Unstack the Odds: Help All Kids Access College—and Graduate!
by
Joe Rottenborn
Executive Director, Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)
15. To Beat the Odds, Part 4
Another correlate of at-risk students who beat the odds to access college and succeed is often the support they receive—from parents, high school staff, and friends. Alberto Cabrera and the Penn State researchers noted this in their 2003 study. As they explained: “Development of degree aspirations as early as the 8th grade, securing high school academic qualifications, applying for college, and successful adjustment to college are related to the extent to which the student receives encouragement from parents, high school personal [sic], and important high school friends (e.g., Cabrera, Nora & Castaneda, 1992; Cabrera & La Nasa, 2001; Flint, 1992; Hossler, Schmitt & Vesper, 1999). This type of encouragement takes different forms, including from motivational support, saving for college, and being involved in school activities (Cabrera & La Nasa, 2001). Encouragement is key for subsequent college enrollment. Perna (2000), for instance, noted that parental involvement in school activities predicts whether the student would enroll at a 4-year college or university following high school graduation.” (Alberto F. Cabrera, Kurt R. Burkum and Steven M. La Nasa, Pathways to a Four-Year Degree: Determinants of Degree Completion Among Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Students, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 2003, p. 19.) http://www.sheeo.org/access/On%20the%20Right%20Path.pdf
Cabrera, et. al. quantified the correlation of support by parents or friends to a student’s success in college. As they summarized: “Encouragement matters in a student’s chances of getting a college degree. Irrespective of SES, students who received encouragement from parents and friends to pursue a college degree while in high school were more likely to complete this goal. Compared with students whose parents did not encourage them to pursue a college degree, those who did receive parental encouragement increased their chance of degree completion by 5%. The impact of high school peer encouragement is similar, increasing degree completion chances by 6%. (Alberto F. Cabrera, Kurt R. Burkum and Steven M. La Nasa, Pathways to a Four-Year Degree: Determinants of Degree Completion Among Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Students, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 2003, p. 20.) http://www.sheeo.org/access/On%20the%20Right%20Path.pdf
Importantly, whether a student’s friends were headed for college seemed to correlate with their own matriculation. According to the authors of the 2006 report Reclaiming the American Dream, “In the general category of culture and social supports, the factor most likely to bump up a student’s odds of completing college was having a significant portion of friends who were also planning to attend college. [emphasis added] Having friends who “value learning” also improves the odds, although the effects are less pronounced. These findings reinforce the views of the American Council on Education, which reports that students are four times more likely to enroll in college if a majority of their friends also plan to attend than if their friends do not. Put simply, cohorts of students matter.” (William Bedsworth, Susan Colby, and Joe Doctor, Reclaiming the American Dream, The Bridgespan Group, October 2006, p. 11.) http://www.nhscholars.org/Documents/ReclaimingAmericanDream.pdf As Susan Choy concluded in that ACE report of 2002, “More at-risk students apply to college if their friends plan to go.” (Susan P. Choy, Access & Persistence: Findings from 10 Years of Longitudinal Research on Students, American Council on Education, 2002, p. 5.) http://inpathways.net/access.pdf
The Penn State researchers also linked and quantified support with a student’s SES; they noted: “Our analysis of the 1982 High School Class reveals that a student’s likelihood to receive encouragement to secure a college degree from parents, high school personnel, and high school friends was related to his/her socioeconomic background. As a whole, Highest-SES students received more encouragement, while the reverse is true for Lowest-SES students. [emphasis added] This encouragement-SES association ranged from .13 to .248. Ninety three percent of Highest-SES students reported their parents encouraged them to pursue a college degree. In contrast, 69% of Lowest-SES students were similarly encouraged. While 77% of Highest-SES students reported encouragement from high school professionals, only 61% of Lowest-SES students reported receiving this sort of encouragement. The SES-based encouragement gap is even more pronounced when encouragement originates from high school friends. Less than 50% of Lowest-SES students were encouraged by their high school friends to earn a college degree, whereas over three-fourths of Highest-SES students were encouraged by their friends to become a college graduate. Given the connection between encouragement and success in college, this SES-encouragement association is troublesome.” (Alberto F. Cabrera, Kurt R. Burkum and Steven M. La Nasa, Pathways to a Four-Year Degree: Determinants of Degree Completion Among Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Students, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 2003, p. 20.) http://www.sheeo.org/access/On%20the%20Right%20Path.pdf
Interestingly, as for parental supports, the correlational evidence was less strong. Indeed, according to Reclaiming the American Dream, “By contrast, only one of four parental supports was statistically significant: the parent and student visiting at least one college together. [emphasis added] Unlike other forms of parental support, such as checking homework, encouraging students to take the SAT or ACT, and discussing college applications, campus visits appear to make college and its accessibility much more tangible.” (William Bedsworth, Susan Colby, and Joe Doctor, Reclaiming the American Dream, The Bridgespan Group, October 2006, p. 11.) http://www.nhscholars.org/Documents/ReclaimingAmericanDream.pdf
One demographic fact not supportive of a student’s matriculation and graduation involved their own parental responsibility. Simply put, if they were a parent, their chances of access and success were reduced. As Clifford Adelman had stated in his report: “Socioeconomic status had a modest and diminishing association with bachelor’s degree attainment. Minority status had a modest negative association until performance (first-year performance and continuing performance) was taken into account, at which point it had no effect Gender had no effect at any stage of the model. The only demographic variable to have a strong (and in this case, negative) association with degree completion was becoming a parent by age 20.” (Clifford Adelman, The Toolbox Revisited: Paths to Degree Completion From High School Through College, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 2006. p. 6.) http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/toolboxrevisit/toolbox.pdf
The researchers at Penn State University quantified the correlation of being a parent on a student’s likelihood of transferring from a 2-year program to a 4-year school as follows: “For all students, having children before completing a college degree reduces their chances to transfer to a 4-year institution by 19%. Among Lowest-SES students, this effect is about 14%.” (Alberto F. Cabrera, Kurt R. Burkum and Steven M. La Nasa, Pathways to a Four-Year Degree: Determinants of Degree Completion Among Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Students, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 2003, p. 16.) http://www.sheeo.org/access/On%20the%20Right%20Path.pdf
Cabrera and the PSU researchers also quantified a student’s SES with becoming a parent while seeking a college degree. As they stated: “Having children while attending college has been identified out as another risk factor for persisting in college to degree completion. Nora, Cabrera, Hagedorn, and Pascarella (1996) reported family responsibilities had the effect of competing with the academic and social components of the institution, thereby lessening a student’s engagement in the college experience, intellectual development, and subsequent persistence. Adelman (1999) adds that having children while attending college lessens one’s chances of completing a college degree within ten years upon high school graduation. While the above findings are true for all students, the extent to which this atrisk behavior is present among Lowest-SES students has not been examined. For our student population, we find Lowest-SES are indeed more prone to having children while attending college. Twenty four percent of Lowest-SES students reported having at least one child by age 23. This number is 18%, 11%, and 5% greater than the ones reported by Highest-SES, Middle-High SES, and Middle-Low SES students, respectively.” (Alberto F. Cabrera, Kurt R. Burkum and Steven M. La Nasa, Pathways to a Four-Year Degree: Determinants of Degree Completion Among Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Students, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 2003, p. 26.) http://www.sheeo.org/access/On%20the%20Right%20Path.pdf
Finally, the Penn State research team examined the correlation of becoming a parent and degree completion. They quantified that correlation with graduation for students of various SES designations, as follows: “Incurring parental responsibilities while pursuing a college degree hampers ones chances of degree completion by 23%. This negative effect is felt most by Highest-SES students for whom having children by age 23 decreases their degree completion chances by 48%. (Alberto F. Cabrera, Kurt R. Burkum and Steven M. La Nasa, Pathways to a Four-Year Degree: Determinants of Degree Completion Among Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Students, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 2003, p. 31.) http://www.sheeo.org/access/On%20the%20Right%20Path.pdf
No comments:
Post a Comment