Research
Supported College and Career Readiness
About
Students with or at-risk for emotional or behavioral problems experience extremely poor outcomes compared to their peers. This includes poor academic achievement, high frequencies of grade retention, greater rates suspension, high dropout and higher rates of incarceration. College and Career Readiness (CCR) programs have great potential to enhance school engagement, leading to lower school dropout rates and higher post-secondary outcomes, as well as preparing students for life after high school (e.g., college attendance, employment).
The Supported College and Career Readiness (SCCR) was developed specifically for secondary students with or at-risk for emotional or behavioral disorders. The project is designed to enhance college and career readiness activities and prepare high school students for future success.
The SCCR program consists of six core components:
- A bi-annual assessment to identify student strengths related to potential career choices.
- Assistance with identifying top career choices.
- Course recommendations linked to top career choices.
- Dedicated time and a structured curriculum to instruction focused on skills needed to be prepared for college or career.
- Career and futures mentoring from teachers and parents.
- Work-based learning experiences.
The study is a collaborative effort between Lehigh University and University of Connecticut. The SCCR program was developed during the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years, with a randomized controlled trial implemented across the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years.
Funding: Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences
Project Investigators: Lee Kern, Ph.D and Chris Liang, Ph.D., Lehigh University; Jennifer Freeman, Ph.D., University of Connecticut
Meet the Team
Dr. Lee Kern
Professor and Director of the Center for Promoting Research to Practice
Dr. Christopher Liang
Professor and Chair, Department of Education & Human Services
Jennifer Freeman
Dr. Jennifer Freeman is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and is a partner with the National Center on Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBIS) and a research scientist for the Center for Behavioral Education Research (CBER) at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Freeman studies the effects of multi-tiered systems of support such as Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) on outcomes at the high school level for high-risk student groups including students with disabilities. She is particularly interested in improving graduation rates across and within student groups. She also studies professional development methods for improving teacher’s use of evidence based classroom management strategies. She currently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the special education program. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Connecticut, she had 10 years of special education teaching experience across grades K-8 in both urban and rural school settings and had served as a K-12 district level consultant working to implement PBIS and Response to Intervention (RtI) strategies.