College Readiness Assessment
Category: Pathways to and Through Postsecondary
Taking advanced courses in high school is associated with many positive high school and college outcomes. States and school districts are increasingly interested in more systematic approaches to identify qualified students for advanced course work. We developed an automatic notification tool, which used universal screening and a behavioral nudge for Grade 9 students to increase advanced course participation. The tool was embedded in the Course Planner of a student information system used in thousands of schools across the U.S. We conducted a large-scale cluster randomized controlled trial of the tool, randomizing 110 high schools in 44 districts to one of three conditions: a short-form notification, a long-form notification, or no notification. The tool did not significantly increase Grade 10 course outcomes, but both treatments had large, significant effects on Grade 11 course planning, with students in both treatments 22-24 percentage points more likely to plan any advanced course, 8-13 percentage points more likely to plan an advanced English language arts course, and 23-24 percentage points more likely to plan an advanced math course than students in the control condition.
Education level
Document Object Identifier (DOI)
10.26300/5s80-9t41
