SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 1 School Counseling College-Going Culture: Counselors’ Influence on Students’ College-Going Decisions Julia Bryan1, Jungnam Kim2, and Chang Liu3 1 Department of Educational Psychology, Counseling, and Special Education, The Pennsylvania State University 2 Department of Counselor Education, School Psychology, and Human Services, University of Nevada, Las Vegas 3 Department of Education Policy Studies, The Pennsylvania State University Author Note Julia Bryan Jungnam Kim https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1471-1677 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9608-4872 Chang Liu. We have no known conflict of interest to disclose. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Julia Bryan, Counselor Education program, College of Education, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802. Email: jabryan@psu.edu SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 2 Abstract This study tested the conceptual framework of school counseling college-going culture (SCCGC) using a national sample of 15,857 high school students from the High School Longitudinal Study 2009. We examined the relationship of SCCGC (i.e., counselor expectations and priorities, student-counselor contact for college-career counseling prior to 12th grade, college and career readiness activities, and constraints) to high school seniors’ college decisions (i.e., studentcounselor contact for college admissions counseling in 12th grade, student-counselor contact for financial aid counseling in 12th grade, number of college applications, and enrollment in college). Multinomial and ordinal logistic regression analyses revealed that counselors’ expectations and priorities, student-counselor contact for college-career counseling prior to 12th grade, college application and financial aid help, and college information and FAFSA meetings were positively related while caseload was negatively related to students’ college decisions (after controlling for parent involvement, academic performance and aspirations, and student demographics). Keywords: School counseling, college-going culture, college-going decisions SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 3 School Counseling College-Going Culture: Counselors’ Influence on Students’ College-Going Decisions Students’ college-going decisions and behaviors continue to be of paramount interest among policymakers and educators in a nation whose economic viability and global competitiveness rely on a well-educated and skilled working population. Despite the cost of a college education, research still indicates that a college degree produces a positive and significant impact on individuals’ economic success and job satisfaction over a lifetime (Emmons, Kent, & Ricketts, 2019). Thus, there is a national education mandate that regardless of students’ postsecondary education choices, all students leave school college-and-career ready and enroll in college (Bryan et al., 2016; Edwin, et al., 2019; Malin et al., 2017). In this article, we use college to describe a number of postsecondary education (PSE) options including fouryear bachelor’s degree, two-year associate degree, and other postsecondary education (PSE) options. Yet, the college-going process is complicated for many students, even college-ready ones (Cabrera & La Nasa, 2000, 2001). High school students must complete a series of major tasks and decisions in the college going process, including acquiring information about college, college admissions and financial aid; submitting applications to college; applying for financial aid; and enrolling in college (Cabrera & LaNasa, 2000; Poynton & Lapan, 2017). Some students have access to this information and help with these major tasks from their parents or other supportive adults. However, for many students, this information must come from other sources. A key source of college information is school counselors (Bryan, 2011, 2017). School counselors are a source of social capital for students, providing a supportive relationship from which information and resources flow to facilitate students’ pathways to college, especially for low- SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 4 income and first-generation students, and students of color (Bryan, 2011; McDonough, 1997, 2005a, 2005b; Perna et al., 2008). Through college admissions and financial aid counseling, counselors provide students with critical college-related information, such as knowledge about and assistance in the college application and enrollment process, and financial aid assistance and advice (Bryan et al., 2011). Three decades ago, although scholars recognized the importance of school counselors in students’ college choices, they focused college-going research on a mix of student and school characteristics that contribute to students’ college-going decisions. Important factors emerged as predictors of whether students apply to and enroll in college including students’ socioeconomic status (SES); race/ethnicity; academic achievement and rigorous course-taking such as AP courses; students’ and parents’ postsecondary aspirations or expectations; and parent involvement and encouragement (Cabrera & La Nasa, 2000, 2001; Hossler, Schmit, & Vesper, 1999; McDonough, 1997). These studies indicated that parent involvement, AP course-taking, academic achievement scores, and students’ educational aspirations (or expectations) are salient predictors of students’ college application and enrollment rates. During the past two decades, researchers focused on the school’s college-going culture (e.g., McDonough, 2005a, 2005b). These studies examined the important cultural factors in schools influencing students’ college-going outcomes taking the stance that school counseling is just one aspect of that culture. McDonough (2005a, 2005b) identified nine central elements of college-going culture including college expectations, college talk, college partnerships, and a comprehensive school counseling program. More recently, in a study of how school counselors shape college opportunity and college-going culture, Engberg and Gilbert (2014) found that college opportunity structure, which they defined as counseling norms (i.e., average counselor SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 5 caseload, priority of postsecondary preparation and college counseling) and counseling resources (i.e., college visits and fairs, financial aid assistance, college information sessions), was linked to a school’s four-year college-going rates. However, researchers (e.g., McDonough, 2005a, 2005b; Perna, 2006; Engberg & Gilbert, 2014) examined the role of school counselors in students’ college choices through frameworks that do not consider the direct influence of school counselors and their programs. Students share numerous stories that attest to the ways in which school counselors help or hinder them in the college-going process regardless of/above and beyond the school wide college-going culture (e.g., Williams et al., 2014). Two national datasets from the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES), the Educational Longitudinal Study 2002 (ELS 2002) and the High School Longitudinal Study 2009 (HSLS: 09), have afforded researchers the opportunity to examine the effects of school counselors on a variety of student outcomes including those in this study. However, only the HSLS:09 includes a school counselor survey with multiple indicators suitable for examining how school counselors and their programs influence students’ college-going pathways and decisions. Consequently, in a number of extant studies, scholars have begun to explore the associations and effects of a range of school counseling variables including school counselor expectations (Bryan et al., 2009; 2017); priority goals, use of time, hours spent on college readiness counseling (Engberg & Gilbert, 2014; Qi & Brown, 2020; Rangel & Ballysingh, 2020; Velez, 2016); frequently, student-counselor contact, visits, or talk (Bryan et al., 2011, 2017; Belasco, 2013; Velez, 2016); college and career readiness activities (Edwin, et al., 2019; Engberg & Gilbert 2014; Fitzpatrick, 2019; Fitzpatrick & Schneider, 2016; Rangel & Ballysingh, 2020); counselor caseloads (Goodman‐Scott, at al., 2018; Shi & Brown, 2020; Woods & Domina, 2014); and number of counselors (Bryan et al., 2011; Robinson & Roksa, 2016) on students’ college-going SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 6 decisions, including receiving counseling for college admissions and for financial aid, career aspirations, applying to college, and college enrollment. However, despite their valuable insights, these extant studies indicate the need for a conceptual model that links school counseling antecedents to students’ college-going outcomes in one holistic model. Disparate studies fall short of expanding understanding of the processes and effects of school counseling on students’ college going decisions. Building on the extant research and using the HSLS:09, in this study, we created and tested a school counselingcentered conceptual framework that integrates the counseling variables and predictors from the aforementioned studies. The school counseling college-going culture (SCCGC) framework may explain how school counselors, and the culture in school counseling programs and departments, influence students’ college-going decisions and outcomes. We conceptualize school counseling college-going culture as four related, but distinct components: (a) counselor expectations and priorities; (b) student-counselor contact for college-career counseling and advising; (c) college and career readiness activities; and (d) constraints. These variables are the key antecedents to four major college-going decisions or outcomes: college admissions counseling, financial aid counseling, number of college applications, and college enrollment. Below, we define school counseling college-going culture, followed by a discussion of the operationalized components of the school counseling college-going culture (SCCGC) framework. Definition and Rationale for School Counseling College-Going Culture (SCCGC) “School cultures are the shared orientations, values, norms, and practices that hold an educational unit together, give it a distinctive identity, and vigorously resist change from the outside” (Kaplan & Owings, 2013, p. 2). Schools typically have an overarching culture and several subcultures often shaped by teachers’ subject disciplines, work functions, or SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 7 departmental affiliations (Grossman & Stodolsky, 1995; Stodolsky & Grossman, 1995). Like most subject-based departments or units in schools, school counseling departments have a distinct subculture nested in the larger organizational culture (Bellou, 2008; Bunce & Willower, 2001). As members of a high school counseling department or subculture, counselors share a cultural context, comprising common knowledge, identities, and job functions; values and beliefs; expectations and goals; norms and resources; and patterns and behaviors that impact every aspect of their work (Bunce & Willower, 2001; Friedman, Galligan, Albano, & O’Connor, 2009; Grossman & Stodolsky, 1995; Siskin, 1991; Stodolsky & Grossman, 1995). College-going takes place within multiple layered cultural contexts, the wider school context or college-going culture of the school and the school counseling context or school counseling college-going culture (McKillip et al., 2012; Perna, 2006; Perna et al.,, 2008). In this study, we examine the latter, that is, the school counseling college-going culture. When it comes to college-going, each school counseling department has a distinct culture that patterns and structures school counselors’ daily interactions and activities with students, parents, teachers and other stakeholders about college as well as their use of time and priorities and the structural constraints they face (McKillip et al., 2012; Perna, 2006; Perna et al., 2008). School counseling subcultures can promote college-going even when the culture of the school runs counter to that (Nikischer, Weis, and Dominguez, 2016). We hypothesize that school counseling college-going culture either supports or discourages students’ college-going decisions and access to college. We define school counseling college-going culture as counselors’ expectations and goals or priorities; their contact and interactions with students for college and career counseling and advising; their practices and activities that support college and career readiness; and the constraints and resources (or lack of) within a school counseling department. School counseling SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 8 college-going culture may be stronger than or exist regardless of the wider college-going culture of the school because what counselors do around college-going has substantial influence on the perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of students, parents, teachers, and administration (Belasco, 2013; Bellou, 2008; Engberg & Gilbert, 2014; Nikischer, Weis, and Dominguez, 2016; Perna et al., 2008; Poynton & Lapan, 2017; Rangel & Ballysingh, 2020). The following section discusses each of the variables or units of analysis in the conceptual framework and rationale for selecting them based on the existing research. Conceptual Framework: Operationalizing School Counseling College-Going Culture We operationalize school counseling college-going culture (SCCGC) as comprising four components: (a) counselor expectations and priorities; (b) student-counselor contact for collegecareer counseling and advising; (c) college and career readiness activities; and (d) constraints. Below, we define and describe each aspect or construct of school counseling college-going culture, which will subsequently be measured and used as predictors of students’ college decisions. We expect these four constructs or dimensions to be related to each other, but conceptually distinct and important to measure separately. See Figure 1 for a conceptual (not structural) model of the components of school counseling college-going culture. Counselor Expectations and Priorities. Counselors’ expectations are their perceptions of or beliefs about their students’ abilities and outcomes and their roles in serving students. Counselors’ priorities describe what program goals they prioritize in their daily work and what percentage of time they spend on those goals. Scholars indicate that educators’ expectations matter, impacting student outcomes such as college enrollment and persistence in college (Boser, Wilhelm, & Hanna, 2014; Papageorge, Gershenson, & Kang, 2020). Yet, few empirical studies about counselor expectations demonstrate that counselors affect whether students seek the SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 9 counselor for college information and students’ postsecondary education enrollment (Bryan, et al., 2009, 2017). These expectations are transmitted to students through educators’ conversations and behaviors and are often reflected in counselors’ program priorities. Counselors must prioritize among several goals such as academic counseling and development, providing help with job-seeking, personal-social counseling and development, or college/postsecondary admissions counseling. Although unspoken, counselors’ expectations and priorities shape the norms or daily pattern of behaviors and activities in their program and school. Using the ELS 2002 dataset, counselors’ postsecondary expectations (i.e., whether they would get a job, join the military, get married, or enroll in college) predicted high school seniors’ likelihood to receive college admissions counseling from their counselors in 12th grade and counselors’, teachers’, and coaches’ postsecondary expectations of students, predicted students’ attendance at a postsecondary institution (Bryan et al., 2009, 2017). In the HSLS 2009 dataset, counselors’ expectations are assessed by school counselors’ beliefs about students in general. Only one study has used this measure of school counselors’ general beliefs about students to explore the effects of counselors’ expectations on college-going (i.e., Kim, Geesa, & McDonald, 2020); positive counselor expectations or general beliefs predicted a greater likelihood that students would enroll in college/postsecondary education (PSE). Regarding counselor priorities, recent research using the HSLS 2009 indicates that when counselors make students’ readiness for postsecondary education a priority (as opposed to other competing priorities) and dedicate a greater percentage of their time to it, their four-year collegegoing rates are likely to increase (Engberg & Gilbert, 2014; Robinson & Roksa, 2016; Rangel & Ballysingh, 2020; Shi & Brown, 2020). However, these results are inconsistent; in another study SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 10 using the HSLS 2009, when counselors’ priority is college preparation, students were less likely to enroll in four-year colleges (Radford & Ifill, 2013). In the context of student demographic and other school counseling variables, we expect that counselor expectations and priorities would affect not only college enrollment, but other student college-going decisions, namely, students’ contact with counselors for college admissions and financial aid counseling and number of college applications. Student-counselor Contact for College-Career Counseling and Advising. Studentcounselor contact for college counseling comprises students’ direct contact with counselors for college or career related information in the form of college admissions counseling, financial aid information and assistance, and academic and career advising and planning. Student-counselor contact (also called talk, conversations, visits, or interactions) can serve as a source of social capital for student; the flow of information, resources, and assistance through counselor-student contact, especially in earlier grades, appear to positively affect students’ high school outcomes, such as course taking, graduation, applying to college, Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) submission, and college enrollment (Bryan et al., 2011; 2017; Belasco, 2013; Fitzpatrick, 2019; Poynton & Lapan, 2017; Robinson & Roksa, 2016; Velez, 2016). However, mere contact may not be enough; early and multiple points of student contact with counselors may also be important in the college-decision making process (Bryan, 2011; Belasco, 2013). Students who see the counselor multiple times prior to 12th grade may be more likely to see counselors for college admissions and financial aid counseling in 12th grade, submit more college applications and enroll in college. Velez (2016) examined early student-counselor contact and found that if a student met with a counselor for college information in ninth grade, that student had 27% greater chance of meeting with a counselor during 12th grade for college SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 11 admissions counseling, a critical step, in the college going process. Similarly, Bryan et al. (2011) found that meeting with school counselors for college information before 11th grade predicted higher college application rates. Previous studies using large national educational datasets measure whether student-counselor contact took place and reasons for contacts. In this current study, we measure earlier and multiple points of contact in 9th and 11th grade for college information (i.e., earlier student-counselor contact for college-career counseling (prior to 12th grade)). In the context of student demographic and other school counseling variables, we expect that these contacts will predict students’ college decisions including later contact for college admissions counseling and financial aid counseling in 12th grade, college application rates, and college enrollment. College and Career Readiness Activities. College and career readiness means students have the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for success in postsecondary education or training leading to employment. College and career readiness (CCR) activities are essential tasks, practices, and programs that school counselors typically coordinate to promote students’ college and career readiness such as college campus visits, college and career fairs, career awareness activities and career assessments, and college application and financial aid workshops and meetings (Bryan et al., 2016, 2019; Conley & McGaughy, 2012; Goodwin, et al., 2016; McDonough, 2005). These informational supports or systemically coordinated activities, typical aspects of college preparation programs, are critical factors that positively impact students’ college decisions (Bell, Rowan-Kenyon, & Perna, 2009; Engberg and Gilbert, 2014; McDonough, 2005). In the context of student demographic and other school counseling variables, we expect that whether or not school counselors are able to facilitate or coordinate SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 12 such CCR activities will affect students’ college-going decisions (Belasco, 2013; Engberg & Gilbert, 2016; Robinson, & Roksa, 2016). Constraints. Too often, systemic or structural policies and resource challenges constrain counselors’ roles and the services they provide especially regarding preparation for postsecondary decisions and transitions (Bryan et al., 2016, 2017, 2019; Perna et al., 2008). Common constraints include student-counselor caseloads, numbers of counselors, and collegespecific guidance and counseling provided through designated college counselors, advisors, mentors, or coaches (Bryan et al., 2009; Poynton & Lapan, 2017; Shi & Brown, 2020). Two qualitative studies revealed that constraints such as large caseloads and little designated time for college and career readiness counseling limit school counselors from fully supporting students in the college going process (Shillingford, Oh, & Finnell, 2018; Gearns, Kelly, & Bugallo, 2018). Also, in a number of studies using national datasets, both counselor caseload and number of counselors affect the provision of school counseling services and students’ academic outcomes and college application and enrollment rates (Bryan et al., 2011; Engberg & Gilbert, 2014; Fitzpatrick, 2019; Goodman‐Scott, Sink, Cholewa, & Burgess, 2018; Poynton & Lapan, 2017; Rangel & Ballysingh, 2020; Shi & Brown, 2020; Woods & Domina, 2014). Researchers seeking to quantify the impact of school counselors, found that one additional high school counselor resulted in a 10-percentage point increase in four-year college-going rates (Hurwitz & Howell, 2014). Nevertheless, results on counselor caseload are mixed with studies indicating both negative and positive relationships to college application and enrollment found (Engberg & Gilbert, 2014). In the context of student demographic and other school counseling variables, we expect that caseload will be a negative predictor and number of school counselors and school SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 13 counselor designated for college readiness will be positive predictors of students’ college decisions. Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of school counseling college-going culture (SCCGC) regarding four critical college-going decisions that high school seniors have to make: whether to seek or receive college counseling and financial aid counseling in 12th grade, how many colleges to apply to, and whether to enroll in college/postsecondary education. Using the conceptual model of school counseling college-going culture (see Figure 1), the following research question guided this study: What is the relationship of school counseling college-going culture (i.e., counselor expectations and priorities, student-counselor contact for college-career counseling prior to 12th grade (i.e., earlier student-counselor contact), college and career readiness activities, and constraints) to high school seniors’ college decisions? (a) student-counselor contact for college admissions counseling in 12th grade, (b) student-counselor contact for financial aid counseling in 12th grade, (c) number of college applications, and (d) enrollment in college after controlling for parent involvement, academic performance and aspirations, and student demographics? We hypothesize that the variables assessing school counseling college-going culture will predict each of these four college-going outcomes. Testing this conceptual framework should increase understanding of how school counselors can provide more effective services and supports that SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 14 promote college-going and create greater access for students, especially underrepresented students. Method Participants We used data from the High School Longitudinal Study 2009 (HSLS:09; Ingels et al., 2015), a national representative longitudinal survey of administrators, math and science teachers, lead school counselors, parents and over 23,000 9th graders from 944 schools in 2009 with follow-up surveys in 2012, 2013, and 2016. The HSLS: 09 is designed to examine students’ transitions through and from high school to postsecondary education and work. The analytic sample for the current study comprised 15,857 high school students (weighted sample = 4,143,944) who participated in the base year (2009), first follow-up (2012), and 2013 surveys. Of the sample, 56.59% were White, 15.41% Hispanic, 10.15% Black/African American, 8.07% Asian, 8.66% multiracial, and 1.12% Indigenous or Amer. Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaii/Pacific islander. About 50.30% were female and 49.70% male. Approximately 14.52% were in the lowest SES quintile, 16.14 % in the low middle SES, 18.90 % in the middle SES, 21.28 % in the upper middle SES, and 29.15% in the upper SES quintiles. Dependent Variables: Students’ College Decisions Student-counselor contact for college admissions counseling in 12th grade. This variable measured whether students met with their high school counselor about college admissions in their senior year with one categorical item coded into three categories: 1 = yes (72.01%; reference category), 2 = no (20.43%), and 3 = don’t know (7.57%). Student-counselor contact for financial aid counseling in 12th grade. This variable was measured by a categorical item asking whether 12th graders had met with their high school SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 15 counselor about financial aid in their senior year coded into three categories: 1 = yes (48.30%; reference category), 2 = no (45.52%), and 3 = don’t know (6.17%). College application rates or number of college applications. Students’ college application rates or the number of colleges that student applied to during their senior year (M = 2.6, SD = 2.8). We recoded this variable into an ordinal variable with 4 levels: 1 = students did not apply to any colleges (13.78%; baseline category); 2 = applied to one college (32.51%); 3 = applied to two to four colleges (32.51%); 4 = applied to five colleges or more (18.68%). College enrollment. To assess college enrollment, we created a new variable, by combining two items: (1) students’ reported degree program level and (2) whether students were taking postsecondary education (PSE) classes in the fall immediately after graduating high school. College enrollment had five categories: 1 = enrolled in a bachelor’s degree program (35.72%; reference category); 2 = enrolled in an associate degree program (22.03%); 3 = enrolled in other postsecondary education (PSE) programs (8.49%); 4 = No PSE enrollment/not enrolled in any PSE programs at all (18.50%, reference category); and 5 = don't know/uncertain about whether enrolled in PSE (15.25%). Independent Variables: School Counseling College-Going Culture Counselors’ expectations and priorities. Counselors’ expectations and priorities was measured with three variables. The first variable, counselors’ expectations, was a standardized composite scale (M = 0, SD = 1) derived by NCES, consisting of six items (alpha = 0.78): “Counselors in this school set high standards for students' learning”, “Counselors in this school believe all students can do well”, “Counselors in this school work hard to make sure all students learn”, “Counselors in this school have given up on some students”, “Counselors in this school care only about smart students” and “Counselors in this school expect very little from students.” SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 16 Higher composite scores indicated more positive expectations of students by counselors. The second variable, a nominal variable, describes the school counseling program's primary or most emphasized goal and comprised four categories: 1 = “Help students prepare for postsecondary schooling” (52.79%; reference category); 2 = “Help students w/ personal growth/development” (13.63%); 3 = “Help students prepare for work roles after high school” (2.6%); 4 = “Help students improve achievement in high school” (30.98%). The third variable measured counselor’s use of time or the percentage of time counselors spend on college readiness counseling coded into four categories: 1 = more than 50% (reference category); 2 = 21%-50%; 3 = 11%-20%; and 4 = 10% or less (combined two categories 6%-10% and 5% or less). In the sample, 10.14% of the counselors spend more than 50% of their time on college readiness counseling; 37.78% of counselors spend 21-50%; 33.68% spend 11%-20% of their time; and 18.49% of counselors spend 10% or less of their time on college readiness counseling. Student-counselor contact for college-career counseling (earlier contact prior to 12th grade). Two dichotomous variables (yes/no) measure (a) whether the student had talked to school counselor about going to college during 9th grade (yes = 17.57%; no = 82.43%, reference category); (b) whether the student had talked with the school counselor about options after high school in 11th grade (yes = 63.76%; no = 36.24%). College and career readiness activities. College and career readiness activities was measured by 10 dichotomous items (yes/no) comprising college-specific services that school counselors typically coordinate or deliver in schools such as college fairs, college visits, and college and FAFSA information sessions. A categorical (nonlinear) principal components analysis (CATPCA) of the 10 dichotomous variables created 4 components of college and career readiness activities. Similar to traditional principal components analysis (which assumes linear SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 17 relationships among continuous or interval variables), CATPCA is suitable for analyzing categorial variables with nonlinear relationships (Hahs-Vaughn, 2017). First, we quantified the items through an optimal scaling process in CATPCA; then, we rotated the matrix to improve the interpretability, last, we created composite variables using a linear combination of the items loading on each dimension. Checking the scree plot and eigenvalues (greater than 1), we selected a four-component model that was conceptually meaningful with factor loadings ranging from .48 to .74 (total Cronbach’s alpha = .89). The four college and career readiness components are: (a) Assistance with application and financial aid process in 9th grade and 11th grade (4 items; named APPLICATION & FINANCIAL AID HELP); (b) Holds/participates in college fairs in 9th and 11th grade (2 items; named COLLEGE FAIRS); (c) Provides college information and help to select colleges in 11th grade (2 items; named COLLEGE INFORMATION & SELECTION HELP); and (d) Holds meetings/sessions to provide college information in 11th grade (2 items; named COLLEGE INFORMATION & FAFSA MEETINGS). Constraints. Constraints comprised three variables: counselor caseload, number of fulltime counselors, and designated counselor for college counseling. Counselor caseload was measured by student-to-counselor ratio or the average number of students per counselor (M = 347.37, SD = 129.92) was categorized into three categories: 1 = below 250 students (18.66% of the sample; reference category); 2 = 250-449 students (60.85%); and 3 = 450 or above (20.49%). Number of full-time school counselors in a school was a continuous variable (M = 3.84, SD = 2.34). The third constraint was a dichotomous variable measured whether the school has one or more counselors whose primary responsibility is assisting students with college readiness/selection/application, coded as 1 = yes (61.74%) and 2 =no (38.26%; reference category). SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 18 Control Variables We included several covariates to better isolate the effects of independent variables as previous research has identified them as important predictors of students’ college choice process, that is, parent involvement, academic performance and aspirations, and student demographics. Parent involvement. Parent involvement comprised two dichotomous variables (Yes/No) from the base year (9th grade) survey. The first variable asked whether family members met with school counselors generally when students were in 9th grade (yes = 43.54% of parents, no = 56.46%); the other variable indicated whether any family member talked with a school counselor or teacher specifically about the academic requirements for postsecondary admission (yes = 43.77%, no = 56.23%). Both variables were coded as 1 = yes and 2 = no (reference category). Academic performance and aspirations. To control for academic performance and aspirations, we measured students’ math score, Advanced Placement (AP) course-taking, and students’ educational expectations. Math score was measured by an NCES-created standardized T score on a 9th grade mathematics assessment (M = 51.11, SD = 10.08). AP course-taking was coded into three categories: 1 = no (59.09%; reference category); 2 = yes (36.02%); and 3 = don’t know = 4.89%). Students’ educational expectations or aspirations was a categorical variable with five levels: 1 = Bachelor’s degree (26.67% of the sample, reference category); 2 = high school or below (8.94%); 3 = some college (16.45%); 4 = graduate/professional degree (37.72%); and 5 = don’t know (10.23%). Student demographics. The student demographic variables were gender (male/female, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (SES). Race/ethnicity was a categorical variable with six categories: 1 = White (reference group); 2 = Black/African American; 3 = Asian; 4 = SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 19 Hispanic; 5 = more than one race (multiracial); and 6 = Indigenous (i.e., American Indian/Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander). SES was measured by a continuous composite score created by NCES using parent/guardians’ education, occupation, and family income. Data Analysis Considering the complex survey design of HSLS 2009, we used the appropriate sample weights to produce estimates that were representative of the target population (Bryan et al., 2010, 2017). We used the Balanced Repeated Replication (BRR) method for variance estimation as these replication weights takes into account the reduction in variance due to weight adjustments (Ingels et al., 2015). All analyses were performed using STATA 15. We employed ordinal logistic regression for the ordinal dependent variable, number of college applications. For the other three dependent variables, student-counselor contact for college admissions counseling, student-counselor contact for financial aid counseling in 12th grade, and college enrollment, we employed multinomial logistic regression. In this study, we performed complete case analysis for each dependent variable; therefore, the sample sizes for each analysis varied. For each analysis, we entered the school counseling college-going culture variables in the first step and the control variables in the second step. We examined the regression model estimates (i.e., logged odds (B), standard errors (SE), odds ratios (ORs), and t values for each independent variable to determine their significance. When direct interpretation of ORs was not straightforward, to improve interpretation, we reported inverted ORs (i.e., 1/OR). As this is the first test of the school counseling college-going culture framework, we use regression analysis rather than structural equation modeling (SEM) and report p-values at both .05 and .10 levels. SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 20 Results Correlation analyses indicated low to moderate intercorrelations among independent variables and control variables, ranging from |0.08| to |0.44| at the 0.05 level of significance, evidence that multicollinearity is not likely a problem. Relationships among the dependent variables ranged from |0.15| to |0.47| The Wald F statistics showed good model fit for all the multinomial and ordinal logistic regression models predicting college admissions counseling (F = 5.39, p < 0.001), financial aid counseling (F = 6.55, p < 0.001), the number of college applications (F = 22.76, p < 0.001), and college enrollment (F = 16.63, p < 0.001). For the ordinal logistic regression (predicting the number of college applications), the test for the key assumption of proportional odds (also called parallel lines assumption) is often rejected when the number of predictors (Brant,1990) and the sample size (Allison, 1999) are large, or there are continuous explanatory variables in the model (Allison, 1999). When this happens, as it does in this case, an alternate strategy for examining the parallel assumption is using a set of separate logistic regression models to determine whether the effects of the predictors are stable across different thresholds (O’Connell, 2006). The comparison of variable effects across the separate logistic regression models showed that the effects of the predictors were relative stable indicating that the parallel assumption held reasonably for the ordinal logistic regression analysis. Selected regression results for the dependent variables, student-counselor contact for college information, number of college applications, and college enrollment are presented in Tables 1 and 2. Effects of School Counseling College-Going Culture Counselors’ expectations and priorities. Higher counselor expectations were associated with higher odds of submitting more college applications (OR = 1.11, p = 0.016) and of enrolling in a bachelor’s program compared to not enrolling in any PSE at all (OR = 1.12, p = 0.10). SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 21 When counselors’ most emphasized or priority goal was helping students prepare for postsecondary schooling as opposed to helping students improve academic achievement, students had higher odds of contacting the counselor for college admissions counseling in 12th grade (OR = 1.34, p = 0.042). When school counselors spent over 50% of their time on college readiness, students had higher odds of receiving college admissions counseling (compared to counselors who devoted 11-20% of their time; OR = 1.66) and of submitting greater numbers of applications (compared to all other use of time categories; ORs = 1.64; 1.69; 1.37); students were also more likely to enroll in a bachelor’s degree (rather than associate degree programs or in other PSE programs or not enroll at all). Alternately, when school counselors spent 10% or less of their time on college readiness (compared to over 50% of their time), students were more likely to enroll in an associate degree (OR = 1.64); when they spent 20% or less of their time, students were more likely to enroll in other PSE programs (OR = 1.91, 1.98) or not enroll in PSE at all (OR = 1.84, 2.10); when they spent 50% or less of their time, students were more likely to express uncertainty about their PSE status (OR = 2.15, 2.51, 3.53). Student-counselor contact for college-career counseling (earlier contact prior to 12th grade). Students who talked with school counselors about going to college early, in both 9th and11th grades, had higher odds of receiving college admissions counseling (OR9th gr. = 1.32, p = 0.069; OR11th gr. = 1.85, p < 0.001) and financial aid counseling in 12th grade (OR9th gr. = 1.25, p = 0.029; OR11th gr. = 1.49, p < 0.001). Compared to 11th graders who did not contact counselors, student-counselor contact for college-career counseling in 11th grade predicted 16% higher odds of submitting a greater number of college applications (OR = 1.16, p = 0.05). Regarding college enrollment, students who talked to counselors in 9th grade for college-career counseling had higher odds of enrolling in a bachelor’s programs (compared to enrolling in other PSE programs; SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 22 OR = 1.37, p = 0.076), while students who talked to counselors in 11th grade were more likely to enroll in a bachelor’s program (relative to no enrollment in PSE at all; OR = 1.30, p = 0.034). College and career readiness activities. Application and financial aid help activities in 9th grade through 11th grade were associated with higher odds of student-counselor contact for financial aid counseling in 12th grade (OR = 1.52, p = 0.002) while college information and FAFSA meetings in 11th grade were associated with higher odds of enrolling in other PSE programs (OR = 1.89, p = 0.045) as opposed to enrolling in bachelor’s degree programs. Constraints. When caseload in school counseling programs exceeded 450 students per counselor, student-counselor contact for college admissions counseling in 12th grade was less likely to take place (compared to programs with a caseload of 250 or less.; OR = 0.58, p = 0.024). Similarly, students had lower odds of submitting greater numbers of college applications when school counselors’ caseloads were between 250-449 students (OR = 0.64, p = 0.006,) and 450 or more students (OR = 0.60, p = 0.003) compared to the caseload of 250 or less. Further, the higher the caseload, the lower students’ odds were of enrolling in bachelor’s degree programs. When counselors had a caseload of 450 or more (compared to counselors with a caseload of 250 or less,), their students had higher odds of enrolling in associate degree programs (OR = 2.09, p < 0.001), enrolling other PSE programs (OR = 2.11, p = 0.002) not enrolling in PSE at all (OR = 2.31, p < 0.001), or of not knowing whether they enrolled in college (OR = 2.26, p = 0.022) relative to enrolling in bachelor’s degree programs. As the number of full-time high school counselors increased, students had lower odds of receiving student-counselor contact for financial aid counseling in 12th grade (OR = 0.96, p = 0.025) and higher odds of submitting a greater number of college applications (OR = 1.04, p = 0.059). Control variables. SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 23 Parent involvement. Students whose family member talked to counselors or teachers specifically about postsecondary admission requirements had higher odds of submitting greater numbers of college applications (OR = 1.19, p = 0.024) and higher odds of enroll in a bachelor’s degree and lower odds of enrolling in other PSE programs (OR = 0.74, p = 0.038) or reporting not knowing (OR = 0.75, p = 0.066)). On the other hand, 9th grade students whose parents met with school counselors generally had lower odds of enrolling in a bachelor’s degree and higher odds of enrolling in other PSE programs (OR = 1.32, p = 0.067)), not enrolling in any PSE (OR = 1.29, p = 0.068)), or reporting not knowing whether they were enrolled (OR = 1.48, p = 0.004)). Academic performance and aspirations. Taking AP courses was positively associated with contacting school counselors for college admission counseling (OR = 1.20, p = 0.095) and for financial aid counseling (OR = 1.19, p = 0.034) in 12th grade. Also, both AP course-taking and math achievement were positively associated with college application rates, with students who took AP courses and who had higher math scores reporting higher odds of submitting more college applications (ORAP = 1.73, ORMath = 1.03, p < 0.001) and of enrolling in a bachelor’s degree (vs. all other options; OR = 1.04-1.08). Alternately, those with lower math scores have lower odds of enrolling in a bachelor’s degree (ORMath = 0.93 – 0.96, p < 0.001) vs. all other options; Similarly, those who took AP courses have higher odds of enrolling in a bachelor’s degree (and lower odds of enrolling in all other options, ORAP = 0.47 – 0.73, p < 0.05). Students’ educational expectations (or aspirations) of completing high school or less (vs. college) were negatively associated with contacting school counselors for college admissions counseling (OR = 0.31, p < 0.001) and for financial aid counseling (OR = 0.44, p < 0.001) in 12th grade. In general, students’ PSE expectations were positively associated with both college application numbers and SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 24 four-year college enrollment. Students’ expectations of completing high school or less (OR = 0.22, p < 0.001) and some college (OR = 0.48, p < 0.001) were negatively associated with the number of college applications (vs. college) while students’ expectations of earning a graduate or professional degree (OR = 1.27, p = 0.004) were positively associated with the number of college applications. The higher students’ PSE expectations were, the higher their odds of submitting greater numbers of college applications and of selecting a bachelor’s degree (relative to all other postsecondary options). Student demographics. Female students had higher odds of contacting school counselors for financial aid counseling (OR = 1.25, p = 0.001) in 12th grade as well as higher odds of submitting a greater number of college applications (OR = 1.35, p < 0.001) and enrolling in a bachelor’s degree (vs. other PSE: OR = 1.27, p = 0.081; vs. not enrolled: OR = 1.54, p < 0.001). Concerning race/ethnicity, Hispanic students had higher odds of receiving financial aid counseling (OR = 1.35, p = 0.045) and college admissions counseling (OR = 1.49, p = 0.035) in 12th grade as well as higher odds of submitting greater numbers of college applications (OR = 1.38, p = 0.006) and lower odds of enrolling in a bachelor’s degree (vs. Associates: OR = 0.66, p = 0.020). Black students had higher odds of contact with counselors for financial aid counseling (OR = 2.27, p < 0.001) and college admission counseling (OR = 1.52, p = 0.073) in 12th grade as well as higher odds of submitting greater numbers of college applications (OR = 1.97, p < 0.001). Asian students had higher odds of submitting a greater number of college applications (OR = 2.28, p < 0.001) and of enrolling in a bachelor’s degree (vs. other PSE: OR = 2.38, p = 0.052). Multiracial (OR = 1.69, p = 0.021) and indigenous (i.e., American Indian/Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander) students (OR = 4.87, p = 0.019) had higher odds of reporting that they did not know or were uncertain of whether they enrolled in college. SES was SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 25 negatively associated with receiving financial aid counseling (OR = 0.68, p < 0.001) and positively associated with seniors’ receiving college admission counseling (OR = 1.23, p = 0.003) in 12th grade as well as with college application rates (OR = 1.39, p < 0.001). As SES increased, students had increasingly higher odds of enrolling in a bachelor’s degree (vs. all other options, i.e., Associate, other PSE, not enrolled at all, don't know; ORs = 1.79 - 3.45). Discussion This study proposed and tested the conceptual framework of school counseling collegegoing culture and its effects on students’ college-going decisions using the HSLS:09. Most of the hypotheses appear to be borne out by the findings. More specifically, counselors’ expectations and priorities (especially percentage of time devoted to college readiness), student-counselor contact for college counseling/information in earlier grades, and caseload appear to be the most salient predictors of students’ college-going decisions. Earlier student-counselor contact for college-career counseling appears to affect more proximal decisions such as whether students received college admissions and financial aid counseling in 12th grade and the numbers of college applications they submit. On the other hand, counselors’ use of time, and caseload appear to affect students’ more distal decisions namely students’ postsecondary enrollment as well as the more proximal decisions. Two types of college and career activities, that is, application and financial aid assistance and college information and FAFSA meetings, predicted seniors seeking/receiving financial aid counseling and college enrollment. Counselors’ expectations and priorities. Whether implicit or explicit, counselors’ beliefs about students as well as their goals and priorities appear to affect students’ college decisions. Previous studies have supported the salience of counselors’ PSE expectations to student-counselor contact for college admissions counseling and college enrollment (Bryan, SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 26 2009, 2017). However, this study examined counselors’ general beliefs or expectations of their students indicating that these matter just as much when it comes to number of students’ college applications they submit and their enrollment in a bachelor’s degree. While school counselors’ prioritizing of college readiness (i.e., their most emphasized goal) appears to increase high school seniors’ contact with counselors for college admissions counseling, how counselors use their time plays an even more important role in almost every other college-going decision that students make (except receiving financial aid counseling in 12th grade). Counselors’ use of time appears to affect the number of college applications students submit and their likelihood of enrolling in bachelor’s degree programs as is consistent with prior findings (Bryan et al., 2011, 2017; Engberg & Gilbert, 2014; Poyton & Lapan, 2017). In general, school counseling programs in which counselors commit 50% or more of their time to college-going appear to have significant benefits for seniors in terms of whether they receive college-career counseling, submit applications to college, and enroll in college. On the other hand, not prioritizing college readiness (20% or less of their time) has negative effects on students’ college-going decisions (except in the case of financial aid counseling). These findings are consistent with ASCA’s (2019) recommendations that school counselors spend at least 80% of their time on direct and indirect services. However, these findings provide more specificity regarding how to use their time to meet their goals of supporting increased college-going rates in schools. Student-counselor contact for college-career counseling (earlier contact prior to 12th grade). This study supports the importance of student-counselor contact for college counseling in high school as is consistent with other studies’ findings (Bryan, 2011; Belasco, 2013; Poynton & Lapan, 2017). However, contrary to prior studies, this study indicates the important role multiple points of contact with school counselors throughout high school plays in determining SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 27 whether 12th grade students receive the assistance they need from counselors regarding college admissions and financial aid. In contrast, only one point of student contact with counselors was linked to number of college applications (in 11th grade) and college enrollment (as early as 9th grade). The finding that 11th grade student-counselor contact predicts college applications contradicts earlier findings (Bryan, 2011) that contact before 10th grade was more beneficial in increasing number of college applications. Perhaps student-counselor contact in 12th grade may serve as a mediator between earlier student-counselor contact about college and numbers of college applications and college enrollment. Further research will be needed to examine the direct and indirect effects of student-counselor contact in earlier grades on the range of college decisions that students make. College and career readiness activities. Previous research (e.g., Conley & McGaughy, 2012; Goodwin, et al., 2016; McDonough, 2005) suggests that college and career readiness activities, such as college fairs, are important counseling supports and resources that promote seniors’ college enrollment rates. In this study, two college and career readiness activities emerged as important. Ninth grade college and career readiness activities, specifically college applications and financial aid assistance, were linked to high school seniors receiving financial aid counseling, while college information and FAFSA meetings offered later in 11th grade, seem to help students make the decision to enroll in other PSE options, other than Bachelor and Associate degree programs. The fact that college fairs was not linked to students’ college-going decisions highlights the fact that even more effective than college and career readiness activities in the college-going process may be the one-to-one direct contact that students have with school counselors for college information and counseling. Also, in some schools these activities are not coordinated by school counselors and in those cases these college and career readiness activities SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 28 may be better measures of school-wide college going culture (McDonough, 2005; McClafferty et al., 2003). Perhaps, it is counselors’ involvement in and coordination of the college and career readiness activities in schools that help determine the effectiveness of these activities in facilitating students’ college-going. Constraints. Counselor caseload affects the entire range of students’ college-going decisions, seeking college admissions and financial aid counseling, applying to college and enrolling in college. The negative relationship of caseload to these college-going decisions is supported in previous studies (Bryan et al., 2011; Fitzpatrick & Schneider, 2016) attesting to the gravity of counselor caseload in supporting students and enhancing college-going. Furthermore, it is likely that caseload is related to whether or how much student-counselor contact takes place and whether or not college and career readiness activities are provided. The fact that number of counselors enhance college application rates suggests that there needs to be an optimal number/critical mass of school counselors in a school in order to increase students’ college applications rates as borne out by recent economic research (Hurwitz & Howell, 2014). However, the surprisingly contradictory negative relationship of number of counselors to student-counselor contact for financial aid counseling may be because having more counselors in a school allows students to have more one-to-one direct contact with students for college-career counseling in general rather than for financial aid counseling. However, this result needs to be further explored. Parent involvement, academic performance and aspirations, and students’ demographics. Parent involvement, academic performance and aspirations, and students’ demographics have been found to significantly predict students’ college-going decisions in numerous previous studies (e.g., Bryan et al., 2011, 2017; Perna, 2006; Perna & Titus, 2005). SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 29 Consistent with previous studies about the influential role parents play in their children’s college decisions, parents’ engagement with school counselors appear beneficial in promoting numbers of college applications and enroll in a bachelor’s degree. In addition to their parents’ involvement, students’ own PSE expectations is of importance. In other words, counselors must pay attention to students who have lower expectations of attending college, those with lower academic performance, and who are less likely to take rigorous courses. Similarly, this study confirms the gender, racial, and socioeconomic disparities in students’ college-going outcomes and highlights the importance of school counselors making extra efforts to support male students, students of color, and lower income students in the college going process. Male students receive less financial aid counseling, submit less college applications, and are less likely to enroll in bachelor’s degree program. Interestingly, they were also equally likely to receive college admissions counseling from the school counselor. Hispanic and Black students were more likely to receive financial aid and college admissions help from school counselors. This is consistent with previous research that indicates that these students are more likely to rely on school counselors for help in the college going process (Bryan, 2009). However, while Hispanic students were more likely to submit more college applications, they were also less likely to enroll in a bachelor’s degree. Concerning is the fact that multiracial and indigenous students expressed uncertainty about whether they were enrolled in any postsecondary classes, pointing to their lack of college knowledge and need for assistance with the college-going process. Not surprisingly, lower income students relied on school counselors for financial aid counseling; however, higher income students were more likely to receive college admissions counseling, apply to more colleges, and enroll in a bachelor’s degree. Implications for Practice, Training, and Policy SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 30 The most important contribution of this study is that it provides a comprehensive evidence-supported model that guides school counselors in how to craft a culture in their programs or departments that promotes college-going, regardless of the wider culture in their schools. The model provides a frame that draws counselors’ and counselor educators’ attention to factors they might overlook; in contrast to the disparate studies, the framework guides counselors, counselor educators, and policy-makers to draw holistically focused conclusions concerning improvement of school counseling programs and generating positive student outcomes. The framework points to ways in which school counselors can build a culture that enhances college-going by focusing on the four malleable factors of school counseling collegegoing culture identified in this study (i.e., counselor expectations and priorities, studentcounselor contact for college-career counseling and advising, college and career readiness activities, and constraints). Policymakers, education administrators, and researchers often funnel numerous practices and interventions to schools and school counselors without any focus on the culture in school counseling programs, which can often derail change. As noted by Kaplan and Owings (2013), subcultures in a school can be resistant to change from the outside. Indeed, counselors need to examine carefully how well these dimensions support or hinder college going, then challenge and replace their expectations, contact and interactions with students, and college and career readiness practices that directly help students’ college going. School counselors should examine and integrate the four dimensions into comprehensive counseling programs, strategically focusing on each dimension to make it a norm of the department culture. Key to changing culture is making beliefs, assumptions and expectations explicit and challenging them. School counselors may have implicit or explicit biases and deficit mindsets that may lead them to form low expectations toward certain students, especially those from traditionally SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 31 disadvantaged/marginalized backgrounds such as male students, students of color, and lowincome students. Hence, school counselors need to be sensitive to the negative impact of low expectations on students’ college decisions and take action to challenge and rethink their own beliefs about students and to attend professional development workshops regularly that help them explore their biases and maintain high expectations toward students. School counselors should examine and disaggregate data about students’ college going behaviors and patterns by their race, gender, income, and academic achievement to challenge whether inequities exist among them in college going. Data can help counselors change their beliefs, expectations, priorities, and practices. The findings also highlight the need for school counselors and counselor educators to prioritize college readiness in their practice and training. School counselors should use at least 50% of their time on college readiness counseling. Given the numerous demands on their time, self-advocacy and annual/weekly calendars and school-family-community partnerships are useful strategies to secure and prioritize this amount of time and to gain resources to provide college readiness, application, and financial aid services and programs (Bryan et al., 2016, 2019). Direct student-counselor contact is important and earlier and multiple points throughout high school. Yet, in some schools with high caseloads, students may only see counselors once for college-related information. Prior research suggests that male students, students of color, and lower income students may be the ones least likely to have early and multiple points of contact and the ones most exposed to large counselor-student caseloads (Bryan, 2009, 2011). Counselors should create a comprehensive college readiness program plan to make sure that all students especially male students, students of color, and lower income ones have multiple contacts, ideally at each grade level, concerning the various aspects of the college search and information SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 32 process. This study also suggests that counselors need to build students’ knowledge about college applications and financial aid as early as 9th grade and throughout high school and provide college information and support with FAFSA in 11th grade. Given the incredible importance of understanding and completing financial aid application in the college-going process (Goodwin et al., 2016; Fitzpatrick & Schneider, 2016), it is critical that financial aid is not an afterthought, but a central focus in the counseling program. Counselors may partner with college representatives and community stakeholders to facilitate the college application and admission process and partner with parent and community volunteers and mentors to help students and their families with the financial aid application process (Bryan et al., 2016, 2021). Yet, caseload constraints can hinder school counselors’ efforts to change culture in their departments so that their expectations, priorities, use of time, and activities can enhance collegegoing (Bryan et al., 2016, 2019). This study’s findings highlight and support ASCA’s (2019) recommendation that counselors have a caseload of no more than 250 students. If the national education agenda to increase students’ access to college is to be met, school district leaders and policy makers need to take counselor caseload recommendations seriously and increase the number of school counselors in schools. Policymakers and district leaders should be cognizant that it is not effective to designate counselors specifically for college readiness; rather, increasing the number of counselors in school appears to have more beneficial returns for students when it comes to increasing college-going outcomes. Limitations and Future Research Several important limitations exist in the present study. First, due to the use of the secondary data, we were limited by the available data in operationalizing the conceptual model of school counseling college-going culture. For instance, the variable student-counselor contact SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 33 does not capture the complexity and depth of interactions such as the quality and type of interactions and relationships. Further, based on considerable debates about the technique and appropriateness of imputation of missing data (e.g., Schafer & Graham, 2002), we decided not to replace missing data; thus, it is possible that missing data bias may limit the generalizability of the findings. This research raises questions for future exploration such as whether there are different types of school counseling college-going culture; whether and how this culture works differently for different types of students, such as low income students and students of color, and types of schools, such as urban, rural, and high poverty schools; and which school counseling collegegoing culture variables have direct and indirect effects on students’ college-going decisions or which ones act as moderators or mediators. It would be important to examine how and what type of school counseling college-going culture helps to eliminate racial inequities and barriers in college-going for students of color. Future research could consider including an index of the school’s wider college-going culture in the model. Advanced statistical approaches such as structural equation modeling, latent class analysis, and other multivariate analyses might be useful to answer those questions. Moreover, ethnographic research and grounded theory would provide more understanding of school counseling college-going culture and what it looks like in various schools and across various groups. This comprehensive, holistic model offers a logical ground/foundation on which empirical indicators and hypotheses could be further identified and tested to verify the theory. The model also provides counselors with a frame to look holistically at and respond to college and career readiness and college-going in schools and to enhance college-going outcomes. Finally, the study highlights the importance of education policy and systemic change (e.g., SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 34 increasing school counselor numbers, reducing counselor caseload), so that counselors may more effectively create and maintain a school counseling college-going culture that enhances students’ college-going outcomes. SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 35 References Allison, P. D. (1999). 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Teachers College Record, 116(10), 1-30. SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 1 Table 1: Logistic Regression Analyses Predicting Student-Counselor Contact for College Admission and Number of College Applications Variables Counselor Expectations and Priorities Counselor's perceptions Counseling most emphasized goal a Help to prep for work after HS Help w/ personal development Help to improve achievement % hours counselors spent on college readiness/selection/apply a 21%-50% 11%-20% 10% or less Contact for College-Career Counseling 9th grader talked to counselors about going to college b 11th grader talked to counselors about options after high school b College & Career Readiness Activities College Related Activities (9th-11th grade) Application & financial aid help College fairs College info & selection help College info & FAFSA meetings Constraints Counselor Caseload a 250-449 450 or more School has counselor des1ignated for college readiness b Multinomial Logistic Regression Predicting StudentCounselor Contact for college admissions in 2012-2013 year (Yes as reference) Yes vs. No Yes vs. Don't Know Coef S.E. OR Coef S.E. OR School Counselor College-Going Culture Variables Ordinal Logistic Regression Predicting Number of College Applications (None as baseline) Coef S.E. OR -0.02 0.06 0.98 -0.09 0.06 0.92 0.10* 0.04 1.11 -0.17 0.11 0.29* 0.35 0.18 0.14 0.85 1.12 1.34 -0.28 -0.17 0.19 1.49 0.29 0.18 0.76 0.84 1.21 0.02 0.01 -0.10 0.27 0.14 0.09 1.02 1.01 0.90 0.32+ 0.51* 0.35 0.19 0.22 0.23 1.37 1.66 1.41 0.69* 0.52 0.50 0.34 0.34 0.37 2.00 1.68 1.65 -0.32+ -0.53** -0.49** 0.17 0.17 0.18 0.73 0.59 0.61 -0.281+ 0.15 0.76 0.16 0.24 1.18 0.04 0.09 1.04 -0.61*** 0.11 0.54 -0.61*** 0.15 0.55 0.15* 0.07 1.16 -0.16 -0.18 -0.10 -0.15 0.21 0.18 0.68 0.25 0.85 0.84 0.91 0.86 -0.13 0.17 -0.11 0.04 0.22 0.25 0.46 0.33 0.88 1.19 0.90 1.04 -0.18 0.14 0.27 -0.09 0.11 0.13 0.34 0.17 0.84 1.15 1.31 0.91 0.29 0.55* 0.23 0.24 1.34 1.73 0.07 0.28 0.24 0.28 1.07 1.33 -0.45** -0.52** 0.16 0.17 0.64 0.60 0.04 0.12 1.04 -0.13 0.14 0.88 0.002 0.09 1.00 SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE Number of full-time counselors -0.01 Met school counselors in 09-10 b Talked to counselors about postsecondary admission b 0.07 2 0.03 0.99 0.00 Parent Involvement Variable 0.10 1.08 0.13 -0.11 1.00 0.04+ 0.02 1.04 0.15 1.13 -0.03 0.08 0.97 0.17 0.90 0.18* 0.08 1.19 -0.10 0.10 Math standardized score Race/ethnicity a Black/African American Asian, non-Hispanic Hispanic More than one race, non-Hispanic Others c Gender a Female Socioeconomic Status (SES) Students' education expectations a Don't know HS/less than HS Some college Grad/Prof degree AP courses taking a Yes Don't know -0.003 Control Variables 0.01 1.00 -0.01+ 0.01 0.99 0.03*** 0.004 1.03 -0.41+ -0.14 -0.40* -0.11 -0.71 0.23 0.29 0.19 0.19 0.49 0.66 0.87 0.67 0.90 0.49 -0.23 -0.73+ -0.17 0.20 0.60 0.23 0.42 0.19 0.30 2.94 0.80 0.48 0.84 1.23 1.83 0.68*** 0.83*** 0.32** 0.11 0.02 0.15 0.22 0.12 0.13 0.35 1.97 2.28 1.38 1.12 1.02 -0.10 -0.21** 0.11 0.07 0.91 0.81 0.06 -0.15 0.15 0.10 1.06 0.86 0.30*** 0.33*** 0.07 0.05 1.35 1.39 0.09 1.17*** 0.21 -0.22 0.18 0.21 0.15 0.15 1.09 3.23 1.24 0.80 0.55* 1.41*** 0.61** -0.12 0.27 0.29 0.20 0.19 1.74 4.10 1.85 0.89 -0.58*** -1.52*** -0.74*** 0.23** 0.15 0.23 0.11 0.08 0.56 0.22 0.48 1.26 -0.18+ 0.20 0.11 0.30 0.83 1.22 -0.35* 0.46 0.16 0.39 0.70 1.59 0.55*** 0.07 0.08 0.21 1.73 1.08 Constant Intercepts/thresholds No Applications One Application Two to Four Applications -0.35 0.93 0.71 -1.85+ 0.94 0.16 - - - - - - - - -1.01+ 1.24* 3.26*** 0.56 0.55 0.57 0.37 3.44 26.11 - 0.91 0.04 Unweighted Sample Size 8,184 8,178 Weighted Sample Size 2,036,851 2,024,343 F-statistic 5.39*** 22.76*** a Reference category for each variable in order: 0-249, More than 50%, Help students prep for postsecondary schooling, White, Male, Complete Bachelor’s Degree, No. b Variables were dichotomous (Yes/No) with No as reference category. c Amer. Indian/Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. *** p<0.001, ** p<0.01, * p<0.05, † p<0. SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE 1 Table 2: Logistic Regression Analysis Predicting College Enrollment (Bachelor as reference) Bachelor vs Associate Variables Bachelor vs No Coef S.E. OR Coef School Counselor College-Going Culture Variables Counselor Expectations and Priorities Counselor's perceptions -0.06 0.06 0.95 -0.12+ Counseling most emphasized goal a Help to prep for work after HS 0.32 0.57 1.38 -0.32 Help w/ personal development 0.10 0.18 1.11 0.11 Help to improve achievement 0.17 0.12 1.18 0.21 % hours counselors spent on college readiness/selection/apply a 21%-50% 0.06 0.19 1.06 0.44 11%-20% 0.25 0.21 1.29 0.61* 10% or less 0.49* 0.22 1.64 0.74** Contact for College-Career Counseling 9th grader talked to counselors about -0.03 0.14 0.97 -0.07 going to college b 11th grader talked to counselors 0.02 0.12 1.02 -0.27* about options for after high school b College & Career Readiness Activities College Related Activities (9th-11th grade) Application & financial aid help -0.20 0.24 0.82 0.23 College fairs 0.003 0.18 1.00 -0.09 College info & selection help 0.002 0.55 1.00 -1.04 College info & FAFSA meetings 0.29 0.33 1.34 0.38 Constraints Counselor Caseload a 250-449 0.43* 0.18 1.54 0.53* 450 or more 0.74*** 0.19 2.09 0.84*** School has counselor des1ignated for 0.09 0.12 1.10 -0.09 b college readiness Number of full-time counselors -0.05+ 0.03 0.95 -0.03 Parent Involvement Variables Met school counselors in 09-10 b -0.03 0.10 0.97 0.25+ Talked to counselors about 0.06 0.11 1.06 -0.17 b postsecondary admission Control Variables Math standardized score -0.05*** 0.01 0.96 -0.06*** Race/ethnicity a Black/African American 0.02 0.20 1.03 -0.39 Asian, non-Hispanic -0.06 0.25 0.94 -0.51 Hispanic 0.42* 0.18 1.51 -0.18 More than one race, non-Hispanic 0.21 0.16 1.23 -0.08 Others c -0.07 0.65 0.93 0.47 Gender a S.E. OR 0.07 0.89+ 0.57 0.19 0.16 0.73 1.12 1.23 0.27 0.27 0.26 1.54 1.84 2.10 0.18 0.94 0.12 0.77 0.22 0.22 0.78 0.26 1.25 0.92 0.35 1.46 0.22 0.23 0.14 1.70 2.31 0.92 0.03 0.97 0.14 0.13 1.29 0.84 0.01 0.94 0.25 0.40 0.23 0.20 0.65 0.68 0.60 0.84 0.92 1.60 SCHOOL COUNSELING COLLEGE-GOING CULTURE Female SES Students' education expectations a Don't know HS/less than HS Some college Grad/Prof degree AP courses taking a Yes Don't know 2 -0.09 -0.60*** 0.08 0.08 0.92 0.55 -0.42*** -1.07*** 0.12 0.09 0.65 0.34 0.20 1.29* 0.89*** -0.20+ 0.21 0.62 0.16 0.12 1.22 3.65 2.45 0.82 0.76** 3.51*** 1.62*** -0.44* 0.24 0.61 0.19 0.17 2.13 33.49 5.05 0.65 -0.46*** -0.37 0.10 0.38 0.63 0.69 -0.75*** 0.58+ 0.15 0.32 0.47 1.78 Constant 1.85+ 0.95 6.36 2.03+ 1.14 7.61 Unweighted Sample Size 8,828 Weighted Sample Size 2,237,063 F-statistic 16.63*** a Reference category for each variable in order: 0-249, More than 50%, Help students prep for postsecondary schooling, White, Male, Complete Bachelor’s Degree, No. b Variables were dichotomous (Yes/No) with No as reference category. c Amer. Indian/Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. *** p<0.001, ** p<0.01, * p<0.05, † p<0.10 Figure 1: Conceptual Model of School Counseling College-Going Culture Affecting Students’ College-Going Decisions