Understanding high school type (public, Catholic, and independent private) as an admission tool to contextualize student performance

2015-02-12An understanding of how well a high school prepares its students for college success is critical information for admission officers; however, it is one thing for a high school to claim that it is a rigorous college preparatory institution and quite another thing to actually be one. The factors examined in this study were chosen based on their ability to elicit positive student preparation for and success in college. The factors studied included: Sex, Ethnic Classification (white/Asian and other), Declared Academic Unit (STEM and non-STEM), Pell Grant eligibility (Yes, No), Region of U.S., HSGPA, SAT/ACT, FYGPA, Number of AP courses, AP test scores (STEM and non-STEM), and AP grades (STEM and non-STEM), as well as school and school type. The sample represents 17,080 students from 3,413 high schools. Of schools in the sample, 70% were public, 20% were independent private, and roughly 10% were Catholic institutions. Thirty percent of the student population attended independent private or Catholic high schools, thus making the examination of student success, based on school type, extremely viable. The study employed a non-experimental research design utilizing a correlational approach with an exploratory design. There was no intervention or treatment, other than the exploration of school type. This study confirms preexisting evidence of grade inflation, but furthers the understanding of which types of schools are most engaged in the practice of grade inflation. More compelling, however, was the outcome of the public school examination. Overwhelming and significant evidence points to the success of public schools, and despite lower demonstrated SES, public institutions appear to be preparing students better than the ""private school effect"" might suggest