From high school to the future: Potholes on the road to college Melissa Roderick, Jenny Nagaoka, Vanessa Coca, and Eliza Moeller March 12, 2008 Chicago,

From high school to the future: Potholes on the

road to collegeMelissa Roderick, Jenny Nagaoka,

Vanessa Coca, and Eliza Moeller

March 12, 2008Chicago, IllinoisReport available at http://ccsr.uchicago.edu

Meeting a new challenge: CPS Postsecondary Department and the Consortium’s Research

Project

Nationwide we’ve seen dramatic increases in the proportion of students aspiring to college:

– In 1980, 41 percent of 10th graders aspired to attain a four-year degree.

– By 2002, nearly 80 percent of all 10th graders aspired to complete a four-year degree.

From High School to the Future: Potholes on the Road to College (2008)Roderick, Nagaoka, Coca, and Moeller



Why do so many CPS students who aspire to complete a four-year degree not enroll in college?

Human capital explanations:

Constrained access due to qualifications

Social capital explanations:

Constrained participation in college application

Constrained college search

Financial capital explanations


From high school to the future: A first look at Chicago Public School graduates’

college enrollment, college preparation, and graduation from four-year college

Roderick, Nagaoka, and Allensworth

Increasing qualifications is the single most important strategy for improving CPS graduates’

likelihood of enrolling in four-year and more selective colleges, and ultimately their likelihood of

attaining a degree.

Report available at http://ccsr.uchicago.eduFrom High School to the Future: Potholes on the Road to College (2008)


Qualifications alone are an incomplete story…

• Schools with similar achievement levels have differing college-going rates

• Even students with similar qualifications have differing college-going rates– Latinos are less likely to enroll in college than African-

American and White students with similar qualifications

– Immigrant status is also an incomplete explanation


Potholes report: What else explains why students do not enroll in four-year colleges?

Roderick, Nagaoka, Coca, and Moeller

1. Constrained application: How effectively are CPS graduates participating in the college application process?

2. Constrained search: Are students identifying, applying to, and enrolling in colleges that meet their levels

of qualifications?


How do we study college application and college search in CPS?

• Quantitative: CPS Postsecondary Tracking System (A close look at 2005 graduates)– Senior Exit Questionnaire – 2005 Consortium senior surveys and high school teacher

surveys– NSC data with corrections for schools not participating in NSC

• Qualitative: A longitudinal study of 105 students in three high schools (class of 2006)– Students interviewed 2 times junior year, 3 times senior year–

followed through this fall (two years post high school).– All students coded for main patterns of application and

enrollment. Qualitative cases and thematic analysis used in the report.



This presentation focuses on students who:

• Were in all data sources• Graduated from CPS in 2005• Were not in special education • Had aspirations to complete a four-year degree

N ACT GPA(unweighted)

NSC – 2005 CPS graduates 17,672 17.2 2.3

Potholes Sample: Students in all sources with necessary information, not in special education, AND aspire to at least a 4-year degree

5,194 18.8 2.6


Question 1: How effectively are students participating in the college

application process?

– Constrained college application





• Many students who aspire to attain a four-year degree make a decision to begin at a two-year college, particularly Latino students

• Many students who plan to attend never apply

• Many students who get accepted don’t enroll

Summary: Students do not take steps to translate aspirations into enrollment


Why should we care if students start at two- rather than a four-year college?

• Students who begin at two-year schools have a very low probability of completing a bachelor’s degree

– Only 10% of students who begin at a two-year school nationally complete a bachelor’s degree within 6 years.

– Of 2005 CPS graduates who began at a two-year college, only 57% were still enrolled in any college a year later.


• Enrolling in two-year colleges does not seem to be part of a well-formulated plan

• Rather students struggle with the college search and application process, and default to two-year colleges in the absence of guidance and information.

Our analysis finds that two-year colleges are not a choice but a default...


Can high schools make a difference?

– The analytic problem: Students who report more support from their high school may be those who want to go to college anyway and may seek out that support.

• One approach looks at differences in student outcomes at the school level by the average of student and teacher reports.


Examining the effects of school- and student- level characteristics on the probability of

taking each step

Outcome: Probability of taking each step given that a student reached the previous step. Log odds of:

Planning to attend a four-year college given a student aspires to attain a four-year degree

Applying given a student plans to attend Getting accepted given a student applied Enrolling given a student is accepted


Estimate the probability of completing each step (2-level HLM)

Controlling for:– Family background (mother’s education, immigrant

status, and neighborhood characteristics)– High school performance (ACT scores and GPA)– Race/ethnicity and gender– Work and involvement in extracurricular activities– Contact with counselors and student reports of

parental and teacher support

Exclude selective enrollment high schools, and run analysis separately by race/ethnicity


Today focus specifically on school-level

High school college-going culture– Four-year college attendance– Teachers’ assessment of college climate

Barbara Schneider “Forming a College Going Culture” (the foundation of a college going culture is in the classrooms through relationships)

In the high school, this translates into shared goals among the staff that all students can go to college, and it is their personal responsibility to try and make

that happen... Today, more parents of adolescents, even if they have limited resources or have never been to college, expect that their teenagers will attend college...This expectation is inconsistent among high school teachers. To help promote a consistent message, all teachers in a high school should explicitly

articulate the expectation that all students will attend postsecondary school and provide resources and opportunities to make that happen.”


Today focus specifically on school-level

High school college-going culture– Four-year college attendance– Teachers’ assessment of college climate

Teachers report of the overall expectation and press for college in the school environment. To what extent [in this school]:

1. Teachers expect most students to go to college

2. Teachers help students plan for college outside of class time

3. The curriculum is focused on helping students get ready for college

4. Teachers feel it is part of their job to prepare students to succeed in college.

5. Most of the students are planning to go to college


Today focus specifically on school-level culture and student-level participation

• High school college-going culture– Four-year college attendance– Teachers’ assessment of college climate

• Indicators of students’ effective participation in the financial aid process

• Whether students submitted a FAFSA


School climatematters for

whether students plan to attend a

four-year college


It matters for whether students

are accepted to a four-year

college


Andit matters for

whether students who are accepted enroll



But expectations are not enough…

• Schools must also ensure that students are taking the steps they need to effectively manage financial aid application




Summary

• Many CPS students do not take the steps necessary to enroll in four-year colleges– 40 percent of students who aspire to complete a four-year college

degree never apply to one. – Planning to attend and apply to a four-year school are major barriers,

particularly for Latino students

• Teachers and the school environment matter a great deal, especially for students with more marginal qualifications.

• Failure to file a FAFSA places students at high risk of not enrolling.


Question 2: Are students effectively searching to find their “best

match”?

– Constrained college search


Clara: Highly Qualified for College

• International Baccalaureate student• 24 on the ACT• 3.9 GPA (4.7 weighted)• Class Valedictorian• Puerto Rican descent • Strong family press for college; little history of college-going in family• Access to a very selective college or university • Plans to attend a somewhat selective university


Clara in Spring of Junior YearExperts Say: College Search

College Search– Originally interested in the Illinois Institute of Art– Late in junior year, changes her mind about art school,

but is unable to formulate a new plan or college search

Support– Strong family push for college– Had one pivotal suggestion from a teacher– Has not spoken to a counselor

• went to the counseling office once and describes staff as “grouchy”


Clara in Fall of Senior YearExperts Say: College Applications

• Applications:– Plans to complete 8 applications, including Columbia,

DePaul, Loyola, UIC, and Northeastern

– “Definitely” going to Columbia College

• Support– Visiting a lot of colleges with her mom

– Has not had a one-on-one conversation with an adult at her school about her plans


Clara in Winter of Senior YearExperts Say: Applications Finished

• Applications/Acceptances– Completed applications at Loyola, UIC, Columbia

College, and the Illinois Institute of Art– Accepted to Loyola and “definitely” plans to attend

• Finance– Very confused about FAFSA; thought she’d have it

done in April/May

• Support– Has not seen a counselor


Clara: I just got signed in for orientation.

Interviewer: So you’re definitely going to Loyola?

Clara: Uh, [small liberal arts college]. (laughs)

Interviewer: Ah, that’s what I want to know. Last time I talked to you, you were like I mean I’ll give you the list that you told me. ‘Cause Loyola you had been accepted to.

Clara: Yeah. And Columbia. Columbia was like the first.

Interviewer: [Small liberal arts college] is not on this list. Last time you said Loyola, UIC, and Columbia. [Clara: (laughs) Yeah.] What happened?

Clara: Um, well my mom we passed by the school and I’m like this is a nice school. What is that? And then we looked and it’s like [name of small liberal arts college]. So my mom like started looking up stuff she’s like, “I think you’d like this school.” And so we looked at it, the web page and then we signed up for the tour and I was like I really love this school.

In the spring of her senior year, Clara described how she made her final college choice:


Clara at the End of Senior Year

• Acceptance/Choice– Going to [small liberal arts college]– Also accepted to Loyola, UIC, Columbia, Illinois Institute of Art, Northeastern, and two city

colleges

• Finance– Bulk of tuition covered by need- and merit-based aid

• Support– Wishes her school made college visits mandatory


Clara



Conclusions The college application process is overwhelming, even for

highly qualified students.

Students engage in very limited and chaotic searches and don’t know how to think about “fit”.

Students have great difficulty managing the financial aid process.

Teacher support and school climate matter a great deal in guiding college enrollment and college match.

Schools must structure this process.

Does college choice really matter for students like Clara? YES



Bottom line

Take Home Message 1:Qualifications will not translate into enrollment if

high schools do not provide better structure and support for students in the college search, planning, and application process:

1. Structuring junior and senior year

2. Paying attention to match

3. Financial aid


Bottom line

Take Home Message 2:

Closing the social capital gap is critical for high school reform. Strong guidance and strong college norms must be both a precursor and essential support for raising achievement.– We cannot ask students to work hard if our

graduates could have worked less hard in high school to enroll in the colleges they end up attending.


From high school to the future: Potholes on the road to college Melissa Roderick, Jenny Nagaoka, Vanessa Coca, and Eliza Moeller March 12, 2008 Chicago,

Documents

fouryear college roderick

college preparation

college melissa roderick

moeller slide

college application

cps students

potholes report

jenny nagaoka