A Research Study on Special College Counseling for Non-White and Disadvantaged Students

DOCUMENT RESUME ED 058 329 UD 011 970 TITLE A Research Study on Special College Counseling for Non-White and Disadvantaged Students. INSTITUTION Sequoia Union High School District, Redwood City, Calif. PUB DATE Jun 71 NOTE 87p. EDRS PRICE MF-$0.65 HC-$3.29 DESCRIPTORS Changing Attitudes; College Admission; College Bound Students; College Placement; *College Preparation; Counseling EffectiveneS'e; Counseling Programs; *Disadvantaged Youth; Financial Needs; *Financial Problems; *High School Students; *Individual Counseling; Program Evaluation IDENTIFIERS California; Special College Counseling Program ABSTRACT The first follow-up study of the Special College Counseling Program had four objectives: (1) to show specifically what has happened to graduates in three high schools in the district in one year;(2) to show specifically what has happened to graduates in all high schools in the district in one year;(3) to evaluate counseling effectiveness by measuring respondents, attitudes and attempting to describe the relationship between counseling and, for example, career-satisfaction; and, (4)to develop a set of operational standards from the findings to better administer the district's programs. Data was obtained from surveys conducted as a part of field work to test the effectiveness of the program. The program population included 272 students who graduatedfrom the Sequoia Union High School District, who have either matriculated in colleges and universities or who have initiated new-found careers in various sectors of the country. Several mailings and follow-up procedures produced 136 respondents who comprised the study sample. All non-white and low income white students are eligible for the program. All that are referred by the Special CollegeCounselors at each school are accepted. Particularly all need a detailed individual attention in order to complete various types of forms. Particularly all need financial aid. Seventy-five percent of program participants from 1969 to October 1971 are now in collge. (Author/JM) CY% r%i SEQUOIA UNION HIGH SCHOOLDISTRICT re% 480 James Avenue Cg) Redwood City, California L.C1 C:3 w6.1 STUDENT PERSONNEL SERVICES A Research Studyon Special College Counseling For Non-white and Disadvantaged Students U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. EDUCATIONA WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRO. DUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIG INATING IT. POINTS OF VIEW OR OPIN IONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDU CATION POSITION OR POLICY. College Placement Center Ravenswood High School 1111h Schools Represented Sequoia Carlmont Ravenswood Woodside Menlo-Atherton San Carlos V4s. Cro numml Sodonia M. Wilson, Coordinator 4014 Special College CounselingProgram CZ21 June 1971 1 ......... Table of Contents Page Contents Introduction 1 1 II Statement of The Problem III Purpose 2 IV Research Design and InstrumentationFor Measurement of College Placement and College EffectivenessOver Time 3 V Procedure 3 VI Theoret ical Or ientation 5 VII Results 8 A. Demographic Da ta 8 VIII Evaluation 14 IX Evaluation of Interactive Data 16 X Summary 19 XI Suggested Further Research 20 XII Appendix - I 21 A. Code Book 23 B. Students ComMents 75 XIII Bibliography 82 2 List of Tables Table Page 8 II 8 III 8 IV 9 V 9 VI 9 VII 9 VIII 10 IX 10 X 10 'XI 10 XII 11 XIII 11 XIV 11 XV 11 XVI 12 XVII 12 XVIII 12 XIX 12 XX 13 XXI 17 XXII 18 XXIII 18 p. A RESEARCH STUDY ON SPECIAL COLLEGECOUNSELING FOR NON-WHITE AND DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS INTRODUCTION Before the advent of theBlack Power Movement, non-white peopleand particularly Black people, were overlyconcerned about their youngsters notreaching their potential in life. Since that time, little gains havebeen made toward fulfilling those goals and demandsmade by various sectors in the community. However, some attempts havebeen made by individual school districtsin conjunction with colleges anduniversities to do something about theproblems of students reaching theirpotential or at least having some minor access to reaching their potential through thenewly created Equal Educational Opportunity blocks toward equal education Programs. There still remains major 8tumbling for students, but the major problemstend to be in breaking down these barriers. In doing so, this will require agreater effort on the part of local, state 'and national government. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM This paper is concerned primarilywith access that the students may haveafter leaving high school in the wider community,the recognition, and remedies for breaking down educational barriers.To show how important the problemof effective counseling is to non-white youngstersduring high school and prior to entering college currentresearch data show -- --that non-white students tend tohave a higher suicidal rate than whites. Universally speaking, one might contributethis phenomenon to the lack of effectivecounseling and guidance which, in turn, promotes the lack of college successfor non-white youngsters. Stildies conducted by the College Health Services atHarvard, University of Florida and Texas are now attempting toidentify psychological and historical characteristics which distinguishstudents who cammit 4 or attempt suicide from students who represent other problems or those who do not seek counseling at all. One of the pre- ventative methods, in the author's opinion,in dealing with this problem and others resulting from lack ofopportunity of non-whites in attaining higher education, isto seriously ensure all youngsters of an effective counseling andguidance program. At the annual Orthopsychiatric Convention,March 21-24, 1971 one of the main topics for discussionwas social class and social expectation which dealt primarily with the effects of the child's 3ocialclass upon school counselors' decision-making. That is, the higher the social class, themore favorable the counselor reacted to that child's needs. This notion is also substantiated quantitatively in the Coleman's Report-1966, whereasColeman and associates argued most vehemently that the social classstatus of the school effected students' outcomes. This is a very serious problem which hasto be faced when setting up effective college counseling andcollege placement programs for non-white and those youngsters comingfrom low income backgrounds. PURPOSE The purpose of this study is-- - -to show specifically what has happened to graduates in three high schools in the district inone year, for example, are they in college or at work? - -to show specifically what has happened to graduates in all high schools in the district inone year, for example, are they in college, or at work? - -to perceive counseling effectiveness by measuring respondents attitudes on the questionnaires. - -to develop a set of operational standards from the findingsto better administer the district's SpecialCollege Counseling Program. 5 3. Specifically, we are interested in attitudinaldata, which would enableus to evaluate the quality of the one year's experiencefor these graduates, and particularly the quality of the preparationoffered by the district (Special College Counseling, and otherwise) to thesestudents. Out of these, we hoped, we would be able to describe, for example, therelationship between counseling and career -.satisfaction, viewed ofcourse, in specific - limited terms. These terms will be discussed in theevaluation. RESEARCH DESIGN AND INSTRUMENTATIONFOR MEASUREMENT OF COLLEGE'PLACENENTAND COLLEGE EFFECTIVENESS OVER TINE This is the first follow-up study ofthe Special College CounselingProgram which would represent an analysis of data collected, by usinga structured interview schedule administered simultaneously in four differentsample surveys. Our design is as follows: A. type of study used-- students attending junior college,state collge, state university, Ivy League, privateuniversity and at work 1) structured interview schedule 2) follow-up mail backs 3) telephone calls with requestedmail backs between the monthsof January and April by the College PlacementCenter staff of the Sequoia Union High School District,located on Ravenswood High School's campus in East PaloAlto: California. 4) home visits. PROCEDURE The surveys were conducted as a part of field work to test theeffectiveness of the on-going Special College Counseling Program uncle.: thedirection of 6 ^ Mrs. Sodonia Wilson and involving collaborators, questionnaires, telephone calls and follow-up procedures. This involved 272 students who graduated from the Sequoia Union High School District, who have either matriculated in colleges and universities or have initiated new-founded careers in various sectors of the country. All 1970 Sequoia Union High School District students who were a part of the Special College Counseling.Program and those 1969 non-white graduates from Ravenswood, Sequoia and Menlo-Atherton were sent two or three questionnaires. Two questionnaires were general and one was specific.For example, if a student applied to a junior college, a four year college or a university or he went to work, he received one questionnaire pertaining to his specific activities as well as the two general ones. 1 A code bookwas made up by Mr. Emmett Lamkin from Stanford University and several other Stanford students helped us with the precoding, computing, etc. During the month of January, structured interviews were mailed to 272 students. One month later follow-up mail backs were sent out to 200 students.Approximately 0. one month after we had mailed out the second set of questionnaires,

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