High School Effects on College Intentions

In order to extend sociological thinking about socialization in secondary schools, I have tested the contention that the social status of a high school independently affects the college-going intentions of its students, using data from a 1955 sample of students in 518 American high schools. The effect, although weak, is found to be more an effect of the social-status composition than of formal organization of the school. The positive effects of school status are found to mask a negative effect; in schools with students of higher average ability, students of any given ability and status are less likely to have college intentions, presumably because standards of competition rise within the school. When this hidden negative effect is held constant, the positive effect of school status on college intention increases.