Minding the Gap: Why Integrating High School with College Makes Sense and How to Do It

Edited by: Nancy Hoffman, Joel Vargas, Andrea Venezia, Marc S. Miller

Minding the Gap: Why Integrating High School with College Makes Sense and How to Do It explores policies and practices that would quickly, cost-effectively, and successfully produce a higher number of postsecondary school graduates, particularly among low-income and first-generation students. Coedited by WestEd's Andrea Venezia, the book advocates for a better high school education in order to decrease dropout rates and ensure that all students graduate from high school ready for higher education and subsequently well-paying, flexible jobs.

The book's essays, written by leading experts including Venezia, focus on the high school/college transition years, the period in which young people are most vulnerable to the education failure that will severely limit future opportunities. The book argues for a rethinking and restructuring of this transitional period, calling for a system that thoroughly integrates secondary and postsecondary education — a system in which a college degree is the goal for all students.