Participation in precollege outreach programs and the transition from high school to college.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Fester, Rachel.

Contributor:

Perna, Laura W., advisor.

University of Pennsylvania.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Education, Higher.

Educational counseling.

Education and state.

0458.

0519.

0745.

Penn dissertations--Education.

Education--Penn dissertations.

Local Subjects:

Penn dissertations--Education.

Education--Penn dissertations.

0458.

0519.

0745.

Physical Description:

167 pages

Contained In:

Dissertation Abstracts International 71-11A.

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

text file

Summary:

This study analyzes the effect of participation in precollege outreach programs on the number of college-related information resources consulted by students in Grade 12, application to a four-year college while still in high school, application for financial aid, and enrollment in a four-year college within six months of high school, for low-income and potential first-generation students. This study is a contribution to the literature due to its current relevance for public and private sectors, its support for use of social capital framework in understanding how precollege outreach participation affect outcomes, its use of a recent, nationally representative data set, its exploration of differences between students from single-parent households and their peers from dual-parent households, and its demonstration of both the importance of multiple imputation of missing data and of analytic approaches helpful in correcting for selection bias.

Prior studies of the effect of program participation have yielded mixed results, in part due to methodological challenges such as use of less effective methods for handling missing data, selection bias, and data limitations. This study addresses these challenges by using a nationally representative data set (Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 [ELS:02]) for which missing data are imputed using multiple imputation and minimizing selection bias by using coarsened exact matching and propensity score-based matching techniques.

Results demonstrate that participation in precollege outreach programs is associated with an increase in the number of college-related resources consulted by students, particularly among students from single-parent households. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that participation in programs has a small positive effect on application to a four-year college, particularly for students from single-parent households. The effect of program participation on application for financial aid is only apparent for students from dual-parent households. There appears to be a very, very small positive effect on enrollment in a four-year college, particularly for students from single-parent households. Thus, this study demonstrates that federally-funded precollege outreach programs are reaching some of their stated goals, most notably increasing the number of college-related resources students consult, and increasing the likelihood that participants apply to a four-year college, particularly for students from single-parent households.

Notes:

Thesis (Ed.D. in Education) -- University of Pennsylvania, 2010.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 71-11, Section: A, page: 3920.

Adviser: Laura W. Perna.

Local Notes:

School code: 0175.

ISBN:

9781124276625

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.