The federal What Works Clearinghouse has released a new online practice guide, "Helping Students Navigate the Path to College: What High Schools Can Do."  The guide recommends five steps that educators, administrators, and policy makers can take, beginning in ninth grade, to increase students' access to higher education. The guide targets high schools and school districts, and it focuses on effective practices that prepare students academically for college, help them complete the steps to college entry, and improve their likelihood of enrolling in college. It also describes challenges to implementing these five steps, as well as potential solutions for circumventing these roadblocks, and provides the research-based evidence that supports these recommendations. A project of the U.S. Department of Education, the What Works Clearinghouse is a central source of scientific evidence for what works in education. It develops and implements standards for reviewing education research, assesses the rigor of research-based evidence on the effectiveness of interventions, and produces user-friendly practice guides for educators. http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications/practiceguides/#hed_pg