A Case Study: An Investigation of the High School Experience and College Performance Using Interviews and Latent Growth Curve Modeling

For over 120 years, high school reform has been at the forefront of American education in an effort to improve post secondary performance of college students. Many studies have examined academic measures that predict the likelihood of success students may experience as a function of high school performance, but, overwhelmingly, these predictions focus on the first year of post secondary learning. Few studies have investigated from the students’ perspectives what conditions in high school may have contributed to their initial and long-term success in college. This study interviewed college students who graduated from an early college high school while either in college or immediately after graduating, and then used linear growth curve modeling to examine how well these and other students performed academically. The researchers found that 1) some aspects of the high school experience were seen a contributing factors to a successful college career, and 2) early college high students showed a slightly slower decline in academic performance as compared to non-early college high school students