The impact of college readiness programs on college continuation in Georgia

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze and explain the variance in patterns of collegecontinuation rates for Georgia public high schools between the 1999 and 2005 academic years. Iassessed the impact of college readiness programs on high school to college continuation rates inGeorgia public high schools during the study period. I analyzed the variances as they relate tohigh schools' participation or non-participation in one or more of seven popular collegereadiness programs. College continuation, as used in this study, refers to enrollment of a studentin one of the 33 two-year or four-year institutions of the University System of Georgia (USG)by the fall semester of the year of high school graduation.Variances in patterns of college continuation for participating Georgia high schools maydemonstrate, net of all other factors, the extent to which different programs are successful intheir goal of assisting at-risk studentsÕ transition to college. Transitioning to college is the firststep towards the ultimate goal of helping participating students attain a college degree. Currently there are 35 USG institutions. The Medical College of Georgia does not admit students directly fromhigh school, hence it was excluded. The 35 college, Georgia Gwinnett College, admitted the first students in theFall 2005; therefore, it is not included in this study.There were four primary sources of data for this study: Georgia Department of Educationdata on high schools, USG High School Feedback Reports, National Center of EducationStatistics (NCES) Common Core Data reports (CCD) on characteristics of high schools, and therespective administrative sources of college readiness programs.The study yielded empirical data showing an association between participation in certaincollege readiness programs and college continuation rates in Georgia, net of all other explanatoryfactors such as school SES and geographic location. Furthermore, participation yielded differentcontinuation rates for predominantly Black and White high schools, to different categories ofUniversity System of Georgia colleges and universities. Recommendations are made based onthe findings and implications of the findings to policy and future research.