High School Graduation Rates Research Articles

Can Small High Schools of Choice Improve Educational Prospects for Disadvantaged Students?

This paper provides rigorous evidence (for 12,130 participants in a series of naturally occurring randomized lotteries) that a large-scale high school reform initiative (New York City’s creation of 100+ small high schools of choice between 2002 and 2008) can markedly and consistently increase high school graduation rates (by 9.5 percentage points overall and for many different student subgroups) for a large population of educationally and economically disadvantaged students of color without increasing annual school operating costs. These findings are directly relevant to current debates by policymakers and practitioners about how to improve the educational prospects of disadvantaged students in the United States. C � 2014 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.

Environmental Justice and Factors that Influence Participation in Tree Planting Programs in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

Many cities have policies encouraging homeowners to plant trees. For these policies to be effective, it is important to understand what motivates a homeowner’s tree-planting decision. Researchers address this question by identifying variables that influence participation in a tree-planting program in Portland, Oregon, U.S. According to the study, homeowners with street trees, and those living in older homes, are more likely to participate in the local program. Homeowners who had owned their homes for longer, and those who live in census-block groups with lower high-school graduation rates, are less likely to participate in the program. Results suggest that tree-planting programs may inadvertently exacerbate environmental inequality.

“You're in the Army Now:” The Impact of World War II on Women's Education, Work, and Family

World War II temporarily halted the rise in high school and college graduation rates. This article shows that manpower mobilization for World War II decreased educational attainment among high school-age females during the early 1940s, reduced employment and earnings, and altered decisions regarding family formation. I then provide evidence that women in this cohort returned to school in later life and relate these findings to the “quiet revolution” taking place as women learned about the benefits of school and work over the second half of the twentieth century.“Education has been ever in the nation's service. But in these days of total war that service has a new significance. ‘You're in the Army now’ is no cliché–it is an expression of national necessity.”1

The Role of Racial Socialization in Promoting the Academic Expectations of African American Adolescents: Realities in a Post-<em>Brown</em> Era

In 1954, the landmark ruling of Brown v. the Board of Education fulfilled the educational wishes of generations of African American parents, the right to an education for their children (Spencer, 2005, 2008). The legal right to equal educational opportunities for their child was the minimum expectation of parents celebrated by parents. The seminal findings from research that served an important role in the decision process of the Supreme Court were the famous 'doll study' by African American psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Phipps Clark (see Clark & Clark, 1950). Their research findings were used as evidence to the Court of the negative psychological impact of segregated school systems.Throughout history on this continent, African American parents consistently held high expectations for the education of their children. As documented in a classic work by Carter G. Woodson (1919), he demonstrated that throughout the period of enslavement, where an enslaved African was legally forbidden to read and being caught reading the basis for vicious physical punishments-African Americans found a way to 'get an education.' The famous former slave Frederick Douglass also wrote in his autobiography that although separated from his mother at a young age, he found creative ways to fulfill his mother's dream-to read (Douglass, 2004).The families and community of freed slaves continued to find ways to achieve an education despite Jim segregation and centuries of terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan. In fact, more recent scholarship emphasizes how the legacies associated with Jim segregation still exist under different mechanisms. For example, Alexander (2012) argued that the last two decades have influenced a New Jim Crow in which legalized segregation has been replaced with a penal system associated with unjust incarceration outcomes, especially for African American males. Heilig and Holme (2013) highlighted how current school segregation in Texas is reminiscent of former Jim laws in that Latino/a and African American students are exposed to the most challenging school contexts and they have the least amount of institutional supports.During the Jim era, African American parents used specific socialization strategies to prepare their children to deal with the realities of discrimination and racism (Spencer, 1982). Moving forward Black parents recognized that despite the legal gains, Black children still required additional protective childrearing techniques that are called, 'racial socialization' (Spencer, 1982, 2006). These racial socialization mechanisms acknowledged that race was and still is a social construct associated with a hierarchy of institutional racism. However, as Spencer highlighted by focusing on normal human development processes (1982, 2006, 2008), socialization is connected to normal child development (i.e., understanding children's cognitive capacities to understand social phenomena) as well as ecological contexts. For example, parents must use protective factors to socialize children until children get old enough to understand concepts such as institutional racism and discriminatory practices.Sixty years post Brown; modem African American parents continue to socialize their children to fight new forms of modem racism and discrimination within the school system and the larger community. The educational achievement gap for African American and Hispanic students, as manifested by their lower high school graduation rates is at alarmingly high rates relative to White students (National Center for Education Statistics, 2009). Additionally, African Americans and Hispanics continue to be less likely to enroll in college immediately after high school than both White and Asian Americans (Hayes, Cunningham, & Coursealt, 2006; Trusty, 2002). Spencer (2005) highlighted:The Supreme Court's Brown ruling, in striking down segregation, was supposed to create educational opportunities for African Americans that might then access given normal human developmental processes, effective competence, motivation (see deCharms, 1968, White, 1959), and achievement orientation. …

Erratum to: High school graduation rates among children of same-sex households

Erratum to: High school graduation rates among children of same-sex households

A Network Perspective on Dropout Prevention in Two Cities

Purpose: This exploratory case study examines how school systems and other local organizations have been working within two major U.S. cities to improve high school graduation rates. Systematically assessing active interorganizational dropout prevention networks may reveal characteristics affecting communities’ capacity to support school completion. Research Method: This study included the local affiliates within two U.S. cities of national partners in a dropout prevention initiative. A survey and follow-up interview probed for each organization’s cooperation with the other local organizations. Social network analyses revealed how school superintendents’ offices and other local agencies cooperated, as well as which organizations were most central within each city’s dropout prevention network. Findings: School systems in both cities cooperated with the YMCA, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Boys and Girls Club, the mayor’s office, United Way, and Chamber of Commerce. Among the most central organizations in broader dropout prevention-related networks were the YMCA, Communities in Schools, mayor’s office, and the United Way. Implications for Research and Practice: An organizational network perspective can help school systems identify strategic opportunities to build local capacity for supporting youth. Working with key brokers may then offer a feasible way for schools to leverage local resources.

The Degree of Disadvantage

This article examines how the rise in incarceration and its disproportionate concentration among low-skill, young African American men influences estimates of educational attainment in the United States. We focus on high school graduation rates and the persistent gap in attainment that exists between young black and white Americans. Although official statistics show a declining racial gap in high school dropout in recent years, conventional data sources exclude the incarcerated population from sample data. We show how those exclusions underestimate the extent of racial inequality in high school graduation and underestimate the dropout rate among young black men by as much as 40 percent. America’s prisons and jails have become repositories for high school dropouts, thereby obscuring the degree of disadvantage faced by black men in the contemporary United States and the relative competitiveness of the U.S. workforce.

High school graduation rates among children of same-sex households

Almost all studies of same-sex parenting have concluded there is ''no difference'' in a range of outcome measures for children who live in a household with same-sex parents compared to children living with married opposite-sex par- ents. Recently, some work based on the US census has suggested otherwise, but those studies have considerable drawbacks. Here, a 20 % sample of the 2006 Canada census is used to identify self-reported children living with same-sex par- ents, and to examine the association of household type with children's high school graduation rates. This large random sample allows for control of parental marital status, distinguishes between gay and lesbian families, and is large enough to evaluate differences in gender between parents and children. Children living with gay and lesbian families in 2006 were about 65 % as likely to graduate compared to children living in opposite sex marriage families. Daughters of same-sex parents do considerably worse than sons.

Study and Design of College Students’ Physical Activity Energy Monitor

College students physique level is related to high school graduation rates, short of exercise time, do not take the factors such as physical exercise, but the most important is students didnt get into the habit of exercise in university period ,lack of interest in physical exercise, the exercise effect is poor, shortage of training facilities and other factors . The Design of college students physical activity energy monitor can provide a reliable means in monitoring physical health of college students. This instrument can make continuous, dynamic, effective monitoring for college students activities to enhance physical health , at the same time to make targeted physical health prescription and personalized fitness guidance strategy for strengthen students physical health. Status of College Student Physical Activity Energy Monitor,The Insight of the Study and The Mechanism of Accelerometer Assess Physical Activity Energy are proposed in the paper.

Strategies to Prepare Middle School and High School Students for College and Career Readiness

Trends among adolescents continue to be discouraging in terms of career and college readiness based on National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) achievement reports and high school graduation rate data. In response, this article presents five goals and eight strategies we have engaged in during a seven-year research study focused on building college and career readiness among adolescents. During our final year of helping students build college and career readiness, we found associated improvements in their academic-related perceptions, beliefs, and strategies; positive personal achievement and goal orientation; rising perceptions of college; improving trends in academic performance; and stronger perseverance in high school when compared to a control group. Because the students in this study have not completed their high school senior year, we do not have data that predict their college acceptance or career readiness.

AB0657 Employment status and education attainment in fibromyalgia

BackgroundPatients with fibromyalgia have been reported to fare worse socially than the general population.ObjectivesTo evaluate the socioeconomic status of fibromyalgia patients seen in a tertiary care center.MethodsFirst 306 consecutive new...

Explaining the widening education gap in mortality among U.S. white women.

Over the past half century the gap in mortality across education levels has grown in the United States, and since the mid-1980s, the growth has been especially pronounced among white women. The reasons for the growth among white women are unclear. We investigated three explanations-social-psychological factors, economic circumstances, and health behaviors-for the widening education gap in mortality from 1997 to 2006 among white women aged 45 to 84 years using data from the National Health Interview Survey Linked Mortality File (N = 46,744; 4,053 deaths). Little support was found for social-psychological factors, but economic circumstances and health behaviors jointly explained the growing education gap in mortality to statistical nonsignificance. Employment and smoking were the most important individual components. Increasing high school graduation rates, reducing smoking prevalence, and designing work-family policies that help women find and maintain desirable employment may reduce mortality inequalities among women.

The Good News About Disappearing Jobs: U.S. High School Dropout Rates and Import Exposure

We exploit regional variation in exposure to Chinese import competition to identify the effect of trade-induced changes in labor market conditions on human capital accumulation in the U.S. from 1990 to 2007. We document large increases in U.S. high school graduation rates in the labor markets most affected by import competition. After controlling for established predictors of high school completion, demographic shifts, and coincident labor market changes unrelated to trade with China, we estimate that a movement from the 25th to the 75th percentile in Chinese import exposure led to an average increase in the graduation rate of 3.64 percentage points. Consistent with an environment in which students weigh increases in future earnings potential from further education against current labor market opportunities foregone, we find that growth in Chinese imports led to declines in wages for all educational groups, and reductions in employment for individuals without a high school degree both in absolute terms and relative to their more educated peers.

The Political Foundations of the Black–White Education Achievement Gap

More than 50 years after Brown v. Board, African American students continue to trail their White peers on a variety of important educational indicators. In this article, we investigate the political foundations of the racial “achievement gap” in American education. Using variation in high school graduation rates across the states, we first assess whether state policymakers are attentive to the educational needs of struggling African American students. We find evidence that state policymaking attention to teacher quality—an issue education research shows is essential to improving schooling outcomes for racial minority students—is highly responsive to low graduation rates among White students, but bears no relationship to low graduation rates among African American students. We then probe a possible mechanism behind this unequal responsiveness by examining the factors that motivate White public opinion about education reform and find racial influences there as well. Taken together, we uncover evidence that the persisting achievement gap between White and African American students has distinctively political foundations.

Abstract 129: Race-specific social gradients in breast cancer burden in Maryland: 1992-2003.

Abstract There is substantial evidence linking adverse breast cancer characteristics, including more aggressive histology, larger tumor size, and advanced stage at diagnosis, to both African American race, and lower social class. However, it is not well known if social class affects black and white women similarly, and what behavioral or environmental factors may contribute to the social class gradient for each racial group. Using data from approximately 55,000 cases of breast cancer reported to the Maryland Cancer Registry between 1992-2003, we used multi-level random effects models to examine the relationship between case race, age, year of diagnosis, area-level social class indices (area-level rates of high school graduation, employment, white collar work, and income) and three characteristics associated with adverse cancer outcomes: SEER stage at diagnosis (stage 2-7 versus 1), large tumor size at diagnosis (>2 cm versus <=2 cm), and aggressive histological grade of tumor (grade 3 or 4, versus 1 or 2). We then examined the additional contribution to the model of an estimate of area-level smoking behavior, using estimates of area-level average per household tobacco spending. Finally, we examined whether effects of social class and tobacco use varied for white and black women. Results demonstrate that black women were more likely to be diagnosed with later stage cancers (O.R. =1.29, 95% C.I.= 1.22,1.35), larger tumors (O.R.= 1.45, 95% C.I.= 1.34, 1.56), and more aggressive tumor histology (O.R. 1.65, 95% C.I.= 1.56,1.74). Social class was protective for all three outcomes, but statistically significant interactions showed that this protective effect of social class was reduced for black women compared to white women. In addition, each $1000 increase in average household level of tobacco spending was significantly associated with aggressive grade (O.R.=1.01 per $1000) and larger tumor size (O.R. =1.03, 95% C.I.=1.01,1.06) but not significantly associated with late stage diagnosis. There were no statistically significant interactions of tobacco spending by race, indicating that the effect of tobacco spending are similar for black and white cases. Findings suggest that social class effects differ by race, and that intersectionality - the context-based understanding of multiple simultaneous social effects on health - may be an important approach to understanding excess breast cancer burden in women. This analysis also suggests that health risk behaviors, such as group-level tobacco use, may contribute additional risk, and should be further explored with more robust designs and data. Citation Format: Ann C. Klassen, Aaron Pankiewicz, Frank Curriero. Race-specific social gradients in breast cancer burden in Maryland: 1992-2003. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 129. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-129

School Vouchers and Student Outcomes: Experimental Evidence from Washington, DC

AbstractSchool vouchers are the most contentious form of parental school choice. Vouchers provide government funds that parents can use to send their children to private schools of their choice. Here we examine the empirical question of whether or not a school voucher program in Washington, DC, affected achievement or the rate of high school graduation for participating students. The District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) has operated in the nation's capital since 2004, funded by a federal government appropriation. Because the program was oversubscribed in its early years of operation, and vouchers were awarded by lottery, we were able to use the “gold standard” evaluation method of a randomized experiment to determine what impacts the OSP had on student outcomes. Our analysis revealed compelling evidence that the DC voucher program had a positive impact on high school graduation rates, suggestive evidence that the program increased reading achievement, and no evidence that it affected math achievement. We discuss the implications of these findings in light of recent policy developments including the reauthorization of the OSP and the enactment or expansion of more than a dozen school voucher or voucher‐type programs throughout the United States in 2011 and 2012.

Academic Attainment During Commitment and Postrelease Education–Related Outcomes of Juvenile Justice-Involved Youth With and Without Disabilities

Youth with disabilities are disproportionately represented in juvenile justice populations and their education-related outcomes and rates of high school graduation are poor. This study examined academic characteristics of youth with and without disabilities ( N = 4,066) and reports on the education-related outcomes of these youth 3 years after release from juvenile justice facilities in Florida. During commitment, youth with disabilities earned high school credits and grade point averages on par with their peers without disabilities. The number of credits earned during commitment improved the likelihood that youth returned to school after release. However, only 44% of the school-age cohort returned to school after release. Students with emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD) and learning disabilities (LD) returned to school at higher rates but did not maintain gains made during commitment as they earned significantly fewer high school diplomas after return to school. Implications for transition practice are discussed.

The effects of economic instability on children's educational outcomes

Abstract Welfare Based on Assets, a Way to Smooth Out Economic Instability and Develop Children's Human Capital is a four-part series of papers that focuses on the relationship between economic instability (i.e., income shocks, asset shocks, home loss, and asset poverty) and children's human capital development. Collectively, these reports build on the compelling observation that the pattern low-income families walk into is a present time oriented or consumption based pattern of behavior; in contrast, the pattern higher income families walk into is future oriented or asset based. In the third paper we find in most cases income shocks and asset shocks do not appear to be harmful to children's educational outcomes. However, children living in liquid and net worth asset poor families have lower academic achievement scores, high school graduation rates, college enrollment rates, and college graduation rates than children living in families that are asset sufficient. Overall, findings can be interpreted as suggesting that a bifurcated welfare system, with income-based programs for poor families and asset-based programs for higher income families, may provide higher income families with an educational advantage over low-income families and might ultimately help exacerbate educational inequalities in America.

U.S. High School Graduation Rates: Patterns and Explanations

I survey the evidence on patterns in U.S. high school graduation rates over the period 1970–2010 and report the results of new research conducted to fill in holes in the evidence. I begin by pointing out the strengths and limitations of existing data sources. I then describe six striking patterns in graduation rates. They include stagnation over the last three decades of the twentieth century, significant race-, income-, and gender-based gaps, and significant increases in graduation rates over the first decade of the twenty-first century, especially among blacks and Hispanics. I then describe the models economists use to explain the decisions of individuals to invest in schooling, and examine the extent to which the parameters of the models explain recent patterns in graduation rates. I find that increases in the nonmonetary costs of completing high school and the increasing availability of the GED credential help to explain stagnation in the face of substantial gaps between the wages of high school graduates and school dropouts. I point out that there are several hypotheses, but to date, very little evidence to explain the increases in high school graduation rates over the first decade of the twenty-first century. I conclude by reviewing the evidence on effective strategies to increase high school graduation rates, and explaining why the causal evidence is quite modest. (JEL I21, J15, J16)

<em>Increasing Educational Attainment among Urban Minority Youth: A Model of University, School, and Community Partnerships</em>

This article discusses the educational attainment status of racial and ethnic minorities, specifically African Americans and Hispanics as compared to their Caucasian peers. In addition, the authors describe the U.S. Department of Education's educational initiative, Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) that is designed to improve educational equity and increase access on the part of low-income and underrepresented minorities into institutions of higher learning. The promise of this educational initiative is illustrated with a case study of the Yale University GEAR UP Partnership Project.Keywords: higher education, educational attainment, college access programs, low-income youth, GEAR UPNadia L. Ward Yale UniversityMichael J. Strambler Yale UniversityLance H. Linke Yale UniversityIntroductionResearch suggests that educational attainment beyond high school is associated with higher median earnings for young adults (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2008), sustained employment (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2004), increased civic engagement (Finlay & Flanagan, 2009), decreased involvement in delinquent behavior (Lochner & Moretti, 2004; Nally, Lockwood, Knutson & Ho, 2012) and better health outcomes (Cutler & Lleras-Muney, 2006). However, student enrollment rates among low-income and minority youth into institutions of higher learning continue to lag behind their non-minority peers. According to the U.S. Department of Education (2007), 50 % of low-income students enroll in college immediately after high school, compared with 80 % of students from high income backgrounds.Ethnic differences in high school graduation rates are also troubling. Calculating such rates have been notoriously difficult to accomplish as reports of graduation rates among minority students have ranged from 50 to 85 %. However, rigorous analyses that account for biases in such data suggest that 65 % of African Americans and Hispanics leave high school with a diploma (Heckman & LaFontaine, 2007). Moreover, this research indicates that this gap has largely remained constant over the past 35 years. In terms of college completion rates, data show that more students across the aforementioned racial or ethnic groups have completed college during the past four decades; however, the gap between Caucasians and African Americans has widened as well as the gap between Caucasians and Hispanics since 1971. In 2011, 39% of Caucasian 25- to 29year-olds completed a bachelor's degree or higher, as compared to 20% of African Americans and 13% of Hispanics. In 1975, those figures were 15%, 6% and 6%, respectively (Aud et al., 2011).In addition to marked differences in college completion rates between African American and Hispanic students as compared to Caucasian students, African American and Hispanic students require more time to complete an undergraduate degree than their Caucasian peers (U.S. Department of Education, 2010). Persistently low academic performance, graduation rates, college enrollment and completion rates among African American students negatively impact their ability to successfully transition into the world of work (Feliciano & Ashtiani, 2012). Therefore, efforts to recruit retain and graduate African American youth from institutions of higher learning requires that schools establish a 'college-going culture' at primary and secondary levels (Gulatt & Jan, 2003; Stillisano, Brown, Alford, & Waxman, 2013).Urban school districts face particular challenges in educating low-income and minority youth. The effects of poverty (Feliciano & Ashtiani, 2012; McLoyd, 1998; Perry & McConney, 2010), limited social capital resources (Gordon, 1999) and low parental educational attainment can severely thwart the educational trajectory of urban youth. Despite low college enrollment and graduation rates four-year institutions of higher education on the part of African American and Hispanic students, this trend is not reflective of their early aspirations. …