Post-Secondary Outcomes of Newark Public School Graduates (2004- 2011) College Matriculation, Persistence & Graduation
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Newark Schools Research Collaborative / 2014 Rutgers University-Newark Education Research Collaborative Post-Secondary Outcomes of Newark Public School Graduates (2004- 2011) College Matriculation, Persistence & Graduation Jeffrey R. Backstrand, Ph.D. with Allison Roda, Ph.D, Laurie Cohen, MBA, Andre Keeton, Ph.D, Alan Sadovnik, Ph.D., Ryan Coughlin, MA, Camille Ferguson, MA, Cara Kronen, Ph.D, and Emma Rosenblum, AB Newark Schools Research Collaborative Post-Secondary Outcomes in Newark ______________________________________________________________________________ Acknowledgements This report was supported by grants from an anonymous funder and the Ford Foundation. We at the Newark Schools Research Collaborative also thank the Newark Public Schools for providing access to the data that are used in this report. The Newark Schools Research Collaborative is a unit within the Rutgers University-Newark Education Research Collaborative. i Newark Schools Research Collaborative Post-Secondary Outcomes in Newark ______________________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents 1 Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Who Was Studied and How? ........................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Findings: Enrolling in a College or University .............................................................................. 1 1.3 Findings: Earning a Post-Secondary Degree ................................................................................. 3 1.4 Recommendations ............................................................................................................................. 4 2 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 8 2.1 Literature Review .............................................................................................................................. 9 2.1.1 Benefits of College: Education, Employment, and Health................................................. 9 2.1.2 How Many High School Graduates Go to College and Earn Degrees in the United States? 9 2.1.3 Going to College: Barriers and Facilitators ......................................................................... 10 2.1.4 Race/Ethnicity and SES ........................................................................................................ 11 2.1.5 Types of Colleges and Universities ...................................................................................... 11 2.1.6 Studies of Post-Secondary Outcomes in Urban School Districts.................................... 12 3 Background on Newark and the Newark Public Schools ................................................................. 14 4 Research Methods ................................................................................................................................... 16 4.1 Research Questions ......................................................................................................................... 16 4.1.1 Questions: Matriculation in a College or University .......................................................... 16 4.1.2 Questions: Earning a Post-Secondary Degree .................................................................... 16 4.1.3 Questions: Essex Community College ................................................................................ 16 4.2 Data and Methods ........................................................................................................................... 16 4.2.1 Data Set One: All NPS Graduates from June 2004 to June 2011 ................................... 16 4.2.2 Data Set Two: Subset of NPS Graduates from 2004 through 2008 ............................... 17 4.2.3 Data Management and Analytic Methods ........................................................................... 18 5 Profile of NPS Graduates ...................................................................................................................... 19 5.1 Demographic Profile of Graduates .............................................................................................. 19 ii Newark Schools Research Collaborative Post-Secondary Outcomes in Newark ______________________________________________________________________________ 5.2 Performance on the New Jersey HSPA Examination ............................................................... 22 5.2.1 Background on the HSPA Examination ............................................................................. 22 5.2.2 Pathways to High School Graduation, 2004-2007 ............................................................. 22 6 NPS Graduates and Going to College ................................................................................................. 26 6.1 Which Colleges and Universities Were Most Commonly Attended? ...................................... 26 6.2 At What Rates Did NPS Graduates Go To College? ................................................................ 27 6.3 Where Did Students First Attend College? ................................................................................. 31 6.4 How Long Does It Take to Begin College or University? ........................................................ 32 6.5 How Many Graduates Enroll in College within One Year of Graduation? ........................... 35 6.6 What Factors Influence Going to College? ................................................................................. 37 6.6.1 Mode of Graduation & Performance on the HSPA Examination .................................. 37 6.6.2 Multivariate Models and Going to College ......................................................................... 39 6.6.3 Summary of Factors That Influence Going to College ..................................................... 47 7 Earning a College Degree: The Proportion of All High School Graduates................................... 49 7.1 From Which Colleges and Universities Do NPS Graduates Earn Degrees? ......................... 49 7.2 Earning a College Degree: The Proportion of Students Who Graduated from High School 50 7.3 What Factors Influence Earning a College Degree .................................................................... 52 7.3.1 Degree Attainment and Performance on the HSPA Examination ................................. 52 7.3.2 Multivariate Analyses: Factors that Influence Earning a College Degree ...................... 55 8 Earning a College Degree: The Proportion of Students Who Went to College .......................... 59 8.1.1 Mode of Graduation and Performance on the HSPA Examination ............................... 61 8.1.1 Type of High School .............................................................................................................. 65 8.1.2 Gender/Race/Ethnicity Categories ..................................................................................... 66 8.1.3 Economic Disadvantage ........................................................................................................ 67 8.1.4 Special Education .................................................................................................................... 68 8.1.5 Year of Graduation ................................................................................................................. 68 8.1.6 Summary of Findings About Persistence In Earning a College Degree ........................ 69 9 Community colleges and pathways to earning a college degree....................................................... 71 9.1 Matriculation and Degree Completion at Essex County College ............................................ 74 9.2 Summary of the Community College Pathways Analyses ......................................................... 78 10 Discussion and Policy Recommendations .......................................................................................... 79 iii Newark Schools Research Collaborative Post-Secondary Outcomes in Newark ______________________________________________________________________________ 10.1 Recommendations ........................................................................................................................... 80 11 References ................................................................................................................................................ 84 Appendices ........................................................................................................................................................ 87 List of Tables Table 1. Demographic profile of NPS high school graduates from the years 2004-2007 (n=8,298) .. 19 Table 2. The percent of NPS graduates who were exempt from taking HSPA, who passed the HSPA examination, who partially passed HSPA, or who graduated by Special Review Assessment (SRA) . 23 Table 3. Type of graduation by high school, 2004-2007 high school graduates (n=7,670) .................. 23 Table 4. Performance on the HSPA exam by graduation year (n=7,436) .............................................. 24 Table 5. Language Arts performance on the HSPA exam by high school, 2004-2007 high school graduates (n=7,670) ......................................................................................................................................... 24