High School Completion Rates Research Articles

Got Human Capital?

HUMAN capital. It's why our neighbors have good jobs; it's why the teenager down the block can invent a new technology to help deaf people communicate. It's why we're able to compete economically within and among our 50 states and with other nations. It's why novels are written and why history is documented. And human capital comes from education. The Well-Being of Nations: The Role of Human and Social Capital, a 2001 report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, took the lead in examining this connection. (This report is available at www.oecd.org; search on the title.) It correlated human capital (the knowledge and skills derived from education, training, and experience) and national well-being (economic growth, better health, lower crime, political and community participation, and social cohesion). Evidence from the Census According to Educational Attainment: A 2000 Census Brief -- a U.S. Census Bureau report released in August 2003 and summarized in a new issue of Progress of Reform from the Education Commission of the States -- education levels in the United States are high and rising. In 2000, four out of five adults had completed high school (contrasted with just 24% of the population in 1940 and just over 50% in 1970), and more than half the U.S. population aged 25 and older had completed at least some college education. The six states with the lowest high school completion rates in 1990 (Mississippi, Kentucky, West Virginia, Arkansas, Alabama, and Tennessee) were, in 2000, among the states with the largest growth in the percentage of people aged 25 and older who had completed high school or more. However, it is possible that attainment may be leveling off. If one disaggregates the data by age group, it appears that younger generations are less educated than the generations they will succeed. Closing the College Participation Gap Although these data demonstrate that we've made strides in our development of human capital, a newly released report, Closing the College Participation Gap: A National Summary, looks at current conditions related to postsecondary access and participation. (This report and others in the same series are available at www.ecs.org.) Author Sandra Ruppert, who is program director of the Education Commission of the States' Center for Community College Policy, presents a sample of findings gleaned primarily from her analysis of 2000 census data: * The projected double-digit percentage growth in traditional college- age enrollments during the next decade has captured national attention. But the less-noticed story is that half of the states probably will see either little or no growth or even an actual decline in the numbers of students attending college. * It's not just about the kids anymore: adults now account for nearly half of all college enrollments. * Less than 38% of the 19-year-olds who had graduated from high school by 1999-2000 had enrolled in college by fall 2000. * Nearly 34 million people -- 12.4% of the U.S. population -- live below the poverty line. * One of every 10 teenagers between the ages of 16 and 19 is considered a dropout -- neither a high school graduate nor currently enrolled in school. * More than 13 million foreign-born people legally entered the United States during the past decade, but just six states absorbed over half of the influx. * The aging of the baby boomers over the next decade will result in dramatic changes in the age structure of the U.S. population. The report notes that the percentage of adults aged 25 and older who have less than a high school credential is lowest in Alaska, where less than 12% have not completed high school or received a GED. The next- closest states, with rates between 12% and 13%, are Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. The U.S. average is 19.6% -- or nearly one in five students without a high school credential. …

What Teacher Education Programs Can Learn From Successful Mexican-Descent Students

This study explored the high school experiences of 32 Mexican-descent students who had successfully graduated and were enrolled in institutions of higher learning. By conducting extended interviews with these students, the author sought to identify teachers' actions that the students found helpful or harmful to their learning experiences. These observations can be used to make recommendations for better preparing preservice teachers for the changing classroom demographics that are resulting from the rapidly rising percentage of Mexican-descent students in public schools. Better-prepared teachers may make a difference in increasing the low high-school completion rate for these students. One recommendation is that preservice teachers be aware of cultural differences and include these different cultures in the curriculum. It is also important that they avoid stereotypes. Preservice teachers need to realize that all students are capable of academic success. In addition, preservice teachers must be prepared to include and challenge Mexican-descent students in all aspects of their educational experience. Teacher education programs can assist by providing training specifically targeting these areas of need.

Age 21 Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Title I Chicago Child-Parent Centers

We conducted the first cost-benefit analysis of a federally financed, comprehensive early childhood program. The Title I Chicago Child-Parent Centers are located in public schools and provide educational and family support services to low-income children from ages 3 to 9. Using data from a cohort of 1,539 program and comparison-group children born in 1980 who participate in the Chicago Longitudinal Study, measures of program participation were significantly associated with greater school achievement, higher rates of high school completion, and with significantly lower rates of remedial education services, juvenile delinquency, and child maltreatment. Economic analyses indicated that the measured and projected economic benefits of preschool participation, school-age participation, and extended program participation exceeded costs. In present-value 1998 dollars, the preschool program provided a return to society of $7.14 per dollar invested by increasing economic well-being and tax revenues, and by reducing public expenditures for remedial education, criminal justice treatment, and crime victims. The extended intervention program (4 to 6 years of participation) provided a return to society of $6.11 per dollar invested while the school-age program yielded a return of $1.66 per dollar invested. Findings demonstrate that an established public program can provide benefits that far exceed costs. Key elements of CPC program effectiveness include an instructional focus on literacy, opportunities for intensive parent involvement, and implementation by well-trained staff within a single administrative system.

Does External Accountability Affect Student Outcomes? A Cross-State Analysis

We developed a zero-to-five index of the strength of accountability in 50 states based on the use of high-stakes testing to sanction and reward schools, and analyzed whether that index is related to student gains on the NAEP mathematics test in 1996–2000. The study also relates the index to changes in student retention in the 9th grade and to changes in high school completion rates over the same period. The results show that students in high-accountability states averaged significantly greater gains on the NAEP 8th-grade math test than students in states with little or no state measures to improve student performance. Furthermore, students in high-accountability states do not have significantly higher retention or lower high school completion rates.

Education Vouchers, the Peer Group Problem, and the Question of Dropouts

1. Introduction Since 1990, there has appeared a burgeoning literature, both theoretical and empirical, on the effects of school vouchers (see Hoxby 1996; Hoenack 1997; West 1997; Hoyt and Lee 1998; Rouse 1998b). Because the use of vouchers increases the size of the private school sector at the expense of the public and because of the public policy controversy that that result has created, considerable attention has been directed at measuring the efficiency of private schools relative to public (Evans and Schwab 1995; Sander and Krautman 1995). Here the early claim in the literature-that Catholic schools (Coleman, Hoffer, and Kilgore 1982)-has driven much of the subsequent analysis and has led critics to emphasize that early results that at first sight seem favorable to Catholic schools could result from and/or parent selection bias (Murnane, Newstead, and Olsen 1985; Neal 1997). After controlling for various selection biases (Figlio and Stone 1999), researchers have accordingly tended to find that private schools (as a group) do not perform any better than do their public counterparts (Neal 1998).' Two aspects of this debate have attracted our attention. First, most participants use student (i.e., the ability to score well on tests in math, English, science, and so on) as the benchmark for measuring educational performance and hence the basis for assessing the impact of vouchers. Our paper is both an addition to and a departure from this approach. We focus on the role of vouchers in relation to school dropouts, a somewhat different and, we believe, as important a measure of school performance? Second, we have noticed that much of the evaluation of the performance of private and public schools compares only alternative benefits without invoking the caveat that efficiency issues cannot be resolved without a similar analysis of cost. Thus, while our analysis follows in this tradition by comparing only the effect of vouchers on alternative measures of education benefits, we recognize that greater voucher use may well bring about efficiency changes on the cost side that would dominate these considerations.3 These comments are not to detract from the rich variety of approaches to the question of how the mix of school types affects academic performance and how vouchers relate to that mix. The current literature analyzes many issues that complement those raised in this paper. They include the role of vouchers in relation to mobility and geographic location (Neal 1997; Hoxby 2000; Nechyba 2000), the relative performance of religious versus nonreligious private schools on high school achievement and completion rates (Figlio and Stone 1999), and the relationship between school dropouts and both teenage pregnancy (Ribar 1994) and alcohol use/ abuse (Ribar 1999). Our contribution to the voucher debate begins from a recent series of papers by Manski (1992), Epple and Romano (1998a, b), and Nechyba (2000), who have emphasized the presence of one particular educational spillover in the use of school vouchers-the peer group problem. This is an external effect that vouchers may have on public schools by helping private schools diminish the pool of higher-ability students that remain in the public system. By allowing lowerincome students of high aptitude and ability to leave the public school system, it is argued, a voucher system encourages private schools to skim the cream off the public school system and so depreciate the average quality of students that remain behind.4 Because the quality of education received by students is, in part, a function of the quality of their classmates, the loss of higher-ability students reduces the quality of education received by those remaining in the public system. On the other hand, private schools receiving the incoming benefit are led by competition to internalize the externality through a fee structure that discriminates by ability (e. …

High School Size, Achievement Equity, and Cost

The past decade has occasioned a dramatic increase in research on relationships between school size and a variety of outcomes, including measured achievement, high school completion rates, and postsecondary enrollment rates. An interesting interaction effect which has been found in replications across seven very different states is that as school size increases, the "achievement test score costs" associated with the proportion of economically disadvantaged students enrolled in a school also increase. In short, as schools get larger, average achievement among schools enrolling larger proportions of low socioeconomic-status students suffers. A traditional argument against smaller schools, however, is that they are simply

Higher standards, more dropouts? Evidence within and across time

This study investigates whether state course graduation requirements (CGRs) affect high school dropout decisions. It uses aggregate data on dropout rates, individual data on dropout decisions from two time periods, and aggregate data on high school (attrition) completion rates over fifteen years. The results strongly suggest that state mandated minimum course requirements cause students to drop out of high school. The estimated effects imply that a standard deviation increase in CGRs would cause between 26,000 and 65,000 more individuals to drop out of school. These figures constitute an increase in the population of dropouts in 1990 of 3.0 to 7.4 percent.

School-based support for urban adolescent mothers

<h2>Abstract</h2> <b>Introduction:</b> The purpose of this research was to examine infant birth weights and high school completion rates for two cohorts of adolescent mothers attending an urban school-based program, the Polly T. McCabe center. <b>Method:</b> A retrospective record review was conducted with two convenience samples of 47 adolescent mothers (study I) aged 16.1 ± 1.4 years and 60 adolescent mothers (study II) aged 15.9 ± 1.4 years who were enrolled in the McCabe Center during the 1992–1993 and 1996–1997 academic years. <b>Results:</b> The incidence of low birth weight infants born to students was 4% in study I and 13.6% in study II. High school continuation/completion rates for study I were 79% at 3 years after leaving the program and 80% for study II at 1 year after leaving the program. <b>Discussion:</b> The young mothers and infants appear to have benefitted from the McCabe Center's intervention. Findings of the study suggest that continued implementation of supportive school-based programs similar to the McCabe Center may help prevent lower birth weight infants born to adolescent mothers and may help decrease the high school drop-out rate among this population. J Pediatr Health Care. (2000). <i>14</i>, 221–227.

School-based support for urban adolescent mothers

Introduction: The purpose of this research was to examine infant birth weights and high school completion rates for two cohorts of adolescent mothers attending an urban school-based program, the Polly T. McCabe center. Method: A retrospective record review was conducted with two convenience samples of 47 adolescent mothers (study I) aged 16.1 ± 1.4 years and 60 adolescent mothers (study II) aged 15.9 ± 1.4 years who were enrolled in the McCabe Center during the 1992–1993 and 1996–1997 academic years. Results: The incidence of low birth weight infants born to students was 4% in study I and 13.6% in study II. High school continuation/completion rates for study I were 79% at 3 years after leaving the program and 80% for study II at 1 year after leaving the program. Discussion: The young mothers and infants appear to have benefitted from the McCabe Center's intervention. Findings of the study suggest that continued implementation of supportive school-based programs similar to the McCabe Center may help prevent lower birth weight infants born to adolescent mothers and may help decrease the high school drop-out rate among this population. J Pediatr Health Care. (2000). 14, 221–227.

The Myth of the Texas Miracle in Education

I summarize the recent history of education reform and statewide testing in Texas, which led to introduction of the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) in 1990-91. A variety of evidence in the late 1990s led a number of observers to conclude that the state of Texas had made near miraculous progress in reducing dropouts and increasing achievement. The passing scores on TAAS tests were arbitrary and discriminatory. Analyses comparing TAAS reading, writing and math scores with one another and with relevant high school grades raise doubts about the reliability and validity of TAAS scores. I discuss problems of missing students and other mirages in Texas enrollment statistics that profoundly affect both reported dropout statistics and test scores. Only 50% of minority students in Texas have been progressing from grade 9 to high school graduation since the initiation of the TAAS testing program. Since about 1982, the rates at which Black and Hispanic students are required to repeat grade 9 have climbed steadily, such that by the late 1990s, nearly 30% of Black and Hispanic students were "failing" grade 9. Cumulative rates of grade retention in Texas are almost twice as high for Black and Hispanic students as for White students. Some portion of the gains in grade 10 TAAS pass rates are illusory. The numbers of students taking the grade 10 tests who were classified as "in special education" and hence not counted in schools' accountability ratings nearly doubled between 1994 and 1998. A substantial portion of the apparent increases in TAAS pass rates in the 1990s are due to such exclusions. In the opinion of educators in Texas, schools are devoting a huge amount of time and energy preparing students specifically for TAAS, and emphasis on TAAS is hurting more than helping teaching and learning in Texas schools, particularly with at-risk students, and TAAS contributes to retention in grade and dropping out. Five different sources of evidence about rates of high school completion in Texas are compared and contrasted. The review of GED statistics indicated that there was a sharp upturn in numbers of young people taking the GED tests in Texas in the mid-1990s to avoid TAAS. A convergence of evidence indicates that during the 1990s, slightly less than 70% of students in Texas actually graduated from high school. Between 1994 and 1997, TAAS results showed a 20% increase in the percentage of students passing all three exit level TAAS tests (reading, writing and math), but TASP (a college readiness test) results showed a sharp decrease (from 65.2% to 43.3%) in the percentage of students passing all three parts (reading, math, and writing). As measured by performance on the SAT, the academic learning of secondary school students in Texas has not improved since the early 1990s, compared with SAT takers nationally. SAT-Math scores have deteriorated relative to students nationally. The gains on NAEP for Texas fail to confirm the dramatic gains apparent on TAAS. The gains on TAAS and the unbelievable decreases in dropouts during the 1990s are more illusory than real. The Texas "miracle" is more hat than cattle.

A lower minimum legal drinking age was associated with increased suicide in youths 18–23 years of age

Birckmayer J, Hemenway D. Minimum-age drinking laws and youth suicide, 1970 – 1990. Am J Public Health1999 Sep; 89 : 1365 –8. [OpenUrl][1][CrossRef][2][PubMed][3][Web of Science][4] QUESTION: Does an association exist...

Campus Racial Climate and the Adjustment of Students to College: A Comparison between White Students and African-American Students

Benefits associated with a college degree are multiple. From a societal standpoint, a college graduate is far less likely to commit a crime and approximately 30% less likely to be unemployed compared to a student who has simply earned a high-school diploma (Hossler, Braxton, & Coopersmith, 1989; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991). From an individual perspective, each additional year of schooling past high school seems to prolong life by 0.4%, or nearly 2 percentage points, upon graduation from college (Hossler, Braxton, & Coopersmith, 1989). Moreover, earning a college degree is known to produce greater gains in occupational prestige (e.g., Lin & Vogt, 1996) and economic returns (e.g., Leslie & Brinkman, 1986) as compared to simply attaining a high-school diploma. A precondition for the attainment of these benefits is persistence to graduation. Although persistence rates have remained remarkably stable at roughly 45% as far back as 1885 (Tinto, 1982; Porter, 1990), there are notable variations when the ethnicity of the student is introduced. Compared to White students, African Americans are 20% less likely to complete college within a six-year period (Porter, 1990). For every two White students who drop out in that time frame, three African Americans have departed from a postsecondary institution (Porter, 1990). Several hypotheses have been advanced that may account for enrollment and persistence trends of minority students. Hauser and Anderson (1991) explored the extent to which declines in college participation rates could be attributed to changes in college aspirations and changes in high-school completion rates among African Americans. Tinto (1987) argued that overall differences in persistence rates between African Americans and non-minorities were primarily due to differences in their academic preparedness rather than differences in their socioeconomic backgrounds. Tinto contended that differences in ability arise from prior educational experiences at elementary and secondary school levels that tend to favor the educational achievement and persistence of nonminorities relative to minorities. Other researchers speculate these trends could be attributed to changes in the composition of federal financial aid packets and patterns of financing higher education exhibited by minority students (Mortenson & Wu, 1990; Olivas, 1985 Porter, 1990; St. John, 1994). Exposure to a climate of prejudice and discrimination in the classroom and on campus has gained attention as the main factor accounting for differences in withdrawal behavior between minorities and non-minorities (e.g., Fleming, 1984; Hurtado, 1992, 1994; Hurtado, Carter, & Spuler, 1996; Smedley, Myers, & Harrel, 1993). The role of perceived discriminatory behavior on the maladaptive behavior of minority students to college has been scrutinized through two conceptualizations. The first approach relies on Student-Institution Fit models (Bean, 1990; Spady, 1970; Tinto, 1993) and views prejudice and discrimination as a factor interfering with a student's integration into his or her social and academic environments. A second, more recent approach uses transactional models of stress and coping behaviors as their theoretical premises (Munoz, 1987; Smedley, Myers, & Harrell, 1993). The transactional model (Munoz, 1987; Smedley, Myers, & Harrell, 1993) regards experiences of racism and discrimination on campus as psychological and sociocultural stressors. Like other stressors, experiences of prejudice and discrimination are associated with psychological distress that can lead to the maladjustment of students at their respective institutions. Unlike other stressors, however, experiences of discrimination are considered unique in that they (a) are present only among minority students and (b) heighten the feeling of not belonging at the institution with spillover effect on a student's academic performance. Proponents of the Student-Institution Fit perspective argue that intolerance toward the minority student plays a key role for explaining his or her maladjustment with the institution. …

Successful African American Students: The Role of Parental Involvement

Research on parental involvement suggests that families play a key role in students' school success. Using social capital theory as a conceptual framework, this study sought to identify unique characteristics of social capital held by successful African American students compared to those of successful White and nonsuccessful Black peers. It examined social capital along four dimensions: (a) parent-teen interactions, (b) parent-school interactions, (c) parent-parent interactions, and (d) family norms. Despite their comparatively more disadvantaged home environments, successful African American students demonstrated higher levels of social capital on 6 of the 11 indicators examined. The implications of these findings for parents, educators, and educational policymakers are discussed. INTRODUCTION Changes in technology are increasing the necessity for participants in the U.S. labor market to possess a postsecondary degree. Although the high school completion rate for African American students has increased over the past several decades, attaining postsecondary educational opportunities and achieving lofty academic goals represents a critical challenge for many African American students (Solorzano, 1992). In the search for strategies that foster academic success among African American students, attention has been focused on increasing parental involvement in these students' schooling. However, parental involvement has multiple meanings (Cassanova, 1996), and it has been operationalized in studies in a variety of ways. Nonetheless, parental involvement is widely recognized as an important contributor to the academic success of African American students (Coleman,1991; Comer & Haynes,1991; Cooper & Datnow, in press; Epstein,1995; Lareau,1989). The majority of the studies that have investigated the issue of parental involvement are primarily based on samplings of White students. However, the evidence of positive parental involvement on children's school performance based on that demonstrated with White students may not hold true for students of other racial/ethnic groups (Steinberg, Dombush, & Brown,1992). Likewise, studies examining the effect of parental involvement on African American students often focus on the factors that place these students at risk and ignore the ways in which African American families promote successful school achievement and experiences. More recently, the focus of studies of African American students has shifted to include other factors that contribute to these students' success. Clark (1983) studied high-achieving African American students from low-income home environments. Through intensive interviews and observations, Clark discovered that the parents of such students engaged in distinctive parent-child interactions. That is, they typically created emotionally supportive home environments, engaged in frequent and meaningful dialogue with their children, helped them with homework, and communicated clear and consistent behavioral limits to them. Other studies have supported these findings. Sanders (1997), for example, interviewed high-achieving African American students from urban areas and reported that Black parents' efforts to promote their children's positive racial/ethnic socialization helped promote the latter's academic success as a response to racism and discrimination. Datnow and Cooper (1996) studied the role of peer networks in affirming academic success and racial identity among African American students attending predominantly White independent schools. Using national representative data, Lee, Winfield, and Wilson (1991) examined both family and school factors as they contribute to the academic behaviors of high-achieving African American students. A notable limitation of the research mentioned above, with the exception of the study by Lee et al. (1991), is that they represent small-scale qualitative studies. In order to address the limitations of previous studies of parental involvement and African American students' educational attainment, the present study utilizes national sample data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88). …

Leaving School

Recent studies provide evidence that both the expectation of a graduation rate of 90% and the successful preparation of youth with serious emotional disturbance (SED) for adult role responsibilities will be very difficult to achieve. This study examined the nature of state-by-state variation in high school completion rates and the impact of state-level child disability, demographic, and economic factors upon the basis for exiting school for youth with SED. SED identification rate, per capita income, and per pupil revenue were positively associated with exit by diploma. Conversely, per pupil revenue and SED identification rate were inversely related to exit by certificate. The percentage of the student population reported as White was inversely related to exit by certificate. When the basis of exit was certificate, approximately half of the variance in state school completion rates was accounted for by ethnicity (percentage White), per pupil revenue, and residence in the Northeast or South. Almost one third of the variation in school completion by diploma was accounted for by the SED identification rate and per capita income. States in the highest quartile for per capita income and per pupil revenue accounted for the differences in rates of graduation by diploma. Implications for further research, and efforts to improve school completion rates and adult adjustment levels, are discussed.

The Role of Perceptions of Prejudice and Discrimination on the Adjustment of Minority Students to College

College participation by minority students declined in the middle 1980s following a period of sustained growth [21]. This trend was particularly evident among African Americans and Hispanics [46] who exhibited both the lowest participation rates as well as the highest propensity to drop out from college. Porter's [45] analyses of the high-school senior class of 1980, for instance, revealed that Hispanic college students were 13 percent more prone to withdraw from college than were white students, whereas African American college students were 22 percent more likely to drop out than their white counterparts over a six-year period. These low persistence rates (even over extended periods of enrollment in college) are particularly troublesome from a policy perspective given the relationship that the attainment of a bachelor's degree has on subsequent occupational and economic attainment [44]. Several reasons have been advanced to account for these trends. Hauser and Anderson [21] explored the extent to which declines in college participation rates could be attributed to changes in college aspirations as well as to changes in high-school completion rates among African Americans. After analyzing college aspiration trends for both minorities and nonminorities over a period of thirty years and taking into account high-school completion rates and indicators of socioeconomic status, Hauser and Anderson could not find support for this hypothesis. Other researchers have speculated that the decline could be attributed to changes in the composition of federal assistance and to patterns of financing higher education exhibited by minority students. Porter [45] noted that declines in minorities' college participation rates correlated with the growth of student loans at the expense of grants. Olivas [41], Mortenson and Wu [31], and Mortenson [30] observed that African American and Hispanic students were less willing to go into debt to finance their college education than were white students. Moreover, Ekstrom [19] helped to establish and test the proposition that students willing to go into debt to finance their education were more likely to enroll and persist in college. An alternative explanation to the role of finances in the persistence process has stressed the influence of academic preparation for college. Tinto [56] argued that overall differences in persistence rates between minorities and nonminorities were primarily due to differences in their academic preparedness rather than differences in their socioeconomic backgrounds. Tinto further contended that these ability differences arise from prior educational experiences at the elementary and secondary educational levels which tend to favor the educational achievement of nonminorities relative to minorities. Some degree of support has been given to this hypothesis. St. John, Kirshstein, and Noell [50], for instance, reported that the effects of ethnicity disappeared once academic preparation for college was taken into account for the high-school class of 1980. The proposition that a lack of adjustment to predominantly white institutions and that perceptions of prejudice (racial climate) may lower the quality of college experiences of minority students has emerged as a competing explanation for the differences in persistence rates between minority and nonminority college students [for example, 1, 18, 23, 24, 28, 34, 35, 36, 53]. Fleming [18], in particular, has argued that adjustment problems with the curriculum, lack of support services, financial problems and the nature of interpersonal relationships with faculty, peers and academic staff are some of the experiences that negatively impact minority students attending predominantly white institutions. Likewise, Tracey and Sedlacek [57, 58, 59] have contended that noncognitive factors (that is, self-concept, an understanding of racism, and the ability to cope with it) play a more critical role in shaping academic performance in college and persistence decisions among minority students than do cognitive factors such as academic ability and study habits. …

The impact of alcohol consumption and marijuana use on high school graduation.

In this study we use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) to estimate the relationship between high school graduation, and alcohol and marijuana use among high school students. We also estimate the demand determinants for each of these substances. Our results show that there are significant adverse effects of alcohol and marijuana use on high school graduation. In particular, increases in the incidence of frequent drinking, liquor and wine consumption, and frequent marijuana use, significantly reduce the probability of high school graduation. Our results also show that beer taxes, liquor prices and marijuana decriminalization have a significant impact on the demand for these substances. These findings have important policy implications. A ten percent increase in beer taxes, reduces alcohol consumption among high school students, which in turn raises the probability of high school graduation by about three percent. A 1 percent increase in liquor prices raises the probability of high school graduation by over 1 percent. Raising the minimum drinking age for liquor also reduces liquor and wine consumption, and thus, improves the probability of high school graduation. Although the relationship between marijuana decriminalization and marijuana use is not significant, decriminalization is found to reduce the probability of becoming a frequent drinker. This result suggests that marijuana use and frequent drinking are substitute activities. Illicit substance abuse reduces the rate of high school completion, reduces expected future earnings and creates potential health problems. Thus, high-school-based preventive programs which discourage alcohol consumption and marijuana use are highly recommended, in order to alleviate these problems.

Hispanic college attendance and completion: Evidence from the high school and beyond surveys

The problem of low high school completion rates among Hispanics has received considerable attention. Less is known, however, about the higher educational experiences of Hispanic high school graduates. This study uses the High School and Beyond Surveys of the 1980 senior class to examine the higher educational outcomes of Hispanics. Although Hispanic high school graduates are as likely as whites to attend college, differences in college completion are significant among those who attend college. As expected, socio-economic status and traditional academic measures such as grades are shown to be strong predictors of high educational outcomes. Differences in college completion between Hispanics and other students seem to arise more from their unique educational experiences, such as delayed entry into college, attending 2-year colleges, and frequent transfers from full and part-time student status.

Effects of Family Environment and Parent-Child Relationships on School Adjustment during the Transition to Early Adolescence

Few social issues have received as much attention and concern in this country as the education of children and youth. Nonetheless, the number of youth who experience or are at high-risk for academic failure continues to represent a problem of epidemic proportions. Nationally, the high school completion rate for 18-and 19-year-olds is only about 75% (U.S. Department of Education, 1989). Moreover, substantial percentages of those youth who do remain in school have levels of academic achievement that are far below acceptable levels (National Assessment of Educational Progress, 1985). The long-term negative consequences that school failure and academic underachievement carry with them for occupational and economic outcomes in adulthood are well-documented (William T. Grant Foundation, 1988), as are the strong patterns of association that exist between academic difficulties and other types of problems during childhood and adolescence, including delinquency and conduct disorder (Offord, 1989), substance abuse (Hawkins, Lishner, & Catalano, 1985), and emotional difficulties such as depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem (Feshbach & Feshbach, 1987; Hightower et al., 1986). Various aspects of the family and home environment have occupied a central place in the search for factors that may influence the educational outcomes of youth. This research has revealed important differences in achievement levels according to socioeconomic characteristics, such as the employment status and educational backgrounds of the youngster's primary caregivers, as well as the composition of the family, such as whether or not the youth lives in a single-or two-parent household (for reviews see Hetherington, Camara, & Featherman, 1983; Shinn, 1978; and White, 1982). However, several investigators (e.g., Bronfenbrenner, 1986; Felner & Felner, 1989; McLoyd, 1990) have pointed out that the socioeconomic structure and resources that characterize the home should be viewed as relatively distal influences on academic and other outcomes in so far as they do not directly describe the life circumstances and demands that result from them, nor the adaptive processes they require. Those articulating this view have emphasized the importance of examining the adaptive significance of the conceptually more proximal interpersonal transactions and systemic processes that define the child's or adolescent's immediate day-to-day experiences in the family context. It has been argued that these factors merit careful examination both as potentially important influences on adaptive outcomes in their own right (Maccoby & Martin, 1983) and as possible mediators of the effects of the broader and more structural familial socioeconomic circumstances within which they are nested (cf. Felner et al., in press; McLoyd, 1990). Consistent with this view, several investigations have found that indices of conceptually more proximal aspects of the family context exhibit substantial correlations with school adjustment, even after controlling for any overlap that exists between these types of family variables and indicators of socioeconomic status and/or family composition (see Dornbusch, Ritter, Leiderman, Roberts, & Fraleigh, 1987; Felner et al., in press; Hetherington & Clingempeel, 1992; Kurdek & Sinclair, 1988; Stevenson & Baker, 1987). Of the family-related experiences that have been found to be associated with school adjustment in this work, the child's or adolescent's dyadic relationships and interactions with members of his or her family seem especially important. Significant predictors of academic adjustment in this area include the youth's ratings of positive and negative dimensions of his or her relationships with each parent (Biller, 1982; Forehand, Long, Brody, & Fauber, 1986; Hetherington Clingempeel, 1992; Starkey, 1980; Steinberg, Mounts, Lamborn, & Dornbush, 1991), as well as the youth's perceptions of the degree to which he or she receives adequate social support from family members (Dubow & Tisak, 1989; Rowlison & Felner, 1988). …

National cancer institute's ethnic and low literacy nutrition education project

The term has been defined in the National Literacy Act of 1991 * as individual's ability to read, write, and speak in English, and compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society, to achieve one's goals, and develop one's knowledge and potential. Illiteracy exists everywhere and can be found in all socioeconomic strata in the United States,I.2 although it is most prevalent among persons oflow socioeconomic status. I-4 As many as 18% (1.5 million people) of New York City's population are functionally illiterate.3 In other large but less urbanized cities, such as Phoenix, Arizona, the situation is proportionally similar. 5 In rural areas where high school completion rates are often below the rates of central cities, illiteracy is also common. American-born whites make up the largest number of illiterate adults; however, illiteracy is proportionally more prevalent among ethnic minority groups, adding to the major social and economic obstacles these groups face. 7 The results of recent research by Weiss et al. 8 suggest that in the United States, as in many nonindustrialized nations, there is a relation between poor literacy skills and poor health. Minorities will comprise an increasing share of America's population in the future; the U.S. Bureau of the Census predicts that by the year 2020, approximately 40% of school-age Americans will be minority children.9 Thus, the health and well-being of minority people is not only a matter of social justice, but of national self-interest as well. This paper provides a brief overview of the National Cancer Institute's Ethnic and Low Literacy Nutrition Education Project, and a presentation of the key insights gained as a result of developing intercultural nutrition education materials for this project.

Undoing the Failure of Large School Systems: Policy Options for School Autonomy

One can reasonably argue that the ultimate success of the United States school reform movement will depend upon its ability to transform large school systems. Though there are over 15,000 school districts in the country and the average school district enrolls about 2,500 students in five schools, the nation's 100 largest districts enroll an average of 96,000 students in 142 Cumulatively, the 100 largest school districts enroll over 23% of the nation's elementary and secondary school students and over 40% of the nation's minority students. In 19 of these districts, over 50% of the students are Black; in 6 districts, the majority is Hispanic (National Center for Education Statistics, 1993).This article will briefly review the performance of large school districts, particularly the nation's largest district, New York City, and argue that their relatively poor performance is caused by fundamental tension between effective school practice and the nature of large systems. Alternative means of encouraging school independence from large systems will be examined, and the available evidence on the most noteworthy of these efforts will be reviewed.A recent New York Times poll indicates the depth of concern over the quality of the city's school system and the importance that the public places upon the Only 12% of the respondents from the city reported that they had a lot of that their child could get good education in the public schools. Forty-one percent of those polled reported having no confidence in the ability of the city's schools to provide good education to their children. The results of this poll were more negative for education than they were for street crime. Almost twice as many respondents reported that they had lot of confidence that they could walk the streets of their neighborhood at night without being accosted as those who expressed confidence in the city schools.The public's perception of the school system as failing is congruent with the available data on school and student performance in the system. The most telling bottom-line statistic, the high school completion rate, indicates that only 57% of the students who enter New York City high school graduate with either regular or equivalency diploma within seven years of having entered. In labor market that requires high school diploma as bare minimum for entry-level positions, this outcome indicates that the New York City public school system is failing almost half its students.What is vexing about the school system's failure is the fact that numerous reforms have been tried over the last 25 years. Governance of the system was partially decentralized in the late 1960s. In the last 10 years, spending per pupil has doubled. Academic standards for students and schools alike have been established and reset several times. The system's most common reform effort, replacing top management, has been used with alarming frequency. Ten men have served as chancellor or interim chancellor in the 21 years since decentralization was introduced in 1970, total equal to the number of superintendents who had served in the previous 72 years. Each new chancellor has been brought to the job with great fanfare and hope that his particular style or initiative will be able to turn the system around. This phenomenon is common in many large systems. In recent years, over two-thirds of the districts that are members of the Council of the Great City Schools have either been searching for new superintendent, or they have had superintendent on the job for two years or less.The last chancellor to come into the New York City public school system, Joseph Fernandez, was noted as proponent of school autonomy. In 1990, Fernandez left his post as superintendent of schools in Dade County, Florida, and assumed the challenge of leadership of the New York City He brought with him clearly defined initiative, school-based management, which seemed to be necessary and natural progression from efforts predating his arrival that had failed to significantly improve the city's …