The correlates of transitional success

The latest report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center offers high school-to-college transition rates for public, non-charter high schools across 12 categories, based on demographic and geographic characteristics. It finds, unsurprisingly, that students from higher-income, low-minority, suburban schools had the highest college enrollment (73 percent) and highest persistence rate (remaining enrolled for a second year) in 2013. Among school characteristics, school poverty level was the most consistent correlate to college enrollment rate, regardless of minority or geographic category. The highest immediate college-going rate across all low-income groups (58 percent) was lower by three percentage points than the lowest rate (61 percent) among higher-income groups. Enrollment at two-year colleges was not necessarily higher for students from low-income schools, but two-year colleges were a larger share of total first-fall enrollments for students from low-income high schools and from higher-income, high-minority schools. Regardless of high school type, persistence rates among students enrolled in private colleges and universities were higher than for public institutions, and higher in four-year institutions than in two-year. One interesting fact, noted by Jill Barshay in The Hechinger Report, is that the best 25 percent of low-income, high-minority schools sent at least 60 percent of 2013 graduates to college in fall of 2013. By contrast, the worst 25 percent of high-income schools sent fewer than 60 percent of graduates to college in the fall. More

Source:  Public Education News Blast

Published by LEAP

Los Angeles Education Partnership (LAEP) is an education support organization that works as a collaborative partner in high-poverty communities.