Exploring Variation in College Readiness Across Student Ethnic, Socioeconomic, Gender, and First-Generation Status

• In Event: Analyzing Large Scale Data Systems: Methodology and Implications for Practice

Abstract

Data from the High School Longitudinal Study, which follows a nationally representative sample of 2009 ninth graders through high school and college, is used to explore variation in college readiness across wide-ranging demographic category combinations and test for intersectional effects. College readiness is gauged based on freshman college academic performance in terms of grades earned and credits accumulated (i.e., “Quality Points”). Intersectional categories include race/ethnicity, Gender, SES, and First-Generation College Status. The results show that 11.7% of the total variation in Quality Points is between the demographic groups. However, the vast majority of that 11.7% is between “main effects” (e.g., Gender or SES), and interaction or intersectional effects only account for a non-significant 0.4%.

Author

• Gregory J. Palardy, University of California - Riverside