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Wednesday, March 12, 2008
"Potholes" Study Coming Out Today

From the Consortium: "This is to alert you to a press conference scheduled for Wednesday, March 12, at 1 p.m. at Roosevelt High, 3436 W. Wilson, Chicago. The findings of a new postsecondary report--“From High School to the Future: Potholes on the Road to College”--will be discussed by researchers at the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago, along with CPS students, administrators and a high school college coach.

"This report reveals that a majority of Chicago Public Schools graduates—even those with top grades and test scores--do not successfully navigate the daunting process of enrolling in four-year colleges and too often default to schools for which they are overqualified. Latino students are most at risk of not enrolling in college. Many students are derailed by complex federal financial aid requirements."

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Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 10:05 PMBy: Maureen Kelleher "Potholes" Study Coming Out Today Just a quick observation from skimming the executive summary. The Consortium says that immigration status does not fully explain the much lower likelihood that Latino students will enroll in college. Well, my first question is, how reliable is their information about immigration status? If it's self-reported, it's probably not reliable.

Another finding was that not filing a FAFSA is a significant barrier to college admissions for CPS students. Latino students who aspired to four-year colleges were "not surprisingly" least likely to file a FAFSA. Well, it is at least plausible that not filing a FAFSA is a pretty good proxy for undocumented status, since I've certainly met a fair number of young people who know you have to you have to be a citizen or eligible noncitizen (permanent resident or refugee/asylee) to be able to file one.

I will grant that the lack of "college-going culture" in CPS high schools--meaning adults who support students through the application process, among other things--could confound that to some degree.

All this said, I totally agree that CPS needs to figure out how to do a better job of shepherding its students through the college admissions process. It is amazing what great options students who didn't think they could go to college can find when supported by adults who know them and know the college admissions process.

Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 12:48 AMBy: George N. Schmidt "Potholes" Study Coming Out Today The last time the Consortium did a "study" about college and CPS high school students, it was that "six percent" debacle (late 2006). Of late, the Consortium's data and studies have been in as dubious battle with reality as those by CPS.

That "six percent" thing managed to miss the fact the most CPS grads who go to college are in need of massive financial aid (and therefore take longer to get through college). They also missed a few of the colleges our kids do go to.

That said: Where is the link to the actual Consortium report -- and to the hastily convened response by Arne (both took place on March 12, 2008).

Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 8:52 AMBy: Maureen Kelleher link to "Potholes" report Here's the link:

http://ccsr.uchicago.edu/content/publications.php?pub_id=22

From this page you can download the executive summary, case studies or the entire report.

Fri Mar 14, 2008 at 12:16 PMBy: First to attend college "Potholes" Study Coming Out Today After graduating from a CPS elementary school, my parents moved out to the suburb. Being around middle to upper middle class kids, I learned how to navigate college selection, including financial aid. In suburbs, students receive much help from their parents who have first hand experience with choosing a college. For kids like me who had parents with no college education, I had to rely on my counselor with essays, letter of recommendation, etc. However, my counselor wasn't inundated with students who need significant amount of assistance like me.

In CPS, a single counselor will not be much of help because almost 100 percent of kids would need complete assistance with college selection process. It's nice to hear Arne promising to revamp the counseling, but haven't we heard similar empty promises to correct a problem after a major study criticizing CPS?

Fri Mar 14, 2008 at 3:34 PMBy: researcher "Potholes" Study Coming Out Today The study did not rely on self-reported information to determine students' immigration status (See page 38-39 of report for complete explanation). Essentially, this was determined by analyzing how many grads didn't have valid SSNs and cross checking against employment data. As for FAFSAs, students who DO NOT have valid SSNs are not even included in CPS' tracking systems. Thus, FAFSA filing is not a proxy for documentation status because system only tracks the students eligible to file a FAFSA.

Sun Mar 16, 2008 at 1:54 PMBy: Maureen Kelleher "Potholes" Study Coming Out Today Thanks for the helpful clarification on how status was determined and how FAFSAs are tracked.

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