Social and Emotional Skills Predict Postsecondary Enrollment and Retention

• In Event: Higher Education Admissions in a Post–Supreme Court Decision Era

Abstract

Social and emotional (SE) skills are known to be linked to important life outcomes, many of which fall in the academic domain. For example, meta-analytic data show that the skill of Sustaining Effort is nearly or just as important for academic performance as intelligence (Mammadov, 2021; Poropat, 2009). SE skills are also associated with performance on standardized college admissions tests (Noftle & Robins, 2007). In a recent study with long-term tracking of high school (HS) students, those who came from schools with a strong emphasis on SE skill development were more likely to enroll in college within two years of HS graduation (Jackson et al., 2021). Indeed, prior research has shown that SE skills are related to HS academic performance, standardized admissions test performance, and college enrollment. However, longitudinal studies with generalizable samples speaking to college enrollment and retention are scarce.
The focus of the present study is on SE skills of 6,662 students assessed during HS and their relationship with HS academic performance, standardized college admissions test performance and ultimately postsecondary enrollment and retention. Students’ took a SE skills assessment, MosaicTM by ACT®: Social Emotional Learning Assessment during HS, HS GPA and demographics were self-reported at the time of ACT registration, ACT test scores were obtained from ACT, and postsecondary enrollment status was obtained from the National Student Clearinghouse.
We examined mean-level differences on household income, HS GPA, ACT Composite scores, and SE skills by college enrollment and retention status and found several significant differences, often favoring the enrolled or retained group. The standardized effect size for household income reached .46 when comparing students enrolled in year 2 vs. not enrolled. Effects for HS GPA and ACT Composite scores were also highest for year 2 enrollment (vs. year 1 enrollment or year 1 – year 2 retention), reaching 1.00 and .87, respectively. Of the five SE skills measured during HS – Sustaining Effort, Getting Along with Others, Maintaining Composure, Keeping an Open Mind, and Social Connection – Sustaining Effort had the largest effect sizes across the three outcomes, reaching .49 for year 1 enrollment. This value exceeded the effect for household income, highlighting the importance of SE skills for predicting postsecondary enrollment.
We also fit a series of hierarchical logistic regression models, predicting year 1 and year 2 enrollment and retention from household income (step 1), HS GPA and ACT scores (step 2), and SE skills (step 3). We found support for incremental validity as SE skills predicted enrollment and retention above household income, HS GPA, and ACT scores. Again, Sustaining Effort was one of the SE skills with the strongest effects. Its odds ratio was 1.27 when predicting year 1 enrollment.
Postsecondary education is associated with a host of positive outcomes, ranging from greater chances of employment (Groot & Maassen van den Brink, 2007) and higher earnings (Institute of Education Sciences, 2022) to better health (Furnée et al., 2008). Therefore, any and all factors – SE skills included – that positively influence educational attainment should be identified and fostered.

Authors

• Kate Walton, ACT, Inc.

• Jeff M. Allen, ACT, Inc.

• Maxwell Box, ACT, Inc.

• Dana Murano, ACT, Inc.

• Jeremy Burrus, ACT, Inc.