The Influence of School-Based Health Center Access on High School Graduation: Evidence From Colorado

Abstract

PurposeTo examine the association between the introduction of a school-based health center (SBHC) and high school graduation rates. MethodsWe use school-level longitudinal data from Colorado that combines data on the opening of SBHCs in high schools with 4-year high school graduation rates overall and by gender between 2000 and 2018. The analytic sample consists of high schools without an SBHC in 2000 (n = 132). We compare high schools that opened SBHCs over the period to those that did not and run school-level panel fixed effects models to assess the relationship between opening an SBHC and change in high school graduation rates. ResultsSchools that subsequently opened SBHCs had larger minority populations and lower average graduation rates in 2000. Opening an SBHC was associated with a 4.1 percentage point increase in the overall graduation rate (p = .077). The gender-stratified analyses indicate young men’s graduation rates were most sensitive to the presence of an SBHC, increasing 4.8 percentage points (p = .051), compared to young women’s graduation rates increasing 3.0 percentage points (p = .163). ConclusionsOur findings suggest that the benefits of SBHC access may extend beyond health-specific outcomes to graduation rates.