Academic Achievement in the First Year of College: Evidence of the Pervasive Effects of the High School Context

Abstract

This study aims to improve our understanding of the postsecondary impacts of high schools by investigating whether or not exposure to different high school contexts may explain academic performance once in college. Drawing on a sample of 3,750 participants from the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen, descriptive and multivariate analyses examine relationships between students' precollege characteristics, the high school context, and first year college grades. Results indicate that the quality of the high school infrastructure and exposure to violence at school-two operationalized dimensions of the high school context-affect first year college grades above and beyond precollege academic achievement and a variety of other background characteristics. Results also provide evidence of the conditional nature of these effects, where the high school context reinforces advantages of students with relatively greater economic resources prior to college. Implications for policy are discussed along with a call for a more holistic and interdependent perspective in examining the secondary-postsecondary nexus.Keywords Academic achievement Á College grades Á First year of college Á High school contexts For more than 40 years social scientists have been concerned about the effectiveness of America's high schools, and over a century of policy debates have centered on the nature and function of the high school. Since the publication of the Coleman report (Coleman et al. 1966) we have generally accepted that, when focusing on academic achievement as a means of reducing social inequality, the differences among students and their families

The Impact of Government Funding on Students’ Academic Performance in Ghana

“…This result is in line with the findings (Jones & Moss, 1994;Brock & Richburg-Hayes, 2006;Carlson CW.,2006;Natasha et al, 2011;(Belot et al, 2007;Stater, 2009;Angrist et al, 2009;Wolniak & Engberg, 2010;Denny et al, 2014;Moussa et al, 2015;Tatiana et al, 2016). However, this study is contrary to the findings (Douglass & Gregg, 2012;Hoffman, 2002;Scott-Clayton, 2011;Erik & Andreas 2010;Arcidiacono, 2005;Amber EW., 2013;Elizabeth & John, 2015;Angea & Bridget, 2016).…”

“…The study resulted in 2-3% increase in GPA (grade point average) mostly for women that lasted more than a year and a reduction of 6.9% in the proportion of students that were on academic probation. Also, one study finds that high schools that are well-endowed with abundant resources had a positive significant effect on the scores of their first-year college students (Wolniak & Engberg, 2010).…”

Diagnóstico del rendimiento académico de estudiantes de una escuela de educación superior en México

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“…La unidad académica enfrenta actualmente retos importantes los cuales debe de resolver en un futuro inmediato para así contribuir con la calidad educativa que requieren sus estudiantes y el país. El contexto que se detectó y que pueden influir en el rendimiento académico son: a) un modelo educativo con base en competencias que desde el 2004 no ha tenido una evaluación y se desconocen los impactos positivos y negativos en el rendimiento académico de los alumnos, b) planes de estudios que han permitido una sobre carga de materias; c) poca flexibilidad y c) bajas calificaciones que no permiten que los estudiantes consigan becas, entre otras.La educación en el bachillerato de un estudiante otorga las bases sobre la cual se construye todo el futuro de su progreso académico en la universidad (Wolniak & Engberg, 2010). Las escuelas deben de esforzarse para proporcionar los recursos que apoyen en el aprendizaje, además de trabajar en renovar el clima que se genera en las clases.…”

Predicting Academic Success and Psychological Wellness in a Sample of Canadian Undergraduate Students

“…Previous studies involving post-secondary students have demonstrated that some of the key determinants include gender (Baker, 2004;Clifton, 1997;Keller, Crouse, & Trusheim, 1993;Mau & Lynn, 2001), socio-economic status (Hansen & Mastekaasa, 2006;Ross, Cleland, & MacLeod, 2006), employment status (Applegate & Daly, 2006;Hunt, Lincoln, & Walker, 2004), high school grades (DeBerard, Spielmans, & Julka, 2004;Duff, 2004;Hall, Smith, & Chia, 2008;Mattson, 2007;Olani, 2009;Zwick & Sklar, 2005), high school environment (Pike & Saupe, 2002;Wolniak & Engberg, 2010), personality traits (Musgrave-Marquart, Bromley, & Dalley, 1997;Nguyen, Allen, & Fraccastoro, 2005;Ridgell & Lounsbury, 2004;Tross, Harper, Osher, & Kneidinger, 2000), health status (Mattison, 2006;Trockel, Barnes, & Egget, 2000), satisfaction with academic life (Chambel & Curral, 2005;Graunke & Woosley, 2005), amount of time devoted to study (Jackson, Weiss, Lundquist, & Hooper, 2003;Nonis & Hudson, 2006), styles of learning (Diseth, 2002;Wilding & Andrews, 2006), achievement motivation (Morris, Brooke, & May, 2003;Roebken, 2007;Steinberg, 2006), and social support (Clifton, Perry, Roberts, & Peter, 2008;Cutrona, Cole, Colangelo, Assouline, & Russell, 1994;Orpen, 1996;Spitzer, 2000;Walker & Satterwhite, 2002 …”