Tracking Hartford Students Through College (Class of 2007)
The following data visualization tracks the 2007 cohort of Hartford high school students following their high school graduation. You can select a high school from the “School” dropdown menu in the upper left corner. “District” shows numbers for all of the schools combined. “Magnet” shows data from just the magnet high schools (Capital, Classical, Pathways, and Sports and Medical), while “Neighborhood” shows data from non-magnet high schools (Bulkeley and Weaver). The “Graduating Class” on the far left shows how many students graduated high school in that cohort. “New to College” represents the number of students who entered into a college tracked by the National School Clearinghouse the following year, while “Not in NSC” shows students who did not enroll in college. Each subsequent year tracks the progress of students:
- “Obtained Degree” – finished a certificate or degree program
- “Retained” – still enrolled in college
- “No Longer Enrolled” – dropped out of college
- “New to College” – entered college for the first time
- “Returned After Stop Out” – students re-enrolled in college after dropping out
- “Not in NSC” – students who never enrolled in College and were not tracked by the National Clearinghouse
From there, the visualization shows how many students total have obtained degrees (“Total Degrees”), are still enrolled “In College” (combining “Retained”, “New to College”, and “Returned After Stop Out”), or are “No Longer Enrolled/Not in NSC” (combining students who dropped out or have never enrolled in college).
The table beneath the chart shows how many students graduated in the Class of 2007, and the number/percent of students that obtained a degree, are still enrolled in college, are no longer enrolled in college, and who were never enrolled after 6 years.
Below is a summary table for each of the schools, the District total, Magnet school total, and Neighborhood school total. This allows us to see what happened to Hartford school students 6 years after they graduated from high schools. Keep in mind that the numbers for magnet schools include both Hartford residents and Suburban residents that attend those schools. Overall, 22.5% (nearly 1 in 4) students that graduated in 2007 went on to obtain a degree by 2013. However, 1 out of 3 students never entered college, and a further 1 in 3 students started college at some point but were no longer enrolled by 2013 and never obtained a degree. 13.3% were still enrolled in college, but had not yet obtained a degree.
School | Started Class of 2007 | Obtained Degree | Still Enrolled | Never in NSC | No Longer Enrolled and Not Graduated |
Weaver | 190 | 30 | 23 | 70 | 67 |
15.8% | 12.1% | 36.8% | 35.3% | ||
Classical | 48 | 21 | 7 | 5 | 15 |
43.8% | 14.6% | 10.4% | 31.3% | ||
Bulkeley | 231 | 40 | 31 | 101 | 59 |
17.3% | 13.4% | 43.7% | 25.5% | ||
Sports and Med | 82 | 26 | 14 | 12 | 30 |
31.7% | 17.1% | 14.6% | 36.6% | ||
Pathways | 39 | 11 | 4 | 11 | 13 |
28.2% | 10.3% | 28.2% | 33.3% | ||
Capital | 10 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
70.0% | 10.0% | 10.0% | 10.0% | ||
District | 600 | 135 | 80 | 200 | 185 |
22.5% | 13.3% | 33.3% | 30.8% | ||
Magnet | 179 | 65 | 26 | 29 | 59 |
36.3% | 14.5% | 16.2% | 33.0% | ||
Neighborhood | 421 | 70 | 54 | 171 | 126 |
16.6% | 12.8% | 40.6% | 29.9% |
These are very troubling statistics. Of the 600 graduates in the Class of 2007, only 215 had obtained a degree or were actively pursuing one in 2013. These numbers look even more dire when looking only at Neighborhood schools. 4 in 10 students graduating from a Neighborhood Hartford High School never enrolled in college, and a further 3 in 10 had enrolled in college but had dropped out by 2013. This leaves only 3 in 10 students who obtained a degree or were still enrolled in college. Numbers were higher for students coming from Magnet high schools, but since the data was not disaggregated, we cannot tell specifically what Hartford residents did from those schools.
The data presented in this visualization leave us with many questions:
- What is preventing so many students who graduate high school from enrolling in college? Is it for financial reasons or lack of access to other resources/college prep programs?
- What is causing so many students to drop out of college? How many students require remedial courses/How well do Hartford High Schools prepare students for college?
- What is happening with these students who do not complete college? What types of jobs are they able to obtain?
- What sets the students who do obtain a degree apart from their peers? Did they have access to different programs/resources?
The other big omission from this data is the number of students who started as freshman in high school for the Class of 2007. It would be interesting to see how many students from each school obtain their high school degree, and then go on to enroll and complete college. A larger analysis also needs to be completed comparing this data to that of peer districts, such as New Haven, Bridgeport, and Waterbury, and to suburban districts in CT.