Propelled and Persistent: Early High School Parent Involvement and Students’ Higher Education Trajectories

• In Event: Sociology of Education Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 14. Contemporary Dilemmas in K-12

Abstract

The proliferation of “college for all” in the U.S. has solidified higher education as the preferred outcome for high schoolers, and parents put considerable effort into encouraging children’s enrollment. Focusing on enrollment alone paints an incomplete picture, however, as the benefits of higher education are largely contingent on earning a degree. To better assess parents’ role in promoting higher education, it is necessary to consider students’ broader educational trajectories. In this paper, we explore how parents’ involvement during a critical life course transition—in this case, the transition to high school—continues to matter as students leave high school and make ongoing decisions about their educational futures. Our findings suggest ninth-grade involvement is indeed durable. Parents’ educational attitudes and involvement behaviors at the beginning of high school propel students towards higher education, and for those who enroll, this involvement promotes higher education persistence as well. Furthermore, involvement behaviors compound educational attitudes such that students are most likely to enroll and persist when their parents are involved in multiple different ways. Though ninth graders are years before the college-going process, parents’ involvement at this critical time may have a long-term influence on students’ educational decision making across the life course.

Authors

• Christopher Chad Kaufman, Purdue University

• Linda Renzulli, Purdue University