Schooling Influences on Aspirations of Rural Youth

1
Schooling Influences on Aspirations of Rural
Youth

• Judith L. Meece, UNC-CH
• Presenter

2
Special Acknowledgements

• Matthew Irvin, Investigator
• Soo-yong Byun, Postdoctoral Scholar
• Thomas W. Farmer, Investigator
• Bryan Hutchins, Project Coordinator
• Kim Dadisman, Investigator
• Dylan Robertson, Investigator
• Laura Shaffer, Program Assistant
• Paul Wilson, Program Assistant

3
Background of Study

• High school reform is currently a national
  priority
• Numerous national reports over the last decades
  have documented the negative impact of high
  schools on adolescents development and
  transition to adulthood
• Most research has focused on urban schools (e.g.,
  NRC Institute of Medicine, 2004).
• Few studies have studied the impact of high
  schools in rural communities.

4
What is Known about High Schools in Rural
Communities?

• Unique Assets of Rural High Schools
• Close community-school relations
• Curricular tracking less prevalent
• Close Supportive student-teacher relations
• Small size
• Greater participation in extracurricular
  activities
• Greater sense of belonging
• Stable peer relations
• Higher satisfaction with school
• Lower drug and alcohol use.
• Sources Coladarci, 2007 Hardre Sullivan,
  2008 Kannapel DeYoung, 1999 Gandara,
  Gutierrez, OHara, 2001 Scafft, Alter,
  Bridger, 2006.

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What is Known about Rural High Schools?

• Unique Challenges of Rural Schools
• Geographical isolation
• Poverty rates
• Limited resources for address diverse needs
• Limited curricular options
• Recruitment retention of high quality teachers
• Limited employment opportunities in community
• High rates of school dropout in impoverished
  rural communities
• Sources Farmer, 2006 Friedman Lichter, 1998
  Khattri, Riley, Kane, 1997 Provasnick et al.,
  2007 Monk, 2007 Johnson Strange, 2007

6
Aims of Current Study

• Examine levels of rural youths educational and
  vocational aspirations for the future
• Describe involvement of youth in postsecondary
  transition activities
• Examine relations of youths schooling
  experiences to educational and vocational
  aspirations.

7
Focus of Study

• Focus of study is on school-related predictors of
  school engagement, motivation, aspirations for
  the future.
• Motivation is essential at all ages, but it
  becomes pivotal at adolescent as youth approach
  the threshold of adulthood (NRC Institute of
  Medicine, 2004).
• Adolescents who view themselves as smart and
  capable and recognize the value of their school
  experiences for future are likely to have high
  postsecondary school aspirations (Hardre
  Sullivan, 2008)
• Aspirations serve as goals for the future that
  help to organize, direct, and guide behavior
  (Bandura, 1986)

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Defining Aspirations

• Some research refer to aspirations as a goal the
  adolescent hopes or desires to attain (e.g.,
  Wilson, Peterson, Wilson, 1993)
• Other research refer to aspirations as a goal the
  adolescent expects to attain (e.g., Bandura et
  al., 2001)
• When the two response forms are compared,
  adolescents tend to have lower expectations than
  aspirations (Howley, 2006 Majoribanks, 1998)
• To date, there is limited information about the
  long-term predictive value of survey questions
  focused on future aspirations vs. expectations.

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Prior Research on Aspirations of Rural Youth

• Rural youth tend to have lower educational and
  occupational aspirations than urban youth
• Rural youth has have lower levels of educational
  attainment than urban youth
• Differences attributed to lack of local
  employment opportunities, parental expectations,
  ethnicity, gender, family income, academic
  preparation, and residential preferences.
• Sources Blackwell McLaughlin, 1999 Cobb,
  McIntire, Pratt, 1989 Haller Vickler, 1993
  Howley, 1997 Kannapel DeYoung, 1999
  Rojewski,1999 Roscigno Crowley, 2001

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Rural HSA School Sample
School Type Number of Schools School Size Poverty Status Minority Percent
Rural Remote 43 32 - 418 0 - 99 0 - 95
Rural Distant 19 81 - 661 18 - 82 1 - 99
Rural Fringe 3 123 - 400 31 - 81 3 - 85
Small Town 8 165 - 1883 16 - 51 1 - 56
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Rural HSA Student SampleN 8754

• Grade levels included
• 28 9th graders
• 27 10th graders
• 25 11th graders
• 19 12th graders
• 51 female and 49 male students
• 11 of sample identified as receiving special
  services by their teachers

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Rural HSA Student SampleN 8754

• -Ethnic Background
• 64 White 11 Hispanic
• 12 Multiracial 7 African American
• 4 American Indian
• -Parental Education
• 30 some PSE or 2-year degree
• 14 4-year degree 12 advanced degree
• 21 HS or GED degree
• -Less than 10 of students reported family
  economic hardship a lot or all of the time

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Measures

• Student Outcome Measures
• Educational Aspirations
• How far in school would you most like to go?
• Vocational Aspirations
• Do you plan to work or have a career at age 30?
• If yes, what kind of job or occupation would you
  most like to have?

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Student Measures

• Student Background Variables (self-reports)
• Gender
• Ethnic Background
• Economic Hardship
• Level of Parental Education
• Parental Educational Expectation
• Grade Level

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Student Measures

• School-Related Influences
• High School Program
• Grade Retention
• Perceived Emphasis on Place-Based Education
• Teachers Educational and Vocational Expectations
• School Belonging
• Academic Self-Concept
• School Valuing

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Analysis ProceduresEducational Aspirations

• Descriptive Analyses
• Hierarchical Linear Modeling
• SEM Analyses

17
Educational Aspirations of Rural Youth Totals vs.
Rural Remote
18
Required Educational Levels of Reported Career
Choices Total Sample vs. Rural Remote
19
High School Programs by Grade Level
20
Postsecondary Education Exploration
21
Frequency of Career Exploration Activities
22
Schooling Influences onEducational Aspirations

• Previous research has treated educational
  aspirations as continuous and categorical
  variable
• For HLM analyses converted educational
  aspirations into years of schooling (e.g., 16
  4-year college)
• Results of HLM analyses indicate that
  approximately 3 of the variance was between
  school.

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Gender (female)
Race (white)
Grade
Distal Variables
Control Variables
Educational Aspirations
Teachers Educational Expectations
HS Program
Grade Retention
Proximal Variables
Academic Self-Concept
Mediation Model of School Influences on
Educational Aspirations
24
Gender (female)
Race (white)
Grade
Distal Variables
-.049
-.069
Control Variables
.115
-.027
.415
.420
.236
Educational Aspiration
.235
Teachers Educational Expectations
Explained variance (R2) .26
-.049
.064
.072
.233
.284
.230
Model fit summary NFI .825 CFI
.831 RMSEA .054
HS Program
.095
Retention
-.074
Proximal Variables
Mediation Model of School Influences on
Educational Aspirations
25
Gender (female)
Race (white)
Grade
Distal Variables
-.049
-.069
Control Variables
.115
-.027
.415
.420
.236
Educational Aspiration
.235
Teachers Educational Expectations
Explained variance (R2) .26
-.049
.064
.072
.233
.284
.230
Model fit summary NFI .825 CFI
.831 RMSEA .054
HS Program
.095
Retention
-.074
Proximal Variables
Mediation Model of School Influences on
Educational Aspirations
26
Gender (female)
Race (white)
Grade
Distal Variables
-.049
-.069
Control Variables
.115
-.027
.415
.420
.236
Educational Aspiration
.235
Teachers Educational Expectations
Explained variance (R2) .26
-.049
.064
.072
.233
.284
.230
Model fit summary NFI .825 CFI
.831 RMSEA .054
HS Program
.095
Retention
-.074
Proximal Variables
Mediation Model of School Influences on
Educational Aspirations
27
ConclusionsEducational Aspirations

• Approximately 77 of rural youth aspire to
  complete a college or advanced professional
  degree
• Aspirations for college are equivalent with other
  national studies (NCES, 2004)
• ELS 2002 data reveal differences in urban and
  rural samples for advanced degrees only (NCES,
  2004)
• Most of the variation in educational aspirations
  occurs within school rather than between school.

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ConclusionsTransition Preparation

• Given students relatively high educational
  aspirations, postsecondary preparation activities
  were limited for the sample as whole
• Approximately 20 of 11th and 12th grade students
  reported they were enrolled in a some type of
  college preparatory course.
• National studies indicate that rural youth are
  less likely to have access to advanced high
  school courses than urban youth (Planty et al.,
  2007).
• Participation in traditional postsecondary
  transition activities (college visits, talking
  with counselors about college, job mentoring, job
  shadowing, etc.) was also limited for the RHSA
  sample as a whole.

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ConclusionsSchooling Experiences

• Educational Aspirations strongly related to
  malleable aspects of the school environment
• Teacher expectations
• School belonging
• Curriculum relevance
• Academic self-concept
• School valuing beliefs

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Limitations of Study

• Aspirations measured at one point in time
• Lack of information of goal attainment
• Aspirations vary by gender, ethnicity, and
  perceived economic hardship the moderating
  influence of student characteristics on school
  influences will be examined in future analyses
• Not a longitudinal study therefore no causal
  conclusions can be drawn from the regression
  analyses presented.
• Schooling model presented explained approximately
  25 of the variance in students educational
  aspirations, even with parental and student
  background variables included.