Leave No Schools Behind: The Importance of a College Culture in Urban Public High Schools

Creating a college culture that is available to all K-12 public school students helps prepare individuals for postsecondary academic and career endeavors. Establishing and maintaining a college culture requires structural and organizational arrangements that facilitate students' access to critical human and material resources. These arrangements should create frequent opportunities for students to access school-based social support networks that help them identify necessary academic coursework and appropriately plan for higher education. This study provides a conceptual framework for college culture and uses districtwide data to empirically examine the relationship between school size and high school seniors' self-reports of their involvement with the college culture in urban public high schools.