Transition to College

Background/Context: Schools have attempted to address stratification in black and Latino students’ access to higher education through extensive reform initiatives, including those focused on social supports. A crucial focus has been missing from these efforts, essential to improving the effectiveness of support mechanisms and understanding why they have been insufficient: how students experience these reforms.

Purpose: How can the social context of schools keep underrepresented minority students on track to transition to college? This study investigates how students experience the social contexts of their schools in relation to their college ambitions, and the particular attributes of schools’ social contexts that might positively affect their transition to four-year colleges.

Research Design: Using a mixed-methods case study design, this three-year study examined students’ educational pathways in a Chicago charter high school. Data collection methods included ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, and a longitudinal survey. Supplemental secondary data sources were utilized to contextualize the case study.

Analysis: Interview transcripts and field notes were transcribed and coded to examine variation in students’ experience of their social context and their college transition plans. To contextualize these findings, the author utilized descriptive, associative, and logistic regression techniques to analyze quantitative data from the case study survey and corresponding city and national datasets.

Findings: The school’s organization facilitated academic, social, and college preparatory support through structured relationships. Notwithstanding, there was notable within-school variation in students’ transitions to college. Students in this urban charter school often experienced multiple obstacles that interfered with the college ambitions they generally shared with their families and school peers. School regard is a mechanism identified in this study as central to students’ transition success. Students’ perceptions of their teachers’ and their peers’ regard for their capacity for educational success was associated with their persistence through the transition to college in the face of academic, socioeconomic, and other challenges.

Conclusions/Recommendations: This study demonstrates the effort and engagement underrepresented students expend in the effort to become college-ready, and the risk for burnout as a result of both academic and non-academic hardships during their high school years. School regard may mitigate these effects. Mere expectations for college appear insufficient in the current access-for-all climate. Rather, it is important that students perceive value and esteem for their potential from school faculty and peers, sustaining their ambitions through the obstacles they encounter in high school and expect in college.

Background/Context Schools have attempted to address stratification in black and Latino students’ access to higher education through extensive reform initiatives, including those focused on social supports. A crucial focus has been missing from these efforts, essential to improving the effectiveness of support mechanisms and understanding why they have been insufficient: how students experience these reforms. Purpose How can the social context of schools keep underrepresented minority students on track to transition to college? This study investigates how students experience the social contexts of their schools in relation to their college ambitions, and the particular attributes of schools’ social contexts that might positively affect their transition to four-year colleges. Research Design Using a mixed-methods case study design, this three-year study examined students’ educational pathways in a Chicago charter high school. Data collection methods included ethnographic fieldwork, i...

Context Research increasingly suggests that the high school diploma has lost its meaning as a symbol of life preparation. Having faced economic struggles earlier and longer than most regions of the United States, the “Rust Belt” region offers important lessons for the broader nation regarding how high schools might prepare youth for stable futures. Much like in towns in India and China, communities in the United States’ Rust Belt experience a paradox of wanting youth to find successful careers but not leave the area. Focus of Study Recent research connections between high school and college have focused on the role of signaling strategies in preparing young people for postsecondary opportunities. High-quality signals that are clear, aligned, and consistent can positively influence student outcomes. This article examines the types of policy signals that local Rust Belt communities are trying to develop to both improve postsecondary attendance of young people and retain young people i...

Context: Research increasingly suggests that the high school diploma has lost its meaning as a symbol of life preparation. Having faced economic struggles earlier and longer than most regions of the United States, the " Rust Belt " region offers important lessons for the broader nation regarding how high schools might prepare youth for stable futures. Much like in towns in India and China, communities in the United States' Rust Belt experience a paradox of wanting youth to find successful careers but not leave the area. Focus of Study: Recent research connections between high school and college have focused on the role of signaling strategies in preparing young people for postsecondary opportunities. High-quality signals that are clear, aligned, and consistent can positively influence student outcomes. This article examines the types of policy signals that local Rust Belt communities are trying to develop to both improve postsecondary attendance of young people and retain young people in their home communities as they choose career pathways. Research Design: Three cases— " Steeltown, " " Milltown, " and " Railtown " —were chosen using a comparative case study design intended for the purpose of explanation building. Data-collection strategies consisted of a combination of semistructured interviews and document collection to ascertain the visions, intentions, and implementation of the reform efforts of the selected communities. Interview protocols explored the actors, problem definitions, col-laborative patterns, and implementation of initiatives. Extensive written documentation from each city that served as validity checks of the interview data. Data analysis involved a grounded theory approach of moving from raw data to conclusions using a data reduction process that involved an extensive coding strategy and case histories. Findings: The strategies of the three cases suggest that three specific signaling strategies were most often used to address individual and community policy needs in these Pennsylvania communities: achievement, alignment, and awareness. The focus on academic achievement was the most consistent strategy, but weak in terms of providing a connection to postsec