Rice researcher available to discuss new report on HISD college enrollment, completion rates 

Rice University
Office of Public Affairs / News & Media Relations

EXPERT ALERT

Jeff Falk
713-348-6775
jfalk@rice.edu

Amy McCaig
713-348-6777
amym@rice.edu

Rice researcher available to discuss new report on HISD college enrollment, completion rates 

HOUSTON — (April 9, 2018) – Just over half of the Houston Independent School District’s graduating seniors between 2006 and 2008 went to college the fall following graduation, according to a new report from Rice University’s Houston Education Research Consortium. Brian Holzman, a postdoctoral research fellow at HERC and the study’s author, is available to discuss the report.

The report titled “Transitioning to College and Work Part I: Where Are High School Seniors from 2006–2008 Now?” examines the college outcomes of three cohorts of 12th-grade HISD students prior to the implementation of the district’s college advising program.

Holzman found that only 56 percent of the district’s seniors enrolled in college in the fall after  graduation. He said these outcomes were “less than ideal” and revealed large disparities, particularly for the district’s Hispanic students, when it came to enrolling in and completing post-secondary programs.
Also concerning was the high rate of idleness among HISD’s high school graduates, Holzman said. One-third were neither enrolled in school nor working following high school.

The study also revealed that only 14 percent of high school graduates who failed to earn any college-level credits during their senior year — which was the case for the majority of students in HISD — earned a postsecondary certificate, diploma or degree within six years.

“One promising finding is that immediate college enrollment — attending college the fall after high school — is associated with an increase in college graduation,” Holzman said. “The Hispanic and white college completion rates are similar among these immediate enrollees. Encouraging immediate enrollment, at least among high school graduates ready for a college-level curriculum, may be one strategy to improve educational attainment.”
For more information or to schedule an interview with Holzman, contact Amy McCaig, senior media relations specialist at Rice, at 713-348-6777 or amym@rice.edu.

A full copy of the report is available online at https://bit.ly/2JjHhvk.

Rice University has a VideoLink ReadyCam TV interview studio. ReadyCam is capable of transmitting broadcast-quality standard-definition and high-definition video directly to all news media organizations around the world 24/7.

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Related materials:

HERC website: https://kinder.rice.edu/houston-education-research-consortium

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