Introduction

This report is the third in a series by the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center designed to increase understanding of the benefits of higher education to Kentucky and to discover some of the levers that will enable the Commonwealth to achieve the ambitious long-term goals for postsecondary attendance established by the Council on Postsecondary Education. Dramatically increased postsecondary enrollment and graduation rates as well as the realization of other goals related to the education status of our state will be key to the Commonwealth’s ability to reduce poverty, improve quality of life, increase incomes relative to the nation as a whole, and broaden access to prosperity.

Here, we report findings from case studies of four Kentucky high schools with very different geographic, demographic, and cultural profiles, and, importantly for our purposes, postsecondary outcomes. Our work on these case studies began in 2000 in conjunction with the development and execution of a statewide survey of high school-age youth. As a foundation for this work, the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center developed a database on Kentucky high schools with the goal of predicting postsecondary outcomes, specifically, the percentage of students from a given high school who should be expected to attend college.

As we detail in the subsequent discussion of methodology and in an appendix, we used this analysis to identify schools that were suitable candidates for more detailed qualitative examination. The schools were selected for study based upon the relationship between their actual postsecondary outcomes and our quantitative predictions of their performance as well as other, lesser criteria. Specifically, we selected four schools, two of which were underperforming, one of which was performing as predicted, and one that was performing well beyond the outcomes predicted by our multiple regression analysis. Based upon private interviews with principals, teachers, guidance counselors, and students, these case studies profile and compare the experiences of these schools in an effort to discover more about the intangibles that come into play in the achievements of some schools and the shortcomings of others.

With our 2001 report, Talking Back: Kentucky High School Students and Their Future Education Plans, an analysis conducted by the University of Kentucky Policy Analysis Center for Kentucky Education, we presented our findings from the individual level, based upon our survey of high school-age students. With this report, we closely examine selected high schools, their leadership and culture, the attitudes professionals and students bring into the environment, the programmatic support schools offer, and other dynamics that appear to play a role in the success of high schools, that is, the percentage of students who go on to college relative to the myriad factors that influence this outcome. In short, we sought to learn more about why some schools do better than expected while others fall well short of expectations.

What follows is, first, a brief discussion of the quantitative methodology used in selecting these schools for study, followed by profiles of the four high schools we examined, a comparative analysis of their strengths and weaknesses, and action items that may offer opportunities for community and school leaders, as well as education policymakers, to achieve higher rates of postsecondary attendance and success among Kentucky’s traditional college students, recent high school graduates. Two appendices provide technical information about the data analysis used to select these schools and about an analysis of teacher transcripts conducted to identify any possible links between the academic credentials or backgrounds of teachers and school performance.

While these case studies lead us to recommend additional research in a number of areas, they clearly reveal some of the qualities and characteristics that foster or undermine the performance of high schools in regard to postsecondary outcomes. Indeed, they tell us a great deal about the intangibles that enable some high schools to do a far better job of encouraging and enabling young people to pursue postsecondary education than others. Combined, the Center’s reports offer a compelling case for the value of higher education at the individual and the larger social level (see Education and the Common Good) and, through these case studies and our survey of high school students, an enriched understanding of what our commitment to an improved future may ultimately require of the Commonwealth.

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