Postsecondary Outcomes Research Articles

Youth Pathways in Articulated Postsecondary Systems: Enrolment and Completion Patterns of Urban Young Women and Men

This paper uses panel survey data to document the postsecondary educational activity of high school graduates in Edmonton and Vancouver over a five-year period. It enquires whether, in "articulated" postsecondary systems offering a range of institutional choices and a variety of transfer options, large class and gender differences in participation and completion continue to be observed. The results reveal that even in systems explicitly designed to improve access to and encourage completion of postsecondary programs, family background continues to strongly influence postsecondary outcomes. In both cities, social class advantages appear to be passed from one generation to the next, to a large extent, through the high school tracking system, since high school academic program is a strong predictor of postsecondary participation and completion. Gender also continues to matter, but in more subtle ways than in the past.

Using SSI Work Incentives in Postsecondary Education

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which there is a relationship between postsecondary model program directors' knowledge of 11 SSI content items and their utilization activities of these items in transition planning with their program participants. Twenty-seven of the 38 selected project directors responded to a three-part survey inquiring about SSI cash, medical, and work incentives. Respondents reported limited knowledge and utilization of all 11 SSI content items with their program participants. Relationships between utilization of SSI work incentives in postsecondary education and outcomes of students with disabilities are discussed.

Invested Dollars or Diverted Dreams: The Effect of Resources on Vocational Students' Educational Outcomes

Educational policy to address high school dropout rates has centered largely on two remedies : provide relevant vocational curriculum and invest increased resources in schooling. Critics argue, however, that vocational programs divert working-class students from higher educational attainment and that resources ultimately do not affect students' outcomes. The research presented here examined how the investment of resources affects the outcomes of vocational education programs. The results indicate that vocational programs in States with higher levels of resource investment significantly increase the likelihood of students graduating from high school, whereas vocational programs in States with low levels of investment increase the probability of students dropping out. Resources also affect postsecondary outcomes

Measuring the Effectiveness of a Career Academy Program from an Employer’s Perspective

Using data collected from 254 participants, I examined the effectiveness of a career academy program. Previous research on adolescent school-to-work transition programs has measured effectiveness using academic outcomes such as grades, graduation rates, and high school credits earned. This study measures the effectiveness of an academy program using outcomes relevant to employers, that is, job performance and work attendance. School outcomes of grades and attendance were found to have a direct effect on postsecondary work outcomes of performance and attendance. Results indicated that the program’s positive effect on high school attendance had a positive impact on work attendance. Implications for public policy, business, and the academic communities are discussed.

The Effects of Participation in Sport during the Last Two Years of High School

The effects of participation in sport during the last 2 years of high school were examined by use of the nationally (United States) representative High School and Beyond data collected between 1980 and 1984. After background variables and outcomes collected during the sophomore year of high school were controlled for, sport participation positively affected 14 of 22 senior and postsecondary outcomes (e.g., social and academic self-concept, educational aspirations, course work selection, homework, reduced absenteeism, and subsequent college attendance) and had no negative effects on the remaining 8 variables. These positive effects were robust, generalizing across individual characteristics (race, socioeconomic status, sex, and ability level), school size, and school climates (academic, social, and sport). The positive effects of sport participation were mediated by academic self-concept and educational aspirations, supporting the proposal that sport participation enhances identification with the school.

Extracurricular activities: Beneficial extension of the traditional curriculum or subversion of academic goals?

Effects of total extracurricular activity participation (TEAP) during the last 2 years of high school were examined using the large, nationally representative High School and Beyond data. After controlling background variables and sophomore outcomes, TEAP had small but statistically significant and positive relations with 17 of 22 senior and postsecondary outcomes (e.g., social and academic self-concept, educational aspirations, coursework selection, homework, absenteeism, academic achievement, and subsequent college attendance). Whereas there were small nonlinear components, increases in TEAP across almost the whole range of TEAP scores were associated with increases in benefits for most of the outcomes

Social Competencies as a Pathway to Successful Life Transitions

Learning disabilities have been examined most carefully in the academic setting; however, learning disabilities is a lifelong condition that impacts individuals outside the academic environments. Since the formal school setting accounts for so little of a person's life experiences, it becomes important to understand the nonacademic manifestations of learning disabilities. Impaired social competency is one of these common manifestations exhibited by young adults with learning disabilities. This article describes post-secondary outcomes of young adults with learning disabilities, specific areas of social problems encountered, and the results of an assessment of social competencies in adults with learning disabilities. The authors recommend that secondary and post-secondary curricular experiences include greater attention to improving social competencies.

Differential Asset Conversion: Class and Gendered Pathways to Selective Colleges

This article elaborates Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital conversion by specifying a mechanism of differential asset conversion that illuminates the gendered postsecondary educational attainment of women and compares it with that posited for men in status attainment theory. Because young women's economic, cultural, and educational assets generally convert to attendance at postsecondary institutions and selective colleges at lower rates, women need to have more of these assets and to have additional assets to achieve the same attainments as men. Overall, there are major differences in the postsecondary outcomes of students who attend public and elite private boarding schools. Attending an elite private boarding school appears to minimize the gendered pathways to postsecondary institutions and selective colleges that affect public school students

A follow-along study of postsecondary outcomes for graduates and dropouts with mild disabilities in a rural setting.

Eighty-six students with mild disabilities living in a rural area who had graduated (n = 52) or dropped out of (n = 34) high school were interviewed at two points in time (7 months apart) about their employment, residential status, and participation in postsecondary education and training programs. Information was also collected on students' high school experiences (educational, vocational, and work) and the reasons they dropped out of school. Of the students who had graduated (Caucasian = 26, black = 25, and other = 1), 31 were male and 21 were female. Of the students who had dropped out (Caucasian = 18, black = 15, and other = 1), 22 were male and 12 female. It was found that the majority of graduates and dropouts were employed full-time at both interviews, and held jobs that paid above minimum wage and provided employee benefits, as well. Nevertheless, by the time of the terminal interview, graduates had worked proportionally more time since high school than dropouts and had been employed in their current job more than twice as long. Neither group of former special education students was particularly active in pursuing postsecondary education or training programs. Finally, these former students had participated in a limited range of educational and vocational experiences during high school, both in terms of diploma tracks and vocational education programs. The implications of the findings for long-term employment and community adjustment are discussed.

Employment During High School: Character Building or a Subversion of Academic Goals?

The present investigation tested theoretical perspectives about the effects of working during the sophomore, junior, and senior years of high school using the large, nationally representative High School and Beyond (HSB) study. Dropping out of high school was associated with hours worked during the sophomore year even after background variables and sophomore outcomes were controlled for. For continuing students, total hours worked during high school was negatively related to 17 of 22 senior and postsecondary outcomes after background variables and sophomore outcomes were controlled for. Working to save money for college, however, had substantial favorable effects on 15 of 22 outcomes, including, in particular, actual attendance at college. The challenge put your money where your mouth is may be an overly simplistic basis for a motivational theory, but it seems to be particularly apt in this situation.