Does an Early College Readiness Signal Discourage College Application and Enrollment?

Abstract

States are currently seeking ways to improve alignment between K–12 and postsecondary education and better prepare students for postsecondary schooling. Some states have begun implementing policies that inform high school students that they are not ready for college-level courses well before they graduate, in order to give both notice and time to prepare. However, if the early information from these tests suggests that a student may require remedial coursework upon entry to college, the student may be discouraged from attending college. This article focuses on one state's effort to increase students’ information about college readiness. Regression discontinuity design is used to determine whether a student receiving a signal that he/she needs remediation lowers the probability of that student applying to or enrolling in participating universities. Results indicate that the policy has had little to no impact on application and no impact on enrollment.

Keywords:

• College remediation
• college readiness
• college information

Notes

Additional graphs are available upon request from the author.

Table 4 Regression discontinuity results with covariates as outcomes

Figure 4 Each point represents the proportion of students at that EAP score with a particular parent education value. Zero represents the exempt threshold.

When possible. These results are available by request from the author.