Why does the United States lag behind so many other countries on international education assessments? The traditional view targets school-based explanations--U.S. schools attract poorer teachers and lack the proper incentives. But the U.S. educational system may also serve children with comparatively greater academic challenges as a result of…

This paper summarizes recent experience of large-scale, nationally representative longitudinal youth transition studies in the United States. Two study series are considered. First is the longitudinal youth cohorts of the U.S. Department of Labors Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Longitudinal Youth Study, with cohorts that started in 1979…

Using National Longitudinal Study Youth Survey data for 1,241 males and 1,143 females, runaway status in early adolescence--ages 14-15 years--was associated with subsequent--4 years later--substance abuse, alcohol problems, and school-dropout status. Gender and number of runaway episodes were considered. Repeat-runaways reported higher substance…

Data from the NLSY (National Longitudinal Survey of Youth) were analyzed to test two competing hypotheses regarding how poverty affects the relationship between delinquency and educational attainment. The cumulative disadvantage perspective argues that poor youth suffer greater consequences for their involvement in delinquency than middle and…

The Secondary School Taxonomy (SST) was developed as part of an analysis of the high school course-taking behavior of high school graduates between 1969 and 1987. Based on high school transcripts, it is intended to answer questions about secondary vocational education, such as: (1) who took vocational education and how much did they take?; (2)…

Analysis of a sample of 4,905 high school graduates found that 62 percent took some secondary vocational education (SVE); 65 percent of those in college had some SVE, but 55 percent averaged less than 1 credit; students with a concentration in SVE were slightly less likely to enroll in college; and SVE service area was related to college major.…

A study used data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth to analyze the long-term effects of hospitality industry employment on youth. The subsample extracted for the study included all youth who were aged 16-24 in 1980 and employed in the civilian sector for pay at any time in the year. Statistics indicated the hospitality sector was…

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey Youth Cohort, estimates probability of drug use (illicit drugs, hard drugs, and marijuana only) across racial groups in relation to formal educational attainment. Adolescent drug use (in all three categories) reduces their educational attainment by about 1 year. (Contains 21 references.) (MLH)

National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data were used to analyze the educational goals and attainment of rural and urban youth; boys and girls; and advantaged, average, and disadvantaged youth. Boys and girls had similar educational aspirations and attainment, but family background characteristics mattered more to girls, especially rural girls.…

Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth are used to estimate empirically the impact on the earnings capacities of young female dropouts if they were to return to complete either a regular high school education or a General Educational Development (GED) degree. To reduce the potential upward bias on these estimated rates of return,…

Nearly 3 out of 5 students (58 percent) who were 16 years old when the 1997-98 school year began worked for an employer at some point during the academic year. Findings were from the second round of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, a nationally representative sample of about 9,000 young men and women born during 1980-84. Respondents…

Student misbehavior is a problem affecting schools across the nation. Many school districts are searching for programs to remediate and reform problematic behavior in students. In order to develop successful programs, it is important first to understand what constitutes student misbehavior and second to determine reasons for students' behavior.…

Variations in state welfare policies in the reform era may affect adolescents through two mechanisms: A competing labor market hypothesis posits that stringent state welfare policies may reduce adolescent employment; and a signaling hypothesis posits that stringent welfare policies may promote enrollment. To test these hypotheses, we use a dynamic…

A project examined the nonecomomic effects of secondary vocational education on six types of outcomes measured while respondents were in high school (basic skills, career expectations, significant others' career expectations for the student, attitudes such as self-esteem and locus of control, grades, and homework), and five types of post-high…

This report used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) and the National Longitudinal Transition Survey (NLTS) to evaluate outcomes for 11 categories of students with disabilities in comparison with nondisabled students. The study focused on youth in the last years of secondary school and in the 2 years after leaving secondary…