High School Predictors of College Persistence: The Significance of Engagement and Teacher Interaction

Abstract

Over the past few decades there has been a dramatic paradigm shift in both focus and attitude among postsecondary institutions regarding the importance of student persistence, retention and academic success (Hu, 2011; Kuh, Kinzie, Buckley, Bridges, & Hayek, 2007), in contrast to the past where an institution's prestige was tied to its ability to exclude students (Coley & Coley, 2010). U.S. News and World Report solidified this sea change, as its report of college rankings now includes retention and graduation rates as a measure of institutional quality (Morse, 2015). In addition, colleges and universities are under increased pressure from public policymakers to improve retention and graduation rates (Hossler, Ziskin, & Gross, 2009). The matter of college graduation rates and persistence has in fact taken on national prominence. In a speech at the University of Texas at Austin, President Obama (2010) commented thatover a third of America's college students and over half of our minority students don't earn a degree even after six years. So we don't just need to open the doors of college to more Americans; we need to make sure they stick with it through graduation. (Obama, 2010, para. 34)The importance of completing a college degree has been magnified because of the high correlation with economic self-sufficiency and responsible citizenship (Kuh, Cruce, Shoup, Kinzie, & Gonyea, 2008). In this regard, the college degree has come to replace the high school diploma.Students, parents, high school counselors and college counselors expend much time and energy on the college admissions process with high expectations that the student will be successful and persist (Seirup & Rose, 2011). Yet, the statistics regarding college persistence are surprisingly low, while the cost of attrition to the student, the college and the community is quite high. Forty-one percent of students who begin their college careers at a four-year college will not graduate within six years (U.S. Department of Education, 2013), while 35% will drop out completely (Tinto, 2004). The costs associated with students dropping out of college are sobering and impact multiple stakeholders who would potentially benefit from individuals who persisted and graduated from college. The American Institutes for Research (2010) found that the cost of students dropping out of their first year of college is more than nine billion dollars in state and federal funds. For individual students, the average debt is currently $29,000. More problematic is that those who drop out do not have the requisite economic and employment opportunities needed to repay those loans and therefore are four times more likely to default (Casselman, 2012). There also are the additional costs associated to the colleges and universities that need to provide redundant and remedial courses. Amos (2006) found that it costs $1.4 billion to provide remedial education to students who have recently completed high school. Finally, there are the costs to individuals who leave college without achieving their goals and are thus robbed of important opportunities to learn and benefit from that education after college (Hossler et al., 2009).Prior Research on College PersistenceBased on the seminal work of authors such as Tinto (1975, 1987, 1993), Astin (1984, 1993), Kuh (2007), and Hu (2011), colleges and universities have begun to study factors that impact college persistence and, consequently, to develop and initiate programs to support student success, transition and persistence/retention. Tinto (1975) is perhaps the most recognized for work regarding college persistence. His original model focused on the impact of students' academic and social integration on the decision to persist but was later revised to focus more on the issues of separation from the home environment and culture, transition from high school to college, and incorporation into the campus community (Tinto, 1987). …