An Analysis of Utah High School
Course-taking Patterns and
Their Effect on College Readiness

Published March 2022

Overview

This study investigates the effects of students' taking specific high school courses on their college readiness and post-secondary education outcomes. Using data from the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) and Utah System of Higher Education (USHE), this study focuses on Utah high school students from cohorts 2014 to 2017. The number of courses taken and passed in each subject in high school is combined with each student's demographic data to model college readiness and post-secondary education outcomes.

Understanding the effects of high school course-taking patterns may be valuable for the students, school administrators, and policymakers. For students, awareness of how a course contributes to their future educational and career outcomes may motivate their efforts in various classes. For school administrators, knowing the benefits of classes in each subject area may assist in creating a curriculum that adequately prepares their students. Finally, for policymakers, a deep understanding of the effects of courses from each subject area could be crucial in designing and interpreting metrics that evaluate school and students' education outcomes.

No single factor can fully account for the complex interactions of students' course selection and their academic achievements. This study does not address the self-selection into certain courses in high school, and causal relationships between course selection and post-secondary outcomes are not established.

Summary of Findings:

Finding 1: College readiness

  • Courses that increase students' odds of being college ready include social studies courses passed, foreign language courses taken, language arts courses passed, and mathematics courses passed.
  • English learners, multiracial students, low-income families, and special education students faced decreased odds of being college ready.

Finding 2: Post-Secondary enrollment

  • Students were over five times more likely to enroll at a post-secondary institution for each increment in college readiness.
  • Students' demographic background plays a prominent role in students' enrolling in post-secondary education.

Finding 3: Post-Secondary awards

  • Students were 58% more likely to receive at least one award at a post-secondary institution for each increment in college readiness.
  • None of the courses in different subject areas affected the odds of obtaining a post-secondary award by more than 5%.

Finding 4: Studying STEM in post-secondary education

  • For each additional science course taken, a student was 13% more likely to declare intent to study STEM and 17% more likely to receive an award in a STEM-related field.
  • Though female students had increased odds of enrolling and receiving an award from post-secondary education, they faced decreased odds of declaring an intent to study STEM and receiving a STEM award.

Finding 5: Time to post-secondary enrollment

  • For degree-granting institutions, the time to enroll is shorter for female students, college ready students, Asian students, refugee students, and Hispanic students.
  • For technical colleges, the time to enroll is shorter for female students, special education students, and students from low-income families.

Finding 6: Time to post-secondary award

  • For degree-granting institutions, the time to award is shorter for multiracial students, female students, low-income students, and college ready students.
  • For technical colleges, the time to award is shorter for female students and special education students.

View Glossary of Terms

Finding 1: Demographic background plays an important role in students' college readiness

One additional
social studies course
passed in high school
increased the odds
of being
college ready by
30%.

Being an
English learner
decreased the odds
of being
college ready
by
48%.

Major Findings

  • One additional foreign language course taken increased the odds of being college ready by 26%. One further language arts course passed increased the odds of being college ready by 21%.
  • Being a multiracial student decreased the odds of being college ready by 46%.
  • Students from low-income families faced a 35% decrease in odds of being college ready.
  • Special education students had a 12% decrease in odds of being college ready.
  • The proportions of students in each college-readiness group by demographic background are shown in Figure 1. The proportions of students in each college-readiness group for each race are shown in Figure 2.
Figure 1: This figure shows the percent of students in each college-readiness group by demographics group.
Figure 2: This figure shows the percent of students in each college-readiness group by race.

Finding 2: College readiness plays an important role in students' post-secondary enrollment

With each increment in
college readiness, a
student was over
5 times
more likely to enroll at a
post-secondary institution.

An additional
social studies course
passed increased
students' odds
of enrolling by
10%.

Major Findings

  • Refugee students were 119% more likely to continue to post-secondary education.
  • Female students were 24% more likely to enroll at a post-secondary institution.
  • A student who received special education was 52% less likely to enroll.
  • An English learner was 43% less likely to continue onto a post-secondary institution.
  • A student from a low-income family faced a 34% decrease in odds of enrolling for post-secondary education.
  • The relative odds of Pacific Islander, Native American, Multiracial, and Hispanic students enrolling at post-secondary education are shown in Figure 3. The odds for Asian and Black students were not statistically significant and are shown in gray. White students were the control group, and they are shown in gray as the dashed line.
Figure 3: This progress chart shows the relative odds of students enrolling at post-secondary education by race or ethnicity, with white students as the control group. The odds ratio was not statistically significant for Asian and Black students and is shown in gray.

Finding 3: Being college ready increases students' odds of receiving an award for post-secondary education

With each increment in
college readiness, a
student was over
58%
more likely to enroll at a
post-secondary institution.

Refugee students
were
47%
less likely
to receive a
post-secondary award.

  • Female students were 108% more likely to receive an award.
  • An English learner was 40% less likely to receive an award.
  • A special education student was 30% less likely to obtain an award.
  • A student from a low-income family was 22% less likely to receive an award.
  • None of the courses in different subject areas affected the odds of obtaining a post-secondary award by more than 5%.
  • The relative odds of students of different races obtaining at least one post-secondary award are shown in Figure 4. The odds for Asian students was not statistically significant and is shown in gray. White students were the control group, and they are shown in gray as the dashed line.
Figure 4: This figure shows the relative odds of students obtaining an award from a post-secondary institution by race or ethnicity. The odds ratio for Asian students was not statistically significant and is shown in gray.

Finding 4: Additional science courses affect students' odds of declaring an intent to study STEM and obtaining a STEM award

STEM Enrollment

With each additional
science course taken,
a student was
13%
more likely to declare
intent to study STEM.

Female students
were
70%
less likely
to declare intent to
study STEM.

  • Refugees were 61% more likely to have an intent to study STEM.
  • English learners were 33% less likely to declare intent to study STEM.
  • Special education students were 25% less likely to declare intent to study STEM.
  • Students from low-income families were 13% less likely to declare intent to study STEM.
  • Out of all female students who received a post-secondary award, 7% obtained a STEM award.
  • The percentages in Figure 5 are the numbers of students in each demographic group who declared or received an award in STEM, out of the number of students enrolled or received an award. For example, out of all the female students who enrolled in post-secondary education, 15% declared an intent to study STEM.
  • Other courses in different subject areas did not affect the odds by more than 10%.
  • Please note that Figure 5 illustrates actual proportions of students declaring intent to study STEM, in contrast to Figure 3 which displays odds of students enrolling.
Figure 5: This figure shows the actual proportions of students declaring an intent to study STEM by demographic background. Note: This figure illustrates the actual proportions and not odds.

STEM Awards

With each additional
science course taken,
a student was
17%
more likely to receive
an award in STEM.

Female students
were
73%
less likely
to receive an
award in STEM.

  • An additional mathematics course taken in high school increased students' odds of obtaining an award in STEM by 9%.
  • Special education students were 37% more likely to receive an award in STEM.
  • Hispanic students had decreased odds of 79% of receiving an award in STEM.
  • The other courses in different subject areas did not affect the odds by more than 10%.
  • Please note that Figure 6 illustrates actual proportions of students receiving a STEM award, in contrast to Figure 4 which display odds of students obtaining an award.
Figure 6: This figure shows the actual proportions of students receiving a STEM award by demographic background. Two groups (refugees and English learners) had insufficient sample size to show here. Note: This figure illustrates the actual proportions and not odds.

Finding 5: The length of time between high school completion and the first post-secondary enrollment is shorter for female students.*

Degree-granting institutions

With each increment in
college readiness, time to
enroll at a degree-
granting institution
decreased by
124 days.

For female students,
the time to enroll at
a degree-granting
institution was
234 days
shorter than male students.*

Major Findings

  • The time to enroll for Asian students was 120 days shorter than the time to enroll for white students.
  • Refugee students enrolled in 91 days shorter than white students.
  • The time to enroll for Hispanic students was 88 days shorter than the time to enroll for white students.
  • Other variables were either not statically significant or affected this time to enrollment by less than 36.5 days (0.1 years).
  • * Utah male students may serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after high school graduation. However, religious data were not collected by the USBE and were not available for this study.

Technical Colleges

For female students,
the time to
enroll at a technical
college was
142 days
shorter than male students.

For special education
students, time to enroll
at a technical college was
69 days
shorter than students
with no special education.

Major Findings

  • It took students from low-income families 22 fewer days to enroll than students who were not from low-income families.
  • Other variables were either not statically significant or affected this time to enrollment by less than 36.5 days (0.1 years).
Figure 7: This figure shows the amount of time to college or university enrollment by college readiness.

Finding 6: The length of time between high school completion and the first post-secondary award is shorter for female students.

Degree-granting institutions

For multiracial students,
the time to award
at a degree-granting
institution was
277 days
shorter than white students.

For female students,
the time to award
at a degree-granting
institution was
245 days
shorter than male students.

Major Findings

  • It took students from low-income families 62 fewer days to receive their first award than students who were not from low-income families.
  • For each increment in college readiness, the time to award was shortened by 55 days.
  • Other variables were either not statistically significant or affected this time to award by less than 36.5 days (0.1 year).
  • This study did not control for the level of awards such as associates’ and bachelor’s degree. Please note that the required hours to receive these degrees may be different, and the difference in time to award may be due to attainment level.

Technical Colleges

Female students' time
to award at a
technical college was
172 days
shorter than male
students’ time to award.

For special education
students, the time to award
at a technical college was
69 days
shorter than students
with no special education.

Major Findings

  • For each additional CTE skilled technical sciences course taken, the time to award decreased by 18 days.
  • Other variables were either not statically significant or affected this time to award by less than 36.5 days (0.1 years).
  • This study did not control for the different types of programs offered at technical colleges, such as nursing and electrician. Please note that the required hours to complete these programs may vary drastically, and the difference in time to certificate may be due to the type of program completed.
Figure 8: This figure shows the amount of time to post-secondary awards by college readiness. Note: For several of the years, the number of students in the not ready category is too low to be reported.

Limitations

  • Post-secondary outcomes only include enrollment and awards data from a public college or university in the Utah System of Higher Education (USHE).
  • The model does not establish causal relationships between courses taken or demographic data and post-secondary education.
  • This study looks at USBE cohorts from 2014 to 2017. Some of these students could be currently on track to obtaining a post-secondary award.

Conclusion

  • While some courses such as social studies and foreign language increase the odds for students to be college ready, students' demographic background strongly influences post-secondary outcomes.
  • Being college ready plays a significant role in students' enrolling and obtaining an award at post-secondary institutions. The number of science courses taken in high school increases students' odds at declaring an intent to study STEM and receiving a STEM award.
  • Demographic data demonstrates disadvantages faced by students from low-income families, students who received special education, female students, English learners, and racial minority students.

Full Report

Learn more about college readiness and post-secondary education outcomes

Following USBE cohorts from 2014 to 2017, this study examined the importance of high school course-taking patterns and students' demographic data. The number of courses taken and passed in each subject in high school is combined with each student’s demographic data to model college readiness and post-secondary education outcomes such as enrollment, award, intent to study STEM, STEM award, time to enroll, and time to award. Overall, students' post-secondary success could be better understood by examining students’ environments in addition to their course-taking patterns.

Utah wage gap report cover

Glossary

Project
Team

Karen Tao

Researcher
(Analysis/
Report Author)

Laura Dahl, PhD

UX Researcher
(Graphics/
Web Design)