This timely book demonstrates why there needs to be a more thoughtful and collaborative effort on the part of K–12 schools, as well as institutions of higher education, to provide better college access to students from low-income communities. Building on a 10-year case study of a successful school-university partnership, the authors examine the supports, mentoring, and resources needed to transform the college opportunities and life chances for under-represented urban youth. Featuring first-hand accounts from student participants, the book documents how the model provided college access to some of the most selective and prestigious universities across the nation. Because this partnership situates college access within a social justice framework, it is one of the more unique programs in the country. “Few social problems are of more pressing importance than the challenge of increasing access to higher education. Howard, Tunstall, and Flennaugh carefully outline those problems and give us our marching orders. Historical. Empirical. Well-written. Thoughtful. Provocative. This book is useful for all of us concerned about access and equity in education.” —William G. Tierney, professor & co-director, Pullias Center for Higher Education, University of Southern California “This book represents a moral and ethical call to any of us who believe in an educational pipeline for liberty, humanity, possibility, and justice for all—everyday!” —H. Richard Milner IV, Helen Faison Professor of Urban Education, University of Pittsburgh Contributors: Irene Atkins, Bree Blades, Jon Carroll, Whitney Gouche, Tr’Vel Lyons, Justyn Patterson, Jerry Morrison, Michelle Smith, Ashley V. Williams

At a time when college enrollment rates for low income and under-represented students are far below those of non-minority students, policies and practices designed to increase access should be a priority for colleges, universities, high schools, and community agencies. Increasing Access to College examines pre-college enrichment programs that offer a specific and immediate remedy.

Despite decades of substantial investments by the federal government, state governments, colleges and universities, and private foundations, students from low-income families as well as racial and ethnic minority groups continue to have substantially lower levels of postsecondary educational attainment than individuals from other groups. The State of College Access and Completion draws together leading researchers nationwide to summarize the state of college access and success and to provide recommendations for how institutional leaders and policymakers can effectively improve the entire spectrum of college access and completion. Springboarding from a seminar series organized by the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, chapter authors explore what is known and not known from existing research about how to improve student success. This much-needed book calls explicit attention to the state of college access and success not only for traditional college-age students, but also for the substantial and growing number of "nontraditional" students. Describing trends in various outcomes along the pathway from college access to completion, this volume documents persisting gaps in outcomes based on students’ demographic characteristics and offers recommendations for strategies to raise student attainment. Graduate students, scholars, and researchers in higher education will find The State of College Access and Completion to be an important and timely resource.

A theoretically and empirically rich treatise on school push-out, Urban Youth and School Pushout illustrates urban public schooling as a dialectic of humiliating ironies and dangerous dignities.

Although STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) has been diversely defined by various researchers (e.g. Buck Institute, 2003; Capraro & Slough, 2009; Scott, 2009; Wolf, 2008), during the last decade, STEM education has gained an increasing presence on the national agenda through initiatives from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Institute for Educational Sciences (IES). The rate of technological innovation and change has been tremendous over the past ten years, and this rapid increase will only continue. STEM literacy is the power to “identify, apply, and integrate concepts from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to understand complex problems and to innovate to solve them” (Washington State STEM, 2011, Internet). In order for U.S. students to be on the forefront of this revolution, ALL of our schools need to be part of the STEM vision and guide students in acquiring STEM literacy. Understanding and addressing the challenge of achieving STEM literacy for ALL students begins with an understanding of its element and the connections between them. In order to remain competitive, the Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy has recommended that the US optimize “its knowledge-based resources, particularly in science and technology” (National Academies, 2007, p. 4). Optimizing knowledge-based resources needs to be the goal but is also a challenge for ALL educators (Scheurich & Huggins, 2009). Regardless, there is little disagreement that contemporary society is increasingly dependent on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and thus comprehensive understandings are essential for those pursuing STEM careers. It is also generally agreed that PK-12 students do not do well in STEM areas, both in terms of national standards and in terms of international comparisons (Kuenzi, Matthews, & Mangan, 2006; Capraro, Capraro, Yetkiner, Corlu, Ozel, Ye, & Kim, 2011). The question then becomes what might PK-12 schools do to improve teachers’ and students’ STEM knowledge and skills? This book will look at equity and access issues in STEM education from PK-12, university, and administrative and policy lenses.