Date Approved

5-7-1997

Embargo Period

8-29-2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.A. in Community College Education

Department

Educational Services and Leadership

College

College of Education

Advisor

Broussard, Burness

Subject(s)

Community colleges--New Jersey; High school students--Attitudes; Cape May County (N.J.)

Disciplines

Higher Education and Teaching

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare high school guidance counselors' perceptions in general regarding college attendance with those of their graduating students. It was posited, as well, that guidance counselor rankings and the student rankings of five college-choice aspects would be related; namely, that the guidance counselors' choices would be ranked in the same order that the high school students' choices were ranked, and that the students' choices would be significantly related to those aspects relevant to community college attendance. A pilot study was conducted first over phone interviews of the guidance counselors from the four public high schools in Cape May County, and two hundred high school senior students and 13 guidance counselors in the four public high schools located in Cape May County were polled. A total of 115 student surveys were used in the chi-square analysis of the rank-order of the categories, and the relevance of aspects of college choice germane to those used in community college selection was found to be significant at the .05 level of significance. Through clear and concise analysis using percentages and tables, it can be said that a vast majority of students who were not planning on attending a community college would entertain the idea of attending one located in Cape May County.

Share

COinS