Unspoken barriers: Promoting equity in postsecondary service learning opportunities

While there is an abundance of relevant data on the outcomes of service learning experiences, less is known about how students find service learning experiences. Additionally, little research focuses on capturing the experiences of students’ participation in service learning, especially among underrepresented students. New lines of inquiry could include qualitative studies that seek to better understand the service learning experiences of underrepresented students (i.e., students of color and low socioeconomic status) to explore potential barriers to full participation. In this essay, the author proposes new lines of inquiry when studying issues of access in service learning opportunities, drawing on her experience as a coordinator for a university’s mentoring program. The author argues that studying the experiences of undergraduates engaged in service learning opportunities might highlight barriers to equitable access to and full participation in service learning opportunities and thereby postsecondary outcomes.

Access to School Counseling and the Connection to Postsecondary STEM Outcomes

Access to school counseling services leads to access to college-readiness counseling initiatives, including science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education–focused counseling for students. School counselor caseload and percentage of time spent on college-readiness counseling were analyzed in relation to longitudinal STEM postsecondary outcomes of students in a nationally representative sample. Access to school counselors who spend 21% or more of their time on college-readiness counseling predicted persistence and attainment of a STEM postsecondary degree. The current results offer implications for school counselors, counselor educators, and future researchers, including the need for STEM self-efficacy interventions, unbiased curriculum, and professional development on STEM counseling for school counselors; and the call for a more nuanced understanding of this topic.

College Attendance among Low-Income Youth: Explaining Differences across Wisconsin High Schools

Bolstering low-income students’ postsecondary participation is important to remediate these students’ disadvantages and to improve society’s overall level of education. Recent research has demonstrated that secondary schools vary considerably in their tendencies to send students to postsecondary education, but existing research has not systematically identified the school characteristics that explain this variation. Identifying these characteristics can help improve low-income students’ postsecondary outcomes. We identify relevant characteristics using population-level data from Wisconsin, a mid-size state in the United States. We first show that Wisconsin’s income-based disparities in postsecondary participation are wide, even net of academic achievement. Next, we show that several geographic characteristics of schools help explain between-secondary school variation in low-income students’ postsecondary outcomes. Finally, we test whether a dense set of school organisational features explain any remaining variation. We find that these features explain virtually no variation in secondary schools’ tendencies to send low-income students to postsecondary education.

Inclusion of Students With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and Postsecondary Outcomes: A Systematic Literature Review

The purpose of this systematic literature review was to examine the association between inclusive education and postsecondary outcomes for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Despite decades-long advocacy efforts, most individuals with IDD never achieve meaningful paid employment or enroll in postsecondary education after graduation from high school. Although educational and workforce legislation has emphasized both inclusive education and competitive integrated employment for youth with IDD, no previous reviews have examined the strength of evidence for the former as a pathway to positive postsecondary outcomes. This systematic literature review searched peer-reviewed articles published between 1997 and 2018. A total of nine studies met inclusion criteria. The majority of studies found positive effects for inclusive education on either postsecondary employment or education using correlational designs. Limitations to the included studies as well as implications and recommendations for practice, policy, and future research are discussed.

Positively Engaged Pathways: A Brief Pre-Employment Intervention for Transition Age Youth With Disabilities

PurposeThis study was a pilot of a brief psychological capital (PsyCap) intervention with a sample of transition age youth with disabilities (N = 24) in a school setting. Substantial evidence supports the relationship between PsyCap and employment outcomes. Transition age youth with disabilities are an important target for pre-employment counseling interventions due to a lack of parity in postsecondary outcomes. Researchers have successfully boosted PsyCap in adult samples using brief interventions.MethodsPsyCap and vocational outcome expectancy (VOE) were compared in a repeated measures design.ResultsPsyCap and VOE, and PsyCap and school performance were significantly correlated in our sample, but no differences were observed in PsyCap or VOE postintervention.ConclusionAs the first known effort to develop a PsyCap driven pre-employment intervention for transition age youth with disabilities, our experience and findings provide several implications for practice and future research. Aspects of the intervention to be modified for future efforts are presented.

Improving Self-Advocacy Skills for Students With Disabilities in Postsecondary Educational Settings

The purpose of this manuscript is to examine relevant literature to assist rehabilitation counselors and educators in understanding legislation that impacts students with disabilities in postsecondary educational settings and potential barriers students with disabilities face in postsecondary educational settings. Strategies rehabilitation counselors and educators can employ to increase self-advocacy skills and improve postsecondary outcomes for students with disabilities are also addressed. The literature suggests that while students with disabilities are legally responsible for disclosing their disability to receive accommodations in postsecondary educational settings, students still face barriers that hinder their ability to develop self-advocacy skills. However, self-advocacy skills are imperative for students to effectively disclose their disability and identify the accommodations needed, highlighting the importance of rehabilitation counselors and educators to assist in the development of self-advocacy before matriculating to a postsecondary educational setting. Strategies practitioners can employ when working with students with disabilities who desire to attend a postsecondary educational program are also identified.

Postsecondary Outcomes of Innovative High Schools: The Big Picture Longitudinal Study

Context Educational reform efforts have taken the form of different school models intended to reduce educational inequality. Personalized, interest-based schools and academically focused, “No Excuses” schools are two leading small-school designs with sharply contrasting approaches to innovation. Given mixed research findings about the successes and challenges of school reform models in the United States, it is imperative to understand how educational outcomes of students relate to the philosophy and distinguishing characteristics of particular school models such as these. At the same time, evaluating social mobility effects of high school education across educational reform models requires examination of common metrics such as high school graduation rate and college entrance and degree attainment. Purpose This study sought to establish whether and how a personalized, interest-based secondary school reform model is associated with graduates’ characteristics and postsecondary outcomes—and to place these findings in relation to student outcomes reported by a leading No Excuses school network. Setting Big Picture Learning is a network of innovative small schools that serves primarily low-income and minoritized students through an individualized, relational, real-world-based high school experience. The Big Picture educational model features individualized learning plans connected to extensive internships, independent learning organized around student interests, authentic assessments, and close, informal relationships between students and adults. Research Design The Big Picture Longitudinal Study tracked 1900 graduates from six graduating high school classes. Data sources included student and school advisor surveys, National Student Clearinghouse college enrollment data, and interviews with graduates’ former advisors. Published outcomes data for KIPP No Excuses schools provided comparative information. Analyses comprised descriptive statistics of survey data and multivariate regression analyses connecting high school exit data to college outcomes. Findings The Big Picture Learning model is extremely successful in meeting its stated goals of fostering positive relationships, helping students discover and pursue their interests, and promoting high school graduation and college entrance. Results for academic subject achievement and college persistence are mixed, however. Big Picture graduates have similar college matriculation rates but somewhat lower six-year graduation rates than alumni from the KIPP No Excuses school network. Alumni from both networks show high rates of college attrition. Conclusion When taken alone and in context of other innovative school models, the Big Picture results point to the difficulty of sustaining secondary school gains in the post-high school lives of low-income students and highlight shortcomings of traditional colleges in serving this population.

High School English Language Arts Teachers and Postsecondary Outcomes for Students With and Without Disabilities

We used longitudinal data on high school students in Washington State to assess the relationships between English Language Arts (ELA) teacher qualifications and the high school and postsecondary outcomes of their students, and whether these relationships differed for students with and without disabilities. We found that students assigned to 10th-grade ELA teachers with higher value added had better test scores, were more likely to graduate on-time, and were more likely to attend and graduate from a 4-year college than observably similar students assigned to 10th-grade ELA teachers with lower value added. We also found that many of these relationships varied for students with and without disabilities, as 10th-grade ELA teacher value added was more positively predictive of on-time graduation and 4-year college attendance for students without disabilities, but more positively predictive of 2-year college attendance and employment within 2 years of graduation for students with disabilities.