Ahead to
A New Path for Postsecondary EducationBy Stephen Clements and Edward “Skip” Kifer(*)
From Talking Back
p. v, published 2001
As part of its mission to advise and inform the Governor, the General Assembly, and the public about the long-term implications of policies, the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center and the Policy Analysis Center for Kentucky Education at the University of Kentucky examine the Commonwealth’s extraordinary goal to increase postsecondary enrollments by 50 percent over the next 20 years. Since many of these new enrollees will come from the ranks of freshly minted high school graduates, we report on our survey of Kentucky high school students. This survey, which was administered by the University of Kentucky Survey Research Center, was designed to learn what Kentucky high school students think about the pursuit of learning opportunities after high school and about how they are investing their time in anticipation of possible postsecondary attendance. From policymakers at every level to ordinary citizens of the Commonwealth, all who are interested in and concerned about improving the Commonwealth’s educational status will find this report of interest.
The Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center was created by the General Assembly in 1992 to bring a broader context to the decisionmaking process. The Center’s mission is to illuminate the long-range implications of current policies, emerging issues, and trends influencing the Commonwealth’s future. The Center has a responsibility to identify and study issues of long-term significance to the Commonwealth and to serve as a mechanism for coordinating resources and groups to focus on long-range planning. Michael T. Childress serves as the Executive Director of the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center. Those interested in further information about the Center should contact his office directly at (502) 564-2851 or info@kltprc.net.
The Policy Analysis Center for Kentucky Education (PACKE) is a nonpartisan, independent educational policy research center sponsored by the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation in the College of Education at the University of Kentucky. The members of the Department also serve in the Center and, along with policy researchers in other units of the University and regional state universities, conduct policy research studies on a variety of policy issues and problems in education. The overriding concern of the Center is to provide timely information about and analyses of the educational policy concerns of legislative and other policymakers in Kentucky. For more information on PACKE, contact Edward Kifer at (859) 257-7836 or skipk@pop.uky.edu.
From Talking Back
p. xiii-xvii, published 2001
More than a decade ago, Kentucky lawmakers took an unusual and even audacious step: they committed themselves to a sweeping 20-year program aimed at overhauling the state’s entire public school system. The scope of the 1990 school reform legislation and the increased funding for education that accompanied it clearly signal the legislature’s belief that education is the keystone of the bridge to a better life for all Kentuckians. Although the final outcome of that effort remains to be seen, several mid-point reviews showed positive results. But the state leadership has not remained idle. More recently, the General Assembly passed House Bill 1, a measure that reorganized the state’s postsecondary education system and committed additional funds with an eye to improving the quality of all higher education institutions and increasing the percent of the population that attends them by half.
While a goal of dramatically increasing postsecondary enrollment by 50 percent is not unprecedented in Kentucky’s history, the legislature has indeed set the bar high, particularly in light of the challenges that have to be overcome. Enrollment in Kentucky postsecondary schools shot up between 1950 and 1990, rising from 22,000 students to 150,000. But it has been relatively flat since then, implying that any expansion will have to come from those portions of the population that traditionally have not sought education beyond high school. And therein lies the challenge. To achieve the desired expansion the state will have to break through several barriers, including those erected by a chronic lack of emphasis on postsecondary education, the state’s demography, and a variety of social conditions.
Recent efforts notwithstanding, the state does not have a robust tradition of supporting public postsecondary education. In 1904, the state commitment was less than $40,000, smaller than what some cities gave their high schools. In part, this lack of support reflected a state whose major industries—mining and farming—did not necessarily require higher education. Kentucky’s historically low literacy rate also played a role. State fiscal support for postsecondary education did increase considerably from the 1960s onward as community colleges were built and the state universities expanded. But decades of postsecondary neglect take decades of work and investment to overcome.
Furthermore, the uneven distribution of the educational talent in the state has important implications for the goal of increasing postsecondary enrollment. The most educated members of the state tend to cluster around the urban triangle formed by Lexington, Louisville, and Covington. The educational level in the rural eastern and southcentral part of the state are markedly lower. To gain substantial enrollment increases, policymakers will have to find ways to entice more students from these areas to pursue higher education.
To do that, they will have to offset a spectrum of social problems. Not only are these areas the least educated, they are the poorest. With that poverty comes conditions that make it difficult to pursue postsecondary schooling. These include first-generation status, welfare, and single parenthood. First-generation status refers to those whose parents never attended college. Absence of a family tradition of higher education makes it difficult to break the pattern of undereducation, in part because the parents know less about the process and thus may not ensure that key preparatory steps are taken and in part because they simply may value it less than families with a strong educational tradition. New welfare work rules make it more difficult for recipients to attend school, and this increased difficulty is likely to manifest itself in reduced enrollments in community colleges, the school of choice for many welfare recipients. Single parenthood also makes education after high school more difficult. Single parents, largely women, tend to earn less, and the research data suggest they do not ensure that their children take the steps critical to gaining admission to higher education (e.g., taking the requisite math, science, and language courses) at the same rate as married parents.
Key to any effort to expand the portion of the state’s population that pursues education beyond high school are the attitudes of Kentucky’s youth. To learn more about their attitudes and opinions, the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center and the Policy Analysis Center for Kentucky Education at the University of Kentucky created a survey that was sent to 3,000 16- and 17-year-olds last year. Nearly 1,100 responded, and noteworthy results include the following:
Nearly all the respondents are planning on more school, and most intend to go to school in Kentucky. Hence, the survey sample represents primarily “college-bound” youth.
The type of school individuals want to attend heavily influences their academic preparation. As measured by the amount of homework done, demanding academic courses taken, and grades achieved, those planning on a four-year college do more or better than those planning on a community college.
Students rate the instruction they have received in math, science, and English relatively highly, but foreign language instruction receives substantially lower marks. School services such as education and career planning also score low.
Most students have access to a computer, know how to use it, and, perhaps reflecting the success of the state’s efforts to boost computer literacy, learned basic skills such as word processing and spreadsheets in school.
Kentucky students want to go to college for the same reasons as other youth across the nation: to get a more rewarding job, to make more money, to learn more about things that interest them, or prepare for a specific career.
In an especially important finding, the survey shows that students decide to pursue higher education quite early in their careers––over half make the decision by middle school or earlier. Those planning on four-year schools make the decision sooner than those going to community or technical schools. But, Kentucky students are less likely than their U.S. counterparts to say they are going to college to train for a specific career or pursue an interest.
Family, friends, and their own deliberations have more influence on youth educational choices than do school personnel such as teachers and counselors.
Students spend most of their out-of-school time working for pay, socializing with their friends, engaging in sports or hobbies, and relaxing with their families. They devote only about five hours per week to homework—about the same amount of time they spend on the phone.
Students know very little about ways to finance college. With the exception of the Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship, only a small number regard themselves as very familiar with any of the state and federal financial aid programs, and large percentages regard themselves as not at all familiar.
Some of the best academically prepared students are planning to attend college out of the state.
In general, the survey results foster optimism, at least with regard to college-bound youth in the Commonwealth. The students responding to the survey seem to be doing well academically and to compare favorably with their peers in other states. Since most of the students who responded to the survey are planning on more education, the picture for those who are not is less clear. This is an important group, because it is the very population the state needs to tap into if it is to meet its goal of boosting postsecondary attendance. Also of some concern is the notion that most of the students planning on additional education do so for expected economic benefits, perhaps shortchanging some of the other substantial arguments for higher education. Furthermore, even the most gifted students do not seem to devote much time to academic matters. Finally, it appears that the state’s investment in technology has paid dividends. Students learn how to use computers in school, and that has important implications for closing what has been dubbed the digital divide.
Given the survey results, we suggest policymakers consider the following:
Altering the discourse on education to include the benefits beyond the economic ones. Empirical data show a connection between education and income. But it is not an unalterable law, and the emphasis on the economic benefits may be setting some students up for disappointment, undercutting their willingness to take courses that may be academically enriching but not necessarily economically beneficial, or might discourage their pursuit of relatively less remunerative careers in such fields as teaching or public service.
Develop new mechanisms to encourage enrollment in postsecondary education and target these toward those who traditionally do not pursue education beyond high school. Particularly urgent is the need for mechanisms to focus on these students early, not later than middle school and possibly grade school. State leaders should also reduce barriers to the participation of high school students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, in introductory level postsecondary courses. Such participation would familiarize them with higher education, enrich their high school experience, and possibly encourage them to continue their education.
Sponsor additional research into the fate of the good students who leave the state for college and the ones who come here from elsewhere. Do they come back or remain in Kentucky or go elsewhere? Further examine the role of the guidance counselors, who barely register as influences on student educational and career decisions.
Sponsor another, more representative survey that plumbs the attitudes of those who do not plan to pursue their education beyond high school. This group is crucial to the state’s goal of increasing the number of Kentuckians in postsecondary education, and greater insight into their attitudes and reasoning would offer policymakers an important vantage point as they craft the policies and programs to accomplish their goal.
The desire to boost the number of Kentucky’s citizens who go on to pursue postsecondary education after high school is both a laudable goal and shrewd public policy. But it will not just happen, and the policies and programs that have worked before may not be the best ones for today. Additional research and continued commitment on the part of Kentucky’s leaders are required to achieve this worthy but difficult goal. As is, some of the best academically prepared students plan to attend college out of state, and many choose not to go at all.
To view a list of all chapters in this book, click here. To read the chapters in sequential order, please follow the arrow below.
Ahead to
A New Path for Postsecondary Education
* Dr. Stephen Clements is an Assistant Professor and Dr. Edward “Skip” Kifer a Professor in the UK Department of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation. Return to text.