Deeper Learning and College Attendance: What Happens After High School?

• In Event: 34.038 - Fostering Deeper Learning in High Schools and Examining Its Effects on Student Outcomes

Abstract

Introduction
Experts have identified “deeper learning” as the skills that help students communicate their ideas effectively, think creatively, and work collaboratively, which are essential for success in college, career, and civic life. For this study, we followed students after their high school graduation and compared rates of college enrollment, persistence, and degree completion between students who attended high schools that focused on deeper learning and students with similar background characteristics who attended similar comparison high schools. We asked the following research questions (RQs):
1. Are students who attended a deeper learning high school more likely to go to college and graduate from college?
2. Among students who enroll in college, are student who attended deeper learning high schools more likely to stay in college?
Data and Methods
The sample includes a set of 13 deeper learning schools and their matched comparison schools. The two schools in each matched pair were located in the same geographic area and had similar incoming student populations based on student demographics and prior achievement. Four cohorts of students who entered Grade 9 between 2007-08 and 2010-11 are included in the analyses. Overall, our analyses included 4,271 students from deeper learning high schools and 15,786 students from comparison high schools. For preliminary analyses, postsecondary enrollment records were drawn from the National Student Clearinghouse through the fall of 2014. Updated data on postsecondary enrollment and completion will be collected in the fall of 2016. Results related to degree completion will not be available until we collect and analyze postsecondary data from fall of 2016. Students’ demographic and eighth-grade achievement data were collected from participating school districts.
Propensity score weights were calculated within Grade 9 cohorts within matched pairs of network and non-network high schools using observable Grade 8 demographic and achievement characteristics. For RQ1, weighted logistic regression models were performed separately within each matched pair of schools, adjusting for differences in students’ background characteristics. Effects across school pairs were then averaged to obtain an overall estimate of the effect of attending a deeper learning school on postsecondary outcomes. For RQ2, two-sample proportion tests were conducted between weighted school-level mean scores to determine if differences in enrollment patterns between students who attended network schools and students who attended comparison schools were statistically significant.
Results
As illustrated in Figure 2 (see Appendix), preliminary analyses show that students who attended network high schools were significantly more likely to enroll in college (particularly in four-year institutions) than were similar students in comparison schools. Students who attended deeper learning schools and those who attended comparison schools were equally likely to persist in college. Analyses will be updated for the presentation using postsecondary data obtained in fall of 2016.
Significance
These findings contribute to a growing body of evidence that students who attend deeper learning network schools experience more positive academic outcomes even after high school graduation.

Author

• Rui Yang, American Institutes for Research