Social Science Research Council

As part of its portfolio on higher education, in 2003 the Council established a project entitled "Transitions to College: From Theory to Practice" that focuses on the extent to which conditions for opportunity and success are available to all American adolescents as they navigate the transition from secondary school to college completion and the workplace. Lumina Foundation for Education has provided support for this effort which aims to 1) to bring together and clarify what we know about the shift from high school to college and careers from the various streams of social science research that have looked at transition; 2) to frame and structure an agenda about what we still need to research and learn about this crucial bridge to gainful adulthood and 3) to link that agenda to policy and practice.

The Council organized a Committee on Transitions to College comprised of scholars and practitioners from a variety of disciplines and methodological backgrounds and a Practitioner Advisory Group of individuals with federal, state and local policy expertise to take on these tasks. To assess the contribution of the various social science disciplines to our knowledge of transitions and identify key topics for future research, the Committee commissioned a series of reviews by scholars in the fields of American history, anthropology/ethnography, demography, education research (both k-12 and post-secondary), human development, law/legal studies, and political science, and sociology. Each addressed research with regard to four key topics: preparation, access, paying for college, and retention/success. The reviews, accompanied by an overview essay by Vivian Louie, will be published in early 2006 as an online edition of TC Record edited by Margaret Orr, William B. Trent, and Sheri Ranis.

The other major product of our work to date is Questions That Matter, a policy-oriented report that seeks to distill the recommendations for further research generated by the discussions of the Committee and the disciplinary reviews. Organized under the same key topics of preparation, access, paying for college and retention/success, Question That Matters points to areas in which research is needed to inform policy and address demographic shifts that are generating new challenges for educational institutions.

More information about the Transitions to College Project can be found on the Transitions website http://edtransitions.ssrc.org. Designed to serve as a resource center for students, scholars and practitioners interested in transition issues, the site also includes records of journal articles, reports, policy briefs and other materials. Registered users may search these records and add to them. The site also features a bulletin board of public events and fellowship opportunities and an extensive list of websites relevant to transitions to college.

Transitions to Colleges Fellowships

To demonstrate the potential for interdisciplinary social science research to improve our understanding and inform policy on transitions issues, Lumina Foundation for Education has provided funding for series of systematic analyses of key topics relating to transitions to college and a review of available data sources. Three post-doctoral grants are also available to support innovative new work on transitions. For information about the fellowship program, click here.