Research Activity #2: Results from Career and Technical High Schools
Tracking High School Students with Disabilities in Career and Technical High Schools in Massachusetts to College: A Natural Experiment
Contents
- Why this research topic?
- How did we do this research?
- Research question?
- How does this research contribute to the knowledge base concerning ADA implementation?
- What methods were used to address this research question?
- Who should care about our research findings?
- What have we learned from this research activity?
- What are key findings?
- Potential next steps for school leaders and policymakers
- Read entire white paper
- About our researcher
Why this research topic?
There is a positive correlation between education attainment and employment. To improve employment outcomes for people with disabilities sounds a regional alarm to identify solutions that link success in learning to success in work.
New England’s policy makers, employers and institutes of higher education need to help bridge the gulf between an aging, advantaged population and a younger disadvantaged population. Institutes of higher education often fail to teach job readiness skills to the younger disadvantaged population. People with disabilities of all ages unfortunately too often find themselves members of this disadvantaged population because they too lack education and job readiness skills.
Evidence of failure abound. Despite past attempts to increase workforce participation, individuals with disabilities continue to be employed at much lower rates than individuals without disabilities. In New England, approximately 40.8% of adults age 21 to 64 with disabilities were employed, compared to 80.5% of adults without disabilities. Improving employment outcomes through data based research can systematically identify barriers to employment for persons with disabilities.
How did we do this research?
New method for tracking post secondary access
Working with a group of local career and technical (CTE) school districts we developed a new method of tracking public high school graduates with disabilities into the higher education system. We obtained a unit record data file from each school district that included information about students’ demographic and socioeconomic traits, educational disadvantage status, behavioral traits and the disability diagnosis and treatment of their graduates from the classes of 2003 through 2007. The collection of these data enabled us to attain three objectives: First it allowed us to gain insights into the characteristics of graduates from each of the seven participating CTE school districts. Second, elements of these data files served as the basis to match high school graduates with post-secondary enrollment information from the National Student Clearinghouse (more on this in the following paragraph). Third, together these data allow us to disentangle the role of disability status from the role of demographic, socioeconomic, academic, and school behavioral traits on the probability of post secondary enrollment of recent high school graduates.
The National Student Clearinghouse was established in 1993 as a low cost method of verifying enrollment status of college student loan recipients. It is an up-to-date repository of information derived from college and university registrars on undergraduate enrollments for each academic term. The NSC serves as a central and comprehensive source of information on college enrollment and degree awards covering about 91 percent of college enrollment in the nation. These data are used for a wide range of purposes in addition to loan verification. Among these is its use as a research tool to track the post secondary enrollment and completion status of high school graduates. We were able to track in the NSC the post secondary enrollment activities of all five cohorts of CTE graduates from our initial panel of participating school districts. Combining the NSC postsecondary enrollment activities data with the high school graduate characteristics data we produced a data file that enabled us to examine the impact of a variety of student traits including disability status and severity of the disability, on the post secondary enrollment of graduates from a sample of CTE school districts in the state.
Research question?
What impact does disability have on post-secondary access and retention of high school graduates?
How does this research contribute to the knowledge base concerning ADA implementation?
There is much existing research that has found positive links between the post-secondary education and labor market outcomes. We have an interest in understanding what happens to secondary students with special education plans after they complete high school. There is currently little information about the post-graduation experiences of Special Education Graduates at the state/local level.
This study develops a new methodology to identifying students with a disability who enroll in college and tracks them through their post secondary experiences. It also provides a number of measures of the impact of disability on post secondary access and retention.
What methods were used to address this research question?
We used high school level student micro records to measure a wide range of student characteristics and connected these files to the national student clearinghouse to track student post secondary experiences.
Who should care about our research findings?
Those who work with high school and college students, policy leaders interested in higher education access and outcomes for students with disabilities and, researchers interested in a new method of measurement. The research findings are useful specifically for school superintendents and principals, community college presidents, disability and policy researchers, providers of special education rehabilitation and allied health services, personnel at state-funded vocational rehabilitation programs because the data identifies ways to increase retention and graduation for students with disabilities.
What have we learned from this research activity?
- An understanding of the new data sources developed to conduct these studies.
- An understanding of the impact disability has on post secondary enrollment of high school graduates with disabilities.
- Understand impact of different traits and behaviors on the retention of students with disabilities in postsecondary education.
What are key findings?
Our regression analysis yielded a number of important insights into the determinants of one-year retention in the post secondary system for CTE graduates. Contrary to our expectations, we found that, CTE students with a disability were as likely to be retained in college as their non-disabled counterparts. Holding factors such as gender, race, free lunch eligibility, English language proficiency, high school behavioral traits and the level and type of post secondary enrollment, our first regression equation found no statistically significant difference in the likelihood that a student with a disability was retained compared to their counterparts without a disability.
In order to explore this finding in greater detail, we ran a second model that distinguished between students with disabilities who participated in a full inclusion special education program while in high school and those who were enrolled in a partial inclusion program. Holding other factors constant, we found that students who participated in a full inclusion special education program were about eight percentage points more likely than students without a disability to be retained in college during the first year. In a subsequent meeting with CTE officials including a number of special education directors, this result was thought to be connected with a set of behavioral skills developed as part of the full inclusion special education curriculum, especially those related to self-advocacy and organizational skills.
Other key findings include the following:
- After controlling for other factors no statistically significant differences were found in the probability of one-year retention between male and female CTE graduates.
- Black graduates of CTE programs were much more likely to be retained in college relative to White graduates. All three models estimated an 11-percentage point one-year retention advantage for Black CTE graduates relative to White graduates.
- Low-income CTE students were significantly less likely to be retained in college. Students who had been eligible for free or subsidized lunches while in high school were expected to persist in college through the first year at a rate that was 10 to 11 percentage points below that of students who were not eligible to participate in the free or subsidized lunch program.
- Surprisingly, non-native English speakers had a better chance of being retained in college than their native English speaking counterparts. The one-year retention rate for non-native English speakers was 10 percentage points higher than that of native English speaking students.
- High school behavioral traits exerted a strong influence on the likelihood of retention in the post secondary system for the first year. Senior year attendance rates were positively associated with post secondary retention. A one percentage point difference in the senior attendance rate is expected to change the retention by 1.3 percentage points. This implies that missing even a few more days of school than the average college bound senior can sharply reduced the chances of retention. Missing 10 more days of school than the average college bound senior is expected to reduce a student’s likelihood of one-year college retention by about 8.5 percentage points.
- Student suspension while in high school also significantly reduced a student’s likelihood of retention during the first year in college. One or more incidents of out-of-school suspension were expected to reduce the likelihood of staying in college during the first year by 9.5 percentage points.
- Enrolling in a community college sharply reduced the chances of retention of students for one year. After holding other factors constant including family income status, disability status, educational disadvantage status, English language skills and key behavioral traits, we found that students who enrolled at two year public institutions were about 23 percentage points less likely to be retained in college during their first year than their counterparts who enrolled in other parts of the nation’s higher education system (including two-year private, four-year public, and four-year private institutions). No statistically significant differences were estimated in one-year retention rates among students who had enrolled at either public or private four-year colleges or at private two-year institutions.
Potential next steps for school leaders and policymakers
- Address the behavior issues that lead to poor attendance and suspension. Student behavior while in high school exerts a powerful predictive influence on the college retention of CTE graduates. Missing school and getting suspended in high school significantly reduce a student’s likelihood of retention during the first year in college.
- Examine how full inclusion programs operate in CTE programs. Full inclusion special education graduates were much more likely to remain in college after enrollment. Secondary school leaders need to understand the specifics of how full inclusion programs operated in a CTE context to produce these advantages.
For higher education leaders
- Devise innovative strategies to strengthen overall retention and increase graduation rates. The study found poor retention outcomes for CTE graduates who enrolled in community colleges. This combined with above average rates of enrollment in community college among graduates from the CTE high schools suggests that community colleges should make concerted efforts to devise innovative strategies to strengthen overall retention and increase graduation rates, particularly among students with disabilities.
- Use information about students high school experiences when making decisions about post secondary placements. This study reveals that among CTE graduates, high school behavior exerts an important influence of the chances of success in college. Given the relatively poor retention rates of the state’s public community college system, consideration should be given to community college faculty and staff using readily available information on students’ high school experiences in making program/course placement decisions.
For policymakers
This paper is, to our knowledge, the first empirical study of the actual transition experiences of high school graduates with disabilities and participating in a special education program. We are now preparing a second set of studies that examine the transition experiences of graduates with disabilities from comprehensive high schools across the state. Much has been learned from our initial research foray, but much more needs to be learned. For example, at the state level, we need to track students not only into college, but also into the labor market. We also need to measure student outcomes over an extended period of time after high school. And perhaps most importantly, we need to connect the experiences of students in college with their high school experiences to better assess the strengths and weaknesses of the educational pipeline in Massachusetts, especially for high cost special education students.
In order to facilitate the types of analysis described above, state policy makers should consider:
- Allowing objective and qualified researchers access to data now collected by a variety of state agencies. A wide variety of information about students, including students with disabilities, are collected by a number of state agencies. Researchers from outside these government agencies should have access to these data (with appropriate confidentiality restrictions) so that a fair and impartial appraisal and analysis that can produce replicable results can be provided to policy makers. Too many barriers to these data currently exist.
- Establishing a pre-k to college student identification number for each child/adult enrolled in the publicly funded education system in the state. Such an identification number would prove quite useful in conducting longitudinal studies that examine the impacts of various elements of the educational pipeline.
- Collecting social security numbers for every student. It is essential to have a social security number for each student in order to examine a variety of issues related to the labor market activities of students and to assess their post school employment and earnings experiences. However, the social security number should not be used as the student identification number to protect against identity theft.
In addition to establishing policies to support the collection and analysis of better student data, policy makers may also consider supporting new research projects such as the one described below.
Examine the impact CTE programs have on Black students. Given the promising finding that Black graduates of CTE programs were much more likely to enroll in college and to persist in post secondary education after finishing high school, state and federal policy makers may consider analyzing the sources of this advantage for these students. With the strikingly high rates of high school dropouts among Black students – especially boys – this finding holds real promise. A more systematic appraisal of the role that CTE programs play is needed in determining why Black graduates of these programs are more likely than their White peers to enroll and remain in college.
Read entire white paper
About our researcher
Paul Harrington is a teacher and research associate at the Center for Labor Market Studies, Northeastern University. He and his colleagues at the Center have been engaged in research and evaluation concerning teens and young adult transitions to careers. Working with economist Neeta Fogg and Counseling Psychologist Thomas Harrington he is now completing work on the Third Edition of the College Majors Handbook, a detailed analysis of the career outcomes of college graduates who completed their degrees in one of 60 major fields of study. He also recently co-authored the College Majors Scorecard, designed to help college bound students decide on fields of study at the undergraduate level.
Paul’s most recent research has focused on the transition of high school graduates with disabilities into the nation’s post secondary system. This research project, supported by the National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research and the Institute for Human Centered Design examines the impact of various types of disabilities on the post graduate access and retention of high school graduates. This study develops a new method of tracking disabled students into the nation’s post-secondary education system.
