notes, focus groups, and interviews, this study investigated the expectations, lived experiences, perceptions, and practices of 29 Latino immigrant parents of high school students in relation to their child’s secondary school. The findings of this study, which suggest varying levels of parental involvement, were organized around four themes: aspirations, parental support, school-based knowledge, and student preparation. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Administration and Supervision 2016

As current educational policies continue to emphasize the importance of college readiness and growth, it is essential to understand the degree to which test scores collected throughout middle school and high school can provide information to make valid inferences about students' college readiness. This thesis sought to summarize the college readiness of Iowa students, describe the nature of student growth, and clarify the relationship between student growth and college readiness. Together, the results support the validity argument that scores from a general achievement test can be used for measuring student growth and making on-track interpretations about college readiness. Results of analyses on the use of benchmarks as indicators of college readiness are presented first. The analyses showed that the state's general achievement test was just as accurate as the ACT when the criterion was defined by grades in domain-specific, credit-bearing courses. Next, latent growth models and growth mixture models were used to summarize and evaluate longitudinal changes in student achievement and their relationship with college outcomes. A calibration sample representing potential college-bound students was used to set the growth trajectories. Then a cohort of students representing the full student population was used to provide validity evidence in support of the growth trajectories. It was shown that students in the highest-performing group could be considered college ready. Several applications of the growth models are also presented. The typical performance on a variety of college outcomes for each developmental group was presented for the validation sample. A second application illustrated how individual patterns of growth in Grade 8 could be used to predict future class membership in Grade 11. This thesis was predicated on the notion that understanding and documenting the nature of student growth, the college readiness of Iowa students, and the relationship between the two is an important step in improving the college readiness of Iowa students and meeting the future needs of an aligned K-16 educational system. As this study is among the first to examine the relationship between college readiness and student growth using modern latent variable modeling techniques with actual college outcomes, guidelines for future research are presented.

While much of the literature regarding college readiness focuses on student-specific factors, such as the individual's academic achievement; scores on college readiness assessments; and high school GPA, more research is needed to understand which school-level factors have the most influence on the percentage of college-ready graduates. The purpose of this research study was to explore the impact of various school-level factors (i.e., student demographics, college entrance exam facts, course offerings, and school characteristics) on the percentage of college ready graduates from Texas public high schools serving Grades 9-12 over a 3-year period. A multiple regression analysis conducted for each year's data resulted in three regression models, which identified various predictors (e.g. per-pupil instructional expenditures, teacher years of experience, taking advanced and/or dual credit coursework) of the percentage of college-ready graduates for schools accounting for 91.7%, 79.5%, and 65.6% of the explained variance in 2013, 2014, and 2015, respectively. Findings from this study provide educational leaders with data that could help them to make better-informed decisions regarding potential college readiness initiatives that, ultimately, could improve student performance.

Research shows that students who take advanced mathematics courses perform better on measures of college readiness than students who take less rigorous courses. However, no clear effect has been shown on requiring all students to take more advanced courses. This study examined whether increases in the number and level of mathematics courses required for high school graduation have resulted in increased levels of college aspirations and preparedness. Specifically, twenty years of data from a rural school district in Texas were analyzed to determine whether the impact on college entrance exam-taking and performance differed by the mathematics requirements in effect for each class. Logistic and linear regression modeling revealed no statistically significant effect of higher requirements. And while overall results by gender and race mirrored previous research, with males tending to have higher scores than females and White students tending to score higher than African-American and Latinx students, the increased requirements were not associated with any mitigation in these inequities.

The purpose of this quantitative study was to see if there was a significant difference in the mean American College Test (ACT) scores and high school grade point average (HSGPA) between students who attained a bachelor’s degree within 6 years of starting college and those who did not attain a bachelor’s degree within 6 years of starting college. Data from 2005-2013 high school graduates from one high school with only academic course choices were used. A series of independent t-tests were used to compare the mean ACT scores and HSGPA of students from both groups. The goal was to find out whether high school educators can use existing high school data to know whether students who intend to continue their postsecondary studies at degree granting postsecondary institutions have the necessary preparation not just to be admitted to a postsecondary institution, but to attain a bachelor’s degree. The results showed that for this group of participants, the mean ACT scores and HSGPA were significantly different between students who attained a bachelor’s degree within 6 years and those who did not. Using Cohen’s d to calculate the effect size for the results, ACT Composite, ACT English, ACT Science, and HSGPA were found to have a large effect size, and ACT Math and ACT Reading were found to have a medium effect size. HSGPA had the largest effect size. The implications from the results are that high school personnel at all high schools should examine available data to see if it can be used as indicators of bachelor’s degree attainment with the purpose of providing additional support to students who intend to pursue a bachelor’s degree, but whose data indicate that they may not have the necessary preparation to successfully complete a degree.

Although Hispanics are graduating from high school at greater rates, it is not leading to college success as college graduation rates remain low. In Texas, the Hispanic population has grown to the point that one out of three of all Texans are Hispanic. A phenomenological approach to research was used to investigate the perceptions of Hispanic college students on how well their public high school prepared them for college. Through face-to-face interviews and focus group discussions, eight Hispanic college students provided insight concerning their high school experience and how it translated into college readiness. Four questions guided the study: 1) in what ways do Hispanic college students believe their public high school prepared or failed to prepare them academically for post-secondary education; 2) in what ways do Hispanic college students believe their public high school prepared or failed to prepare them culturally for post-secondary education; 3) in what ways do Hispanic college students believe their public high school prepared or failed to prepare them socio-emotionally for post-secondary education; and 4) how do Hispanic students perceive their cultural identity in regards to their high school experience. Findings revealed four themes relating to how Hispanic students perceive their high school experience prepared them for college which include, academic readiness, cultural readiness, socio-emotional readiness, and cultural identity. The research demonstrated the complex process of transitioning from high school to college for Hispanics.

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Roughly 60% of first-year community college students attending a community college in Idaho need to take remedial courses. Such a high percentage of first-year community college students in remedial courses indicates that students are not being properly prepared for collegiate studies. The purpose of this study was to understand college readiness through the perception of first-year community college students who were taking remedial courses. The framework for this study builds on Conley's multidimensional model of college readiness. Data from 10 semi structured interviews conducted with community college students taking remedial courses provided information about the opinions and ideas about college readiness, in addition to evaluations regarding what was missing in their K-12 education to prepare them for collegiate studies. Through open-ended data coding, interrelated themes were analyzed, and the interpreted meaning was shared through a qualitative narrative. The findings from this study suggest that college readiness is more than academic knowledge and understanding. The K-12 education system shall help students to focus on specific skills such as time management and note taking and to seek out their passions and goals. The findings also suggest that the K-12 education system within the United States needs to be restructured to incorporate a system that encourages and supports student success through more individualized learning that places focus on student passions. When students are given the opportunity to seek after their passions, they gain more interest and motivation to learn and build a strong sense of self-efficacy.