Search

In a 2010 address to the College Board, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan laid out a vision for high school that advances the Obama administration's goal of the U.S. once again leading the world in educational attainment. There is no grade in which the magnitude and complexity of this shift becomes clearer than in senior year. Historically, senior year has been a time of finishing up graduation requirements as most students entered the work force after high school. In this new economy, most students now hope to go to college and those who are not entering college face a rapidly eroding labor market for young adults with only a high school education. This changing educational landscape means that students' coursework and activities in senior year are becoming increasingly important. If the new purpose of high schools is to be a "launching pad rather than a last stop destination," what does that mean for senior year? The bottom line is that there is much work to do if CPS is to shift the focus of twelfth grade from finishing graduation requirements to preparing for college and employment or training. A central theme of this report is that there is no single answer to the question, "What is a good senior year?" Students are coming into senior year with very different needs. In order to look at differences in needs across students, the authors group students by their college qualifications at the end of eleventh grade. Thus, throughout this report, the authors focus on identifying the set of issues that educators need to grapple with for students on different trajectories. Appended are: (1) Data Used in This Report; (2) Determining Who is a Senior and Who Persists in Four-Year Colleges; (3) Variables Used in the Analysis; (4) Latent Class Analysis; (5) Identifying College Access; and (6) Methodology. (Contains 33 figures, 16 tables, and 70 endnotes.)

In 1997, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) announced an ambitious plan to open 13 International Baccalaureate Diploma Programs (IBDP) in neighborhood high schools throughout the city. Hoping to replicate the success achieved in the long-standing IB program at Lincoln Park High School, the scale of the IB experiment was unmatched by any other school district in the United States at that time. The move to expand IBDPs to neighborhood schools across Chicago was met with some skepticism. Some believed the district was naive to think it could replicate the exceptional outcomes of students in the IBDP at Lincoln Park High School--one of the most selective magnet programs in CPS. Other critics were skeptical that CPS could expand IBDPs at such a rapid rate, doubting that CPS had the students or the teachers necessary to create a "true" IB experience (Kelleher 2001). Still others cried "elitism" and claimed that the new IB programs would track "gifted" students away from regular classrooms and possibly create racial/ethnic segregation within schools (Sharp 2001). More than 10 years has passed, and while the major concerns about expansion of IBDPs have not come to pass, there has been no research to date on whether IB has succeeded in providing a high-quality, college-preparatory experience for Chicago students. This report rigorously examines the impact of Chicago's neighborhood IB programs on the postsecondary outcomes of graduates of the classes of 2003-2007. The authors draw on quantitative data to estimate effects on college enrollment and persistence using a propensity matching technique and use student interview data from the authors' longitudinal qualitative study to investigate students' experiences in college. Key findings include: (1) When compared to a matched comparison group, IBDP students are 40 percent more likely to attend a four-year college and 50 percent more likely to attend a more selective college; (2) IBDP students in four-year colleges are significantly more likely to persist in four-year colleges for two years; (3) Only 62 percent of students who enter the IB Cohort in ninth grade subsequently enroll in the IBDP in eleventh grade. There are no effects of IB participation for the 38 percent of students who do not complete the program; (4) When in college, IBDP students report feeling prepared to succeed and indeed excel in their coursework, often stating explicitly that their experiences in the IBDP taught the specific skills and behaviors demanded of them in college; and (5) Despite strong academic qualifications, IBDP students often have limited access to the social capital necessary to successfully navigate college course selection and establish relationships with college faculty. These findings have important implications for other urban districts interested in implementing IB programs. More broadly, they can help policymakers and practitioners better understand what it takes to promote college readiness in urban high schools. Appended are: (1) Quantitative Data Used in this Report; (2) Steps in Finding Students Who Were in the Pre-IBDP Cohort in the Ninth Grade; (3) Propensity Models and Full Lists of Variables Used in Chapter 1; (4) Description of Selectivity Ratings Used in this Report; (5) How We Calculate Two-Year Retention Rates in Four-Year Colleges, and (6) Full Results of Chapter 2 Outcome Models. (Contains 8 figures, 5 tables, 6 boxes and 3 footnotes.) [Funding for this paper was provided by the International Baccalaureate Organization.]

Since 2004, the Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR) has tracked the postsecondary experiences of successive cohorts of graduating Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students and examined the relationship among high school preparation, support, college choice, and postsecondary outcomes. The goal of this research is to help CPS understand the determinants of students' postsecondary success and to identify key levers for improvement. This document summarizes and presents the key findings of the second report of a series which looks beyond qualifications to examine whether CPS students who aspire to four-year colleges are effectively participating in the college search and application process and where they encounter potholes on the road to college. Drawing on prior research, this report examines both how students manage the college application process and what types of colleges students apply to and ultimately enroll in. (Contains 2 figures and 3 endnotes.) [For the first report in this series, "From High School to the Future: A First Look at Chicago Public School Graduates' College Enrollment, College Preparation, and Graduation from Four-Year Colleges," see ED500519. For Case Studies, see ED500518. Karen Roddie, Jamiliyah Gilliam, and Desmond Patton also contributed to this report.]

Since 2004, the Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR) has tracked the postsecondary experiences of successive cohorts of graduating Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students and examined the relationship among high school preparation, support, college choice, and postsecondary outcomes. The goal of this research is to help CPS understand the determinants of students' postsecondary success and to identify key levers for improvement. The first report in this series, "From High School to the Future: A First Look at Chicago Public School Graduates' College Enrollment, College Preparation, and Graduation from Four-Year Colleges," [see ED499368] provided a baseline of where CPS stood as a school system. The first report suggested that "high schools must pay attention to guidance and support if students are to translate qualifications into college enrollment," but that report did not provide evidence to help educators think about how to do this. The purpose of this second report is to begin to fill this gap by looking closely at the ways in which students who aspire to attend four-year colleges participate in the college search and application process. It examines whether CPS students who aspire to four-year colleges are effectively participating in the college search and application process and where they encounter potholes on the road to college. Drawing on prior research, it examines both how students manage the college application process and what types of colleges students apply to and ultimately enroll in. First, are CPS students who aspire to attend a four-year college taking the steps they need to enroll in a four-year college? Second, do CPS students effectively participate in college search and get the support they need to make informed choices about what colleges they could apply to and what colleges may best fit their needs? A critical goal of this report is to understand where CPS students encounter difficulty and success as they navigate the college search and application process, as well as the extent to which high school educators can create environments that support students in thoroughly engaging in this process. The following are appended: (1) Description of Selectivity Ratings Used in This Report; (2) Data Used in This Report; (3) Adjusting for Missing NSC [National Student Clearinghouse] Data; (4) Variables Used in This Analysis; (5) Models Used in This Report; and (6) Summary of College Planning Websites. (Contains 2 tables, 35 figures, and 78 endnotes.) [This report was written with Karen Roddie, Jamiliyah Gilliam, and Desmond Patton. For "From High School to the Future: Potholes on the Road to College. Case Studies," see ED500518. For "From High School to the Future: Potholes on the Road to College. Executive Summary," see ED500677.]

This document presents case studies from the qualitative study [see ED500519], each of which highlights a student who struggled at a different point in the postsecondary planning process. These case studies draw on a longitudinal, qualitative study of 105 CPS students in three high schools. They are based on five student interviews conducted between spring of these students' junior year of high school (March 2005) and their graduation the following year (June 2006) and represent common themes that emerged from the qualitative work. (Contains 20 endnotes.) [For the executive summary of the full report, see ED500677.] [Karen Roddie, Jamiliyah Gilliam, and Desmond Patton contributed to this report.]

Five years after Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR) research revealed a "digital divide" among Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and limited computer usage by staff and students, this new study shows that district schools have overcome many of these obstacles, particularly in terms of technology access and use among teachers and administrators. However, technology is not yet a routine component of most students' schoolwork. Using surveys of students, teachers and principals from 2001 to 2005, this report shows how technology integration in CPS schools has changed over time. It also examines the barriers to technology integration that principals perceive still remain in their schools. The following are appended: (1) Further Details on the Survey and Methods Used in the Analyses; and (2) Details of the System Trend Analyses. (Contains 16 figures and 2 tables.)