The Role of Noncognitive Skills in the Transition to College

• In Event: 49.044 - Beyond the Big City: Rural Students and College Access

Abstract

This paper explores the role of noncognitive skills in students’ college match. Using qualitative data from 63 seniors from the graduating class of 2013, I find that students have internalized the college-for-all message, and determined that traditional college readiness indicators such as academic ability are not what makes someone college material. Instead, students associate noncognitive skills such as grit and self-efficacy with college success, revealing differences between matched and undermatched students. In subsequent quantitative analysis using ELS:2002, I find that noncognitive skills offer little explanatory power in determining undermatch. Instead it appears that they mediate the number of college applications that students submit. Additionally, students’ help-seeking behavior emerges as a key predictor of application and match, especially for rural students.

Author

• Kri Noel Burkander, Educational Testing Service