Pursuing the dream of attending college is important to virtually all of America's youth, heightening higher education's responsibility to ensure access and support student success. This volume of New Directions for Community Colleges examines local programs and state and federal policies designed to enhance opportunities for underserved students to enter and succeed in college. This volume focused on academic pathways - boundary-spanning curricula, instructional strategies, and organizational structures that link high schools with two- and four-year colleges. Academic pathways support student transition by straddling secondary and postsecondary education and providing alternative routes to educational attainment. Authors discuss dual credit, dual enrollment, and early and middle college high schools, as well as career and technical education pathways, community college baccalaureate degrees, and other emerging academic pathway models. - Back cover.