One explanation for negative or null findings in prior research on postsecondary remediation is that college may be too late to address issues of academic underpreparedness. This study evaluates the impact on student outcomes when college math remediation is offered in the senior year of high school. The Seamless Alignment and Integrated Learning Support (SAILS) program in Tennessee targets students with low eleventh-grade ACT math scores. Students who pass SAILS in twelfth grade can enroll directly in college-level math courses at any Tennessee community college. Using a triple-difference design, we exploit variation in students’ treatment status based on ACT math scores (remediation-eligible versus remediation-ineligible), high school adoption of SAILS (first cohort versus later cohort), and senior year (before versus during first SAILS year). We find that SAILS-eligible students in the first cohort were significantly less likely to enroll in remedial math courses in college, and more likely to enroll in and pass college-level math overall. These students also earn 2.8 additional credits by their second year. We detect no significant differences in high school graduation rates, college enrollment, or postsecondary credential attainment within two years. The program advanced progress toward several, but not all, of the potential goals examined.

One way administrators and policy makers have responded to the complexity of the community college transfer process has been to create articulation agreements between two-year and four-year colleges in a state or region. Our study examines the effects of one such statewide articulation and transfer policy, the Ohio transfer module (TM). This agreement is intended to allow individuals who successfully complete the TM at one institution to transfer all of these credits to a receiving institution. We find that students who complete the TM are more likely to transfer to a four-year institution and earn associate's degrees than observationally similar peers who did not complete a TM. We also find suggestive evidence that students who complete the TM are able to bring more credits with them when they transfer. However, students who complete the TM also take slightly longer to complete their bachelor's degrees. Thus, although the TM may improve the probability that students will transfer, it may be inefficient for students, leading them to spend more time enrolled in college. Moreover, because only a small number of students complete the TM, this policy may not be far-reaching enough to dramatically improve Ohio's community college transfer rate.