3/12/2012 – New Report Available: Factors Associated with Education and Work after High School for the Classes of 2008 and 2009

 

The Ray Marshall Center has released a new report titled Factors Associated with Education and Work after High School for the Classes of 2008 and 2009. The third report in a series for the Central Texas Student Futures project, this report examines factors linked to successful postsecondary transitions for Central Texas high school seniors that graduated in 2008 and 2009. This analysis builds upon information gained from previous years’ analyses surveyed 2006 and 2007 Central Texas graduates. Researchers identifed those factors – family background and influences, student characteristics, prehigh school and individual high school experiences – consistently associated with transitions to postsecondary education and employment outcomes, as well as those that vary depending upon the data source, time period or geographic area under study. Factors associated with populations of interest – Hispanic, low income and first-generation high school graduates – are also analyzed.  Researchers used several methods for their analysis to determine how robust these factors are across cohorts, data sources, locations, and model selection.

The Central Texas Student Futures Project is a research partnership of the Ray Marshall Center and twelve Central Texas independent school districts (ISDs). The project follows the progress of Central Texas high school graduates as they make the critical transition from high school to postsecondary education and the labor market. This effort grew out of concerns among key education, business, workforce development and community stakeholders that the region’s economy and its residents would not prosper in the near- and longer-term unless more of its graduates obtained higher levels of enrollment in postsecondary education and better labor market outcomes. Graduates’ actual postsecondary education and work outcomes are computed annually (for at least four years beyond graduation) using postsecondary enrollment and employment records. Findings are shared annually with local educators, business and community leaders, and policymakers committed to improving education and supporting local initiatives.