The Impact of Academic Momentum on Postsecondary Matriculation among Early College High School Students

ABSTRACT

States have introduced a range of policies and strategies aimed at boosting college readiness by strengthening collaborations between secondary and postsecondary education sectors. One popular strategy is Early College High Schools, which allows historically underserved student groups to complete college-level coursework and improve their college readiness while still in high school. This study examined the influence of academic momentum during high school on key measures of postsecondary success for ECHS students in a suburban school district in Texas. This quantitative study analyzed data for five ECHS graduating classes from a Texas community college and school district. Data analysis for the first research question included descriptive statistics. The second research question used a multinomial logistic regression model to determine the relationship between momentum measures and postsecondary matriculation. At-risk and low SES students were less likely to matriculate to a 2- or 4-year postsecondary institution. Overall, ECHS graduates who earned a degree while still in high school were more likely to matriculate to a 2- or 4-year postsecondary institution. Support structures embedded within the small learning environment of an ECHS can provide graduates an opportunity to learn behaviors important for college success. Recommended strategies for improving the ECHS model are provided.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. 34 CFR 606.7 (b; 2011) defines educationally disadvantaged as a college student who needs assistance and additional services to be successful at a postsecondary institution. This definition includes migrant worker families, low SES students, families with limited English proficiency, and families with one or both parents did not complete secondary school.

2. Recognizing the lack of a clear strategy to measure socioeconomic status (Harwell & LeBeau, 2010), free or reduced lunch eligibility is considered low SES.

3. The school district in this study recognizes first-generation status as parents who had some college up to short of a Bachelor’s degree.

4. During the transition from TAKS to STAAR, many students did not complete the STAAR 8^th grade math exam because they took the STAAR 8^th grade Algebra End-of-Course exam. These scores were not available in the sample.

5. Defined by Texas Education Code Subchapter C, section 29.081, at-risk indicators consider students under the age of 26 who are at risk of dropping out of school.

6. Some students listed their race as American Indian/Alaskan but identified their ethnicity as Hispanic or White. For the purposes of this study, these students were analyzed as their identified ethnicity.