Getting Ambivalent High-School Students Into College

In this Education Gadfly article, Brandon Wright summarizes a study for the National Bureau of Education Research showing the impact of last-minute college counseling. As a general rule, he says, “Getting students on track by third grade (and keeping them there) yields greater long-term results than high-school interventions.” But this study in twelve large New Hampshire high schools showed that supporting seniors who were lollygagging with college applications – a Dartmouth student helped them with their applications, funds were provided for application fees, ACT or SAT exams, and students got a $100 bonus for completing the process – made a big difference to college entrance and persistence of women (but not of men). Female seniors were 24 percent more likely to enroll in college than the control group and 12 percent more likely to stay in college. Why no impact on the young men? Researchers speculated that they were more likely to see the intervention as a negative comment on their ability. 

“While the price tag associated with bringing a program such as this to scale is potentially daunting,” says Wright, “this paper shows that sometimes a form (and maybe its application fee) is the only thing standing between a student and a college education – and that stepped-up college counseling can make all the difference for some.” 

“Late Interventions Matter Too: The Case for College Coaching in New Hampshire” by Scott Carell and Bruce Sacerdote, National Bureau of Education Research, July 2012

http://econ.msu.edu/seminars/docs/Carrell%20Sacerdote%20College%20C..., spotted in Education Gadfly, Jan. 31, 2013 (Vol. 13, #5)

From the Marshall Memo #471