Prior research shows that rural students’ education expectations and aspirations, as well as their postsecondary enrollment and persistence rates, tend to be lower than those of nonrural students. This study aims to support policymakers and other stakeholders in the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Midwest states by informing policy recommendations for improving postsecondary attainment among rural students in the region.

College education is fundamental to students’ upward mobility, states’ economic growth, and the country’s economic competitiveness. To better enable middle and high schools to increase college participation and success rates among their students, the University of Minnesota developed Ramp-Up to Readiness™, a schoolwide advisory program to increase students’ likelihood of college enrollment and completion. This report describes a study of the impacts of the program after one year of implementation and provides information on how it differs from college-related supports in other schools.

One promising pathway to bridge the disconnect between research and practice in education is to form research alliances. This report describes how and why a professional learning community helped REL Midwest researchers address challenges that came with this shift in the researcher’s role and work processes.

Principals influence student learning by leading efforts to improve school climate; recruiting, retaining, and supporting effective teachers; and driving organizational change. Too often, however, states and districts focus on teachers rather than principals when planning for professional supports. This brief offers an easy to digest overview of current school leadership research, and highlights helpful state policy examples.

Online courses can serve as a practical way for students to recover credit in courses they have failed. These courses provide flexibility and convenience for schools and students; some may also have the potential to present course content in a more engaging and customized way than a standard face-to-face course. The Back on Track Study is an ongoing study of online versus face-to-face credit recovery for at-risk ninth graders. This research brief evaluates the content provided in online and face-to-face algebra credit recovery courses and reveals possible differences based on instructor preferences and district guidelines.

A quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) is a voluntary state assessment system that uses multidimensional data on early childhood education programs to rate program quality, support quality improvement efforts, and provide information to families about the quality of available early childhood education programs. This report describes three versions of a survey that helps states collect data, including how to use it, how it was developed, and how it can be adapted for other states.

Acceleration programs are academically challenging courses in which high school students can simultaneously earn credit toward a high school diploma and a postsecondary degree. The results of this study raise several considerations for educators and policymakers, including the potential importance of expanding opportunities for underrepresented students to enroll in acceleration programs and reexamining state procedures for collecting data in order to classify acceleration programs more comprehensively and document differences between types of programs.

To improve graduation rates, districts and schools need clear, evidence-based information about the impact of dropout prevention strategies. Check & Connect is a mentoring program designed to promote positive outcomes (including student engagement, progress and persistence, and school completion) through the provision of continuous, individualized student support. This research brief describes a longitudinal study of Check & Connect in a large, urban district in California.

Charter schools have become a widely used alternative to traditional public schools, and play an increasingly important role in state reform efforts. South Carolina stakeholders wanted to broaden their understanding of why some charter schools are more successful than others to inform their consideration of whether to expand this school choice option. This study identifies charter schools that are “beating the odds,” or performing better than expected in math and language arts, given the demographic characteristics of the students they serve.

The School Improvement Grant program awarded grants to states that agreed to implement one of four school intervention models—transformation, turnaround, restart, or closure—in their lowest-performing schools. This final report builds on the earlier briefs and report by including an additional year of data and by examining whether receipt of SIG funding had an impact on student outcomes.