Abstract
Few studies have examined the steps to college enrollment between college aspiration and college enrollment and how these steps might present a barrier to four-year college enrollment. This study used data from the Education Longitudinal Study: 2002 and employed a multivariate random effects logistic framework to examine the completion of nine steps to enrollment based on student background characteristics and the completion of prior steps. Racial and family income gaps in step completion can be mostly accounted for by differences in academic preparation. Accounting for social and cultural capital reduced, but did not eliminate, remaining gaps. Finally, completion of early steps strongly predicts completion of later steps, though this momentum appeared much stronger for White students than Black or Hispanic ones. The findings suggest college coaching programs should target students early in their high school careers and work to foster college aspirations and provide information about steps to college enrollment.
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Notes
Because some outcomes were missing more data than others, the analyses were repeated with the maximum possible sample size available for each outcome. The results, available by request from the author, are not substantively different from those presented here.
The results are not qualitatively different if “do not know” is not counted as having college aspirations. Results from this alternative specification are available from the author upon request.
This follows the college qualification criteria established by Berkner and Chavez for the 1992 National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS), but I recalculate the 25th percentile cut-points using the new ELS: 2002 data. My scale further differs from Berkner and Chavez in that I do not include class rank data because this is not part of the ELS data. Furthermore, Berkner and Chavez used composite (English and math) NELS test results from students’ senior year of high school. ELS administered a composite exam during tenth grade, but only a math exam during twelfth grade—I allow for students to be considered minimally college qualified if they fall in the top 75% of college aspiring students on either exam.
The multiple imputation estimates were comparable to analysis conducted with basic mean imputation with missing variable dummies. Results are available from the author upon request.
Similar results are found if academic preparation is measured by ninth- or tenth-grade academic GPA.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the William R. and Sara Hart Kimball Stanford Graduate Fellowship and a grant from the American Educational Research Association which receives funds for its "AERA Grants Program" from the National Science Foundation under Grant #DRL-0941014. Opinions reflect those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the granting agencies.
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Klasik, D. The College Application Gauntlet: A Systematic Analysis of the Steps to Four-Year College Enrollment. Res High Educ 53, 506–549 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-011-9242-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-011-9242-3