College Plans Research Articles

Neighborhood Context and College Plans: An Ordinal Path Analysis

This article develops a procedure for path analysis of ordinal variables using only ordinal statistics and presents an ordinal path analysis of data previously analyzed by Sewell and Armer (1966a). Substantively, it shows that when ordinal statistics and path analysis are used, neighborhood context has very important direct and indirect effects on college plans. This is true when neighborhood socioeconomic status is trichotomous or dichotomous. Methodologically, it demonstrates that path analysis techniques can be successfully applied to ordinal data using ordinal statistics rather than assuming equalinterval scales and applying interval statistics, or using dummy variables. Possibly, small effect of neighborhood context reported by Sewell and Armer is a consequence of their ignoring a curvilinear relationship between neighborhood context and college plans, their assuming interval data, and their use of a linear multiple correlation model when in fact their data did not conform to underlying assumptions. This article develops a procedure for path analysis of ordinal variables using only ordinal statistics and presents an ordinal path analysis of data previously analyzed by Sewell and Armer (1966a) in their article, Neighborhood Context and College Plans.' In it, they tested hypothesis that: the socioeconomic status of high school district-since it presumably reflects shared norms and aspirations of its members would have an important effect on educational aspirations of its youth over and above that of family socioeconomic status or individual ability (1966a: 162). Sewell and Armer first treated their variables as attributes. They showed that neighborhood socioeconomic status has a positive zero-order effect on college plans of high school seniors. (Their data-set described universe of seniors attending Milwaukee high schools during 1957-58 academic year.) Then they presented cross-tabulations between each test factor (sex, intelligence, and socioeconomic status) and independent and dependent variables. In order to determine whether original relationship between neighborhood and college plans still held, they tested it by controlling for test factors singly and in combination. Finally, they assumed interval measurement and carried out a multiple correlation analysis. They entered test factors first and then independent variable neighborhood context-to determine magnitude of variance in college plans it independently explains. The researchers did not carry out a causal analysis of interrelations between neighborhood context and 3 test factors. They felt their research hypothesis did not require it (1966b:708), and that precise causal order of variables was unobtainable ( 1966b:709). Given their analytic procedures and symmetric measures of correlation, they found that: . . neighborhood status results in an absolute increase in explained variance of college plans of 1.8 percent beyond effects of sex, socioeconomic status, and intelligence [ 199 ] * Revised version of a paper presented at annual meeting of Eastern Sociological Society, New York, April 1971. The author is indebted to Paul F. Lazarsfeld for suggesting that he study this problem, and to Robert Somers, Neil Henry, Robert HaLuser, and numerous colleagues for their helpful comments on earlier drafts. Preparation of this article was facilitated by general research grants from Academic Senate of University of California, Santa Barbara, and by grants of computer time from National Institute of Mental Health. 1 For earlier methodological and substantive comments on Sewell and Armer's analysis see Boyle (1966), Michael (1966), Sewell and Armer (1966b), Turner (1966). This content downloaded from 207.46.13.183 on Thu, 21 Apr 2016 06:29:34 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 200 / SOCIAL FORCES / vol. 51, dec. 1972 ( 1 966a: 167). Contrariwise, results reported below based on a reanalysis of very same data, but using ordinal statistics and path analysis, indicate that neighborhood context has very important direct and indirect effects on college plans.

Neighborhood Context and College Plans: An Ordinal Path Analysis

Neighborhood Context and College Plans: An Ordinal Path Analysis

High School Context and College Plans: A Comment

High School Context and College Plans: A Comment

High School Context and College Plans: The Impact of Social Structure on Aspirations

The controversy surrounding the contextual effects of high school status on college aspirations is reviewed. Some of the ambiguity in research findings may be traced to the failure to consider school conditions which foster and hinder college aspirations. Research on high school students in the metropolitan Minneapolis-St. Paul area shows that highly intelligent students are most likely to be found in high status schools. Hence, it may be easier for adolescents at any level of intelligence to get higher grades in low status schools where competition is lean. Within any given category of measured intelligence, attending a high status school appears to raise scores on a less potent predictor of aspirations, school status, and lower scores on a more potent predictor of aspirations, academic rank position. Since rank is an important predictor of college aspirations under all conditions, controlling for rank increases the correlation between school status and aspirations. The analysis suggests that although the effects of school status tend to cancel each other out and the net effect on aspirations is small, the theoretical importance of school status cannot be discounted.

School Ethnic Composition, Social Contexts, and Educational Plans of Mexican-American and Anglo High School Students

College plans of Mexican-American and Anglo high school students are related by a model to the following variables: family socioeconomic status, school ethnic composition, measured intelligence, parents' aspirations, and peers'aspirations. Data have been obtained from seniors in five urban secondary schools, and path analyses are developed separately for Mexican-American and Anglo boys and girls. Family socioeconomic status is shown to be a weak direct predictor of college plans for all groups but serves as an indirect predictor for Anglos. Both ethnic groups are found to be more apt to develop college plans in schools dominated by their own ethnic group. The other variables also directly affect college plans: peer's aspirations is the most predictive variable for Mexican-American boys, and parents'aspirations the most predictive for the other three groups.

Simple techniques for multivariate analysis

This paper describes the basic rationale, limitations, and calculation procedures for the Weighted Net Percentage Difference, a convenient and versatile technique for partialling out the independent effects of each of a set of categorical independent variables on a dichotomous dependent variable expressed as a percentage. Examples from the sociology of education literature, including a reanalysis of the controversial Sewell and Armer data pertaining to the influence of neighborhood socioeconomic composition on adolescent college plans, are used to illustrate the application of this technique to dichotomous as well as to both ordinal and nominal multi-category independent variables (polytomies). These examples demonstrate the capacity of this technique to specify interaction effects within complex cross-classification tables.

Sociometric Location and Innovativeness: Reformulation and Extension of the Diffusion Model

1968a class, parental encouragement and educational aspirations. American Journal of Sociology 73:559-572. 1968b Parents' education and children's educational aspirations and achievements. American Sociological Review 33:191-209. Sexton, Patrico Cayo 1961 Education and Income. New York: Viking Press. Slater, Marian K. 1969 My son the doctor: Aspects of mobility among American Jews. American Sociological Review 34 (June) :359-373. Smith, Howard P. and Marcia Abramson 1962 Racial and family experience correlate of mobility aspiration. Journal of Negro Education 31:117-124. Stephenson, Richard M. 1957 Mobility orientation and stratification of 1,000 ninth graders. American Sociological Review 22:204-212. Strodtbeck, Fred 1958 Family interaction, values, and achievement. In Marshall Sklare (ed.), The Jews: Social Patterns of An American Group. Glencoe, Illinois: Free Press. Turner, Ralph H. 1964 The Social Context of Ambition. San Francisco: Chandler Publishing Company. Turner, Ralph H., John A. Michael and Richard P. Boyle 1966 On neighborhood context and college plans. American Sociological Review 31 (October) :698-707. U. S. Bureau of the Census 1967 School enrollment: October 1965. Population Characteristics Current Population Reports Series P-20 No. 162 (March). Uzell, 0. 1961 Occupational aspirations of Negro male high school students. Sociology and Social Research 45:202-204. Weber, Max 1958 The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, translated by Talcott Parsons. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.

Educational Climates of High Schools: Their Effects and Sources

This contextual analysis demonstrates that (1) a number of dimensions of the educationa climates of schools have moderate effects on the mathematics achievement and college plans or students, with relevant individual attributes controlled; (2) several indicators of "intellectual" or "cultural" facilities of the community and measures of school curriculum and facilities do not qualify as sources of variations in climate effects; and (3) the degree of "parental involvement in and commitment to the school" is the ore contextual variable which is a source of climate effects. The educational implications of the results are discussed.

Social class, parental encouragement, and educational aspirations.

In this study of a randomly selected cohort of 10,318 Wisconsin high school seniors, correlational, path, and cross-tabular analyses show that socioeconomic status, intelligence, and parental encouragement all have substantial independent relationships to college plans of males as well as of females and that neither intelligence nor parental encouragement-individually or jointly-can completely account for social class differences in college plans. It substantiates, however, the claim made by other investigators using less rigorous methods and less representative samples that parental encouragement is a powerful intervening variable between socioeconomic class background and intelligence of the child and his educational aspirations. Parental encouragement appears to have its strongest effect on the college plans of males and females who score relatively high on intelligence and come from families occupying relatively high socioeconomic position. Also, ability continues to accentuate the social class differences in aspirations of both males and females regardless of parental encouragement.

The Impact of Reference Groups on the Educational and Occupational Aspirations of Women College Students

The present study deals with the influence of reference groups on the student's decision to go to college and on other areas related to post-college expectations. This analysis describes a sample of women students at one private college in the Middle East. Basic conclusions are: 1. Both parents are perceived by their daughters to play a very important role in the educational and occupational aspirations of their female children who go on to college. The pattern of parental influence slightly favors the authority of the father in this regard, but in general the tendency is towards an equalitarian relationship. 2. Relatives including sisters and brothers are not perceived as a significant factor in providing direction for the college plans of students 3. Friends, teachers, and other adults are consistently overlooked as a source of guidance and support in reference to college plans. 4. The dominance of the family does not require the complete subordination of the individual; self-assertion is particularly noticeable in areas of direct concern to the student. 5. The above pattern remains the same when differences in socioeconomic and other social characteristics are considered. Theoretically, the continued reliance on the family as a primary group not permeated by the influence of secondary groups implies the solidarity of the nuclear family in the Middle Eastern society. Furthermore, membership in a group which has involved deep-seated attachments cannot be easily forgotten or destroyed. The result is very likely to be that of a great deal of dependence on family ties and bonds.

Seminar 6 Learner-Centered Independent Study Approach — The Oakland Community College Plan

Seminar 6 Learner-Centered Independent Study Approach — The Oakland Community College Plan

Regional Differences in Junior Colleges

This study examines the geographical distribution of various junior college characteristics. Scores for 6 factors or categories of college characteristics, identified in earlier ACT research, were computed for each of 581 accredited junior colleges. When these junior colleges were classified and analyzed by geographical region, significant differences were found among regions on all 6 factors—Cultural Affluence (or Private Control), Technological Specialization, Size, Age (or Conventionalism), Transfer Emphasis, and Business Orientation (or High Cost). The regional differences are discussed and implications are suggested for research and counseling as well as for junior college planning.

Socioeconomic Status, Intelligence, and the Attainment of Higher Education

In this study of a randomly selected cohort of Wisconsin high school seniors, the relative influences of socioeconomic status and measured intelligence are examined at successive stages in higher education by use of cross-tabular analysis, effect parameters, and path analysis. Both socioeconomic status and intelligence have direct effects on planning on college, college attendance, and college graduation, and considerable indirect effect on the level of educational attainment through their effects on college plans and college attendance. However, for females the relative effect of socioeconomic status on college pkans, college attendance, and college graduation was greater than was the effect of intelligence, while for males the relative effect of intelligence at each of these stages was greater than the effect of socioeconomic status. When only those who attended college were included in the analysis, intelligence was more important than was socioeconomic status, for both sexes, in determining who eventually graduated from college. But socioeconomic status continued to influence college graduation-even after socioeconomic selection had played its part in determining who would attend college.

Peer Influences on the College Plans of Canadian High School Students*

Comment les projets des amis des étudiants du secondaire affectent‐ils la décision de ceuxci de poursuivre des études au niveau collegial? L'auteur a étudiAeA cette question parmi 889 étudiants de 12e année AaG Port‐Arthur et Fort‐William. Les étudiants et les étudiantes dont les amis se proposent d'entrer au collège considèrent davantage de le faire que ceux et celles dont les amis ne se le proposent pas. Quand on tient compte du quotient d'intelligence et du milieu socio‐économique, cette association persiste sauf dans le cas des jeunes filles de statut économique faible. Parmi ces dernières, les projets de leurs amis ne sont pas assoctés à leurs projets de poursuivre des études universitaires, quel que soit le quotient d'intelligence. L'auteur établit des liens entre ses observations et les conséquences de celles‐ci et la notion que les jeunes forment un sousgroupe culturel.

Neighborhood Context and College Plans

Neighborhood Context and College Plans

STS Alumni Speak

> TWENTY-FIVE Science Talent Searches ago I was at a banquet very much like this one only minutes away from learning that I was to be one of the two top winners of that year. As I have talked to the winners over the past few days I have been asked many times what it was like then and what changes have taken place in the Science Talent Institute since. The people involved are very much the same. There are many members of SCIENCE SERVICE and Westinghouse who were with us then and are here again tonight and the winners themselves are a group very much like our own. But everything else is quite different. The first Science Talent Search was planned on the spur of the moment and announced only a few months before the end of our senior year, and the Washington trip was held in the middle of the summer when our college plans were already complete. I had already started as a freshman in the summer term at N.Y.U., and I had to take time off from college to be here. When we arrived in Washington we were met at the station by a bewildered delegation from SCIENCE SERVICE who looked as though they had no idea as to what to expect but were prepared for almost anything. The tests and judging were similar, but although most of us had done scientific work of one sort or another there were no formal projects as such. There would have been no time to get ready, and in any case, no place to put them. It was problem enough to find where to put us. Space was hard to come by in war-time Washington on short notice. We ended up staying at a very small and old hotel called the Martinque which we just about took over, but even so there was no room to spread out. Even beds were short and I had to share one with another winner. The entire Institute was supposed to take only 3 days which as you can well imagine was not nearly enough. After the awards had been announced there was still so much to do that the two top winners were asked to stay over for another couple of days. SO SCIENCE SERVICE wired my parents about the change in plans. Now at that time the Western Union station at home was in a back corner of a small store in the middle of the village and when the message was received it was read with great interest, judged to be in the public domain, and the news was quickly passed around to all present. In the resulting excitement no one remembered to deliver the message to its destination. Late the next morning when I called home the telegram had not yet been received and my father and mother were among the last to (Continued on p. 190) By LT. COL. P. E. TESCHAN,

Socioeconomic Status and College Plans: A Study of Canadian High School Students

The effect of socioeconoinic status on the college plans of 889 Canadian high school students is examined. Sex and measuired intelligence are used as control variables. Among high intelligence students of both sexes, the percentage planning to go to college is greater among those of high socioeconomic status than among those of low socioeconomic status. At all levels of measured intelligence and socioecononic status, boys are more likely to plan on college than girls. While the Canadian educational system is less egalitarian and more intellectually selective than that of the United States, the findings on the relationship of socioeconomic background to college plans are similar to those of studies dealing with American high school students.

Impact of Commitment Upon Performance of College Students

The retention, academic achievement, and change in college plans of students committed to a field of study as freshmen are compared with those who were not sure of their interest. A survey form administered to all the freshmen in the class of 1964, College of Agriculture, was readministered to all those still enrolled seven semesters later. The original hypothesis that the committed student was different from the uncommitted tended to be upheld. The committed student who was dedicated to the study of agriculture was more persistent in his interest in his chosen field; fewer committed students changed majors; fewer withdrew from college.

Structural effects and interpersonal relationships.

It is proposed that structural effects be analyzed with a two-step model that employs structural variables to predict the relevant characateristics of an indvidual's social environment and then explains his behaviors in terms of a social-psychological theory whose predictions take these conditions of the social environment as given. Data on the educational aspirations of adolescents are consistent with this analytic approach: The average socioeconomic status of high schools is directly related to the college plans of students at each status level and, also, to the status of those they select as friends. However, the relationship between school status and college aspirations virtually disappears when the statuses of the individual and his friends are held constant.

Educational Experimentation: Hofstra University's New College Plan

Educational Experimentation: Hofstra University's New College Plan