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The purpose of this study was to determine whether student, parent, and peer engagement factors that contributed to at-risk students’ success in graduating from high school continued to be important in making the transition from high school to postsecondary education. The answer in large part, is yes for the parent and peer engagement variables, but less conclusive for the student engagement variables. The effect of the engagement variables also differed depending on the outcome.
Confirming the importance of parent involvement, both parent engagement measures in this analysis--the frequency of school-related discussions and parents’ expectations for their teen’s educational attainment--substantially increased the odds of moderate- to high-risk students enrolling in some form of postsecondary education. This effect persisted even after controlling for student achievement and taking into account peer and student engagement, as well as college preparation activities. Students’ odds of enrolling were increased about two-fold even among those whose parents reported having only "some school-related discussions" (versus none) and among those whose parents reported relatively modest educational expectations for their child (e.g., "some college" short of a bachelor’s degree).
The two measures of parent involvement had less of an impact on increasing the odds of enrolling in a 4-year college. Only students whose parents reported frequently discussing school-related matters with their teen exhibited significantly higher odds of enrolling, compared with students who had no such discussions. And unlike enrollment in any postsecondary education, parents’ educational expectations did not appear to significantly increase the odds of moderate- to high-risk students enrolling in a 4-year college.[6] Interpreting the results from both outcomes, the findings suggest that parents play a very influential role in getting their moderate- to high-risk teens to enroll in postsecondary education, but have less influence on whether they enroll in a 4-year college or sub-baccalaureate institution.
Consistent with the considerable research demonstrating peer group effects on educational outcomes (for a review see Hanushek, 1986), there was also evidence of this phenomenon in this study. In fact, the variable that most increased the odds of enrolling in a 4-year college was the number of friends with college plans. Compared to students who reported having no friends with college plans, the odds of enrolling were four times higher for those reporting that most or all of their high school friends planned to enroll in a 4-year college. Having friends with college plans also doubled the odds of students enrolling in any postsecondary education over not enrolling at all. The latter result may indicate that moderate- to high-risk students who are not yet prepared to enroll in a 4-year college, may be more likely than not to enroll some form of postsecondary education when most of their friends have college plans.
The importance that friends attributed to learning activities such as studying and getting good grades also increased the odds of enrolling in some form of postsecondary education, but did not significantly affect the odds of enrolling in a 4-year college. Thus, like the result for the parent involvement measures, associating with friends who are highly involved in learning activities is important for enrolling in some form of postsecondary education, but is less predictive of the level at which students enroll.
Unlike the strong effects of parent and peer engagement measures, net of the other engagement variables, the student engagement measures (level of secondary school attendance and extracurricular activities) had minimal effect on the enrollment outcomes. One explanation for the lack of effect for student attendance levels may have to do with the correlation between attendance behavior and achievement. Higher achieving students are more likely to report higher levels of attendance. Thus, once achievement is controlled for, there is little variation for attendance.
With respect to extracurricular activities, students who participated in two or more activities did have higher odds of enrolling in a 4-year college prior to introducing the peer engagement variables into the model (see table 7). Once the peer engagement variables were introduced, the effect of extracurricular activities involvement was no longer significant. Since participation in extracurricular activities is required or at the very least, encouraged by many 4-year colleges, the number of friends with college plans would be correlated with the likelihood of participating in extracurricular activities. Therefore, it is not particularly surprising to see that once this peer variable is introduced into the model, the effect of extracurricular activity involvement is minimized.
Unlike the effects on postsecondary enrollment, none of the engagement variables had a net effect on students’ postsecondary persistence once enrolled. That is, for moderate- to high-risk students who enrolled in postsecondary education, none of the student, parent, or peer engagement variables included in the full model increased their odds of enrolling immediately after high school graduation and attending full-time continuously from the time of enrollment. However, the indicator of persistence is based on a 2-year time period and is therefore limited in what it measures. It may also be the case that the factors contributing to persistence in higher education are those associated with students’ college experiences rather than measures of high school engagement.
This study also demonstrated that, net of student, parent, and peer involvement measures, receiving assistance from teachers or other school staff in the college application process increased the odds of enrollment. For example, students who reported getting help in filling out their college application or preparing for entrance exams had higher odds of enrolling in a 4-year college than students who reported receiving no assistance. These activities tend to be more specific for enrolling in a 4-year college and therefore, only affected this outcome. On the other hand, when students reported obtaining financial aid information from two or more resources, or talked to one or more persons about financial aid, the odds of their enrolling in some postsecondary education also went up. With these data, however, it is not really possible to determine whether receiving assistance in the application process increased moderate- to high-risk students’ chances of enrolling or whether those who made the decision to enroll sought out help in the process. Nevertheless, it is still worth noting the positive effect since this type of intervention on the part of the school is not particularly costly nor difficult to implement. School assistance is particularly important for at-risk students whose parents have no more than a high school education. When it comes to navigating their way through the application process, these students have less family guidance and experience to rely on relative to their peers with college-educated parents.
Finally, it should be noted that moderate- to high-risk students who participated in high school outreach programs had almost double the odds of enrolling in a 4-year college than their peers who did not participate. Even though relatively few at-risk students reported such participation (about 5 percent), the effect on college enrollment was significant. This finding confirms similar results reported for the High School and Beyond sophomore cohort of 1980 10th-graders (Adelman 1997). It is also consistent with the positive effect of receiving assistance in the college application process. In the end, this study showed that intervention, whether on the part of the parents or the school, played a positive role in helping moderate- to high-risk students make the transition from high school to college.
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