Creating College Opportunity: The Influence of School-Based Counseling on Postsecondary Enrollment and Choice

• In Event: Promising Scholarship in Education: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research

Abstract

urpose of study
School counselors are the primary facilitators of college transition for many students, yet little is known about their influence on college-going behavior. Given the need to improve college participation rates, and the substantial number of students who rely on school personnel to access college, this two-part dissertation aims to assess the relationship between school-based college counseling and postsecondary attendance, and devotes special attention to the postsecondary destinations of students with low socioeconomic status.

Study design and methods
Analyzing data from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002, Part One employs coarsened exact matching and multilevel modeling to examine the effects of student-counselor visits on postsecondary enrollment, as well as determine whether the effects of such visits vary by socioeconomic status. Part Two is a multi-state analysis of school-level data in Missouri, North-Carolina and Pennsylvania, and employs difference-in-differences modeling to assess the college enrollment-related effects of the National College Advising Corps (NCAC), an organization that aims to supplement the work of school counselors and help guide low-SES and other underrepresented students through the college admissions and financial aid processes

Findings and policy implications
Results from Part One show that visiting a counselor for college entrance information has a positive and significant influence on students' likelihood of postsecondary enrollment and enrollment at four-year institutions specifically, and that counseling-related effects are greatest for students with low socioeconomic status. Findings from Part two suggest that NCAC and other similar organizations may improve college-going in high schools that primarily serve low-SES students and where enrollment rates are less than what measures high school achievement and college readiness would indicate. In sum, both studies reveal the positive influence that school-based counselors may have on improving the postsecondary enrollment and choices of low-SES and other disadvantaged students.

Currently, the condition of school counselors and college guidance in America's high schools is not an issue of importance on any major policy agenda, and is consistently absent from national- and state-level discussions on education reform. The lack of legislative attention devoted to school-based college counseling may stem from the fact that research has not adequately established the effectiveness of school counselors, and in particular, their ability to aid the postsecondary planning of students. Ideally, this dissertation will provide policymakers with evidence and impetus to increase the number of school-based counselors and/or to provide school-based counselors with the training and flexibility they need to adequately engage in postsecondary planning.

Author

• Andrew Steven Belasco, University of Georgia