[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-590218-105":59,"doc-detail-590218-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","the-impact-of-early-colleges-on-postsecondary-performance-and-completion","The Impact of Early Colleges on Postsecondary Performance and Completion","","The article examines how early colleges—programs combining high school and college experiences—affect postsecondary performance and degree completion. Using updates from a 17-year longitudinal experimental study, the research identifies positive effects on overall degree completion, with especially large gains for associate degree completion. It also finds benefits for bachelor’s completion among low-income students and first-generation enrollees, plus improved advanced coursetaking for students entering public 4-year institutions.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-impact-of-early-colleges-on-postsecondary-performance-and-completion/590218/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-impact-of-early-colleges-on-postsecondary-performance-and-completion/590218.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Adam","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":52},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is an early college model, and what opportunity does it provide students?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Early colleges combine high school and college experiences so students can earn a high school diploma while also completing an associate degree or earning two years of college credit.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What outcomes does the 17-year experimental study report for early colleges?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"The study reports positive impacts on overall degree completion, very large impacts on associate degree completion, and additional benefits for bachelor’s completion among low-income students and first-generation college-goers.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"Do the study results show differences in final college GPA between treatment and comparison groups?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"No. The study finds no difference between treatment and comparison students on final college GPA or on the percentage of students who double-majored.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},590218,1792105548,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":52,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":56,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},1374404737137,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","AERA Open  \nJanuary-December 2024, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 1–19 DOI: 10. 1177/23328584241290772  \nArticle reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)© The Author(s) 2024. [https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero](https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero)  \nThe Impact of Early Colleges on Postsecondary Performance  \nand Completion  \nJulie A. Edmunds  \nUniversity of North Carolina at Greensboro  \nFatih Unlu  \nAmazon  \nBrian Phillips  \nRAND Corporation  \nElizabeth J. Glennie  \nRTI International  \nChristine Mulhern  \nRAND Corporation  \nEarly colleges are a model of schooling that combines the high school and college experiences, providing students the opportunity to simultaneously earn a high school diploma and an associate degree or 2 years of college credit. This article updates findings from a 17-year longitudinal experimental study of the model, examining the impact of the model on postsecondary performance and completion. The study found positive impacts on overall degree completion, with very large impacts on associate degree completion. There were also positive impacts on bachelor’s degree completion for low-income students and first-generation college-goers. For students who enrolled in a public 4-year institution, the study found positive impacts on advanced coursetaking. There was no difference between treatment and comparison students on final college GPA or on the percentage of students who double-majored. Treatment students who earned a bachelor’s degree did so more quickly than comparison students.  \nKeywords: higher education, educational reform, community colleges, postsecondary education, experimental design, quasi-experimental analysis, early college  \nIntroduction  \nIn response to concerns about the changing nature of the U.S. economy, policymakers have been looking at ways of increasing the number of students enrolling and succeeding in postsecondary education. One of the more innovative approaches has been early colleges, a model that combines aspects of the high school and college experiences so that students can simultaneously earn a high school diploma and an associate degree or 2 years of college credit. Rigorous experimental studies of this approach have shown that the model has positive impacts on high school outcomes and that it increases attainment of postsecondary credentials and  \nreduces time to degree (Edmunds et al., 2012, 2013; Edmunds, Unlu, et al., 2017; Edmunds et al., 2020; Haxtonet al., 2016; Song & Zeiser, 2021) . The model has dramatically expanded with a recent review finding over 1,000 early college-related high schools and programs across the country (American Institutes for Research, 2024) . The model is regularly cited by the U.S. Department of Education as a strong, evidence-based approach (Benson, 2021) .  \nDespite these positive findings, there are questions about whether the model might shortchange students because students spend less time in school. In an early college, students can take 4 or 5 years to do the equivalent of what would normally take students 6 years (4 years of high school plus 2 years  \nCreative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons  \nAttribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License ([https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)) which permits non-commercial use,  \nreproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages ([https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage](https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage)).  \nEdmunds et al.  \nof college). In this condensed educational experience, it is possible that students might miss core academic skills or knowledge. This article addresses this question and supplements the existing research by exploring students’academic performance","cbCairqUS2YU8Q9Y","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCairqUS2YU8Q9Y","pdf",599089,"English","# Introduction\n## Theoretical Background\n## The Early College Model","[{\"question\":\"What is an early college model, and what opportunity does it provide students?\",\"answer\":\"Early colleges combine high school and college experiences so students can earn a high school diploma while also completing an associate degree or earning two years of college credit.\"},{\"question\":\"What outcomes does the 17-year experimental study report for early colleges?\",\"answer\":\"The study reports positive impacts on overall degree completion, very large impacts on associate degree completion, and additional benefits for bachelor’s completion among low-income students and first-generation college-goers.\"},{\"question\":\"Do the study results show differences in final college GPA between treatment and comparison groups?\",\"answer\":\"No. The study finds no difference between treatment and comparison students on final college GPA or on the percentage of students who double-majored.\"}]","The Impact of Early Colleges on Postsecondary Performance and Completion | PDF",1792069096,48]