Enhancing the link between higher education and employment

This study aims to improve the efficiency of fiscal assistance programs for higher education by investigating those variables that influence college graduates’ employment rates. An empirical analysis of 2010–2011 higher education statistics shows that two variables – educational expenditure per student and the number of students per full-time faculty member – consistently and significantly affect college graduates’ employment rates, even after location and type of school are controlled. Although scholarship rates also affect employment rates positively, the number of students per industry–academe liaison officer does not have a statistically significant effect. Moreover, as educational expenditure per student or the student/faculty ratio increases beyond a certain level, graduate employment improves at an increasing rate. The two variables also affect the employment rate interactively. At a relatively higher level of per-student expenditure, employment rates increase even as the student/faculty ratio rises. However, at a relatively lower level of per-student expenditure, employment rates decline as the student/faculty ratio rises.The policy implication is that fiscal assistance programs for higher educational institutions should accord a much greater weight to these key variables when selecting and assessing institutional recipients.     

完善中等职业学校毕业生直接升学制度的思考

构建中等职业学校毕业生直接升学制度是中国教育体制改革的一项战略举措.因为职业学校毕业生有专业属性,所以这种升学办法的设计就要比对普通高考招生复杂.通过招生,高等职业教育可能对中等职业教育产生负效的反作用.以考试为主去选拔,将关于专业知识(技能)考试可选三种方案的利弊做了分析.同时,回顾改革开放以来,甘肃省职业学校毕业生直接升学办法改革的经历,又对部分省高等职业学院面向"三校生"招生办法进行了比较.认为中等职业教育实行办学目标"双元化"改革,是完善职业学校毕业生直接升学制度的基础.     

What to do next: an exploratory study of the post-secondary decisions of American students

Research on college choices is the new tool used by Higher Educational Institutions to help them identify the influences and factors affecting potential student populations. To measure the growing rate of working students in higher education, we propose to examine the decisions made after graduating from high school to current demographic changes. In this study, we use data from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS: 2002) to estimate the influence of individual variables on post graduating high school choices using multinomial logistic regression analysis. Untangling the individual choices allows us to examine, four possible after high school life choices—students who decide to pursue post-secondary education (student); those who decide to work while attending a post-secondary institution (working student); those who decide to enter the workforce (worker) or high school graduates who neither work nor enroll in postsecondary education (unemployed). Results suggest that aside from socioeconomic status and achievement, interesting patterns for gender, ethnicity and family composition and its effect on the likelihood of a high school graduate’s life choices emerged. As an example, Asian students are more likely to enter their next phase in life as a student than a working student in comparison to white ones. That result is a clear example that not all high school students are alike in their life choices; therefore, for a better understanding in the needs and decision making ways of high school graduates, this paper addresses different factors that lead to a post-secondary decision in order to accommodate their transition to HEI.     

我国职业教育之生源衔接研究——基于美国社区学院双学分运动的思考

职业教育的健康发展需要中等职业教育与高等职业教育实现有机的衔接,而生源衔接是其中至关重要的一环。目前,我国中等职业学校尤其是职业高中的毕业生升学＂无门＂就业又比较困难,而高职院校的招生比较困难同时生源处于错位状态。实际上中等职业学校与普通高中的毕业生各有优劣,而职业高中毕业生既有较好的文化基础又有一定的职业技术,是高职院校的最佳生源。美国社区学院通过开展双学分运动促进了综合高中与社区学院的衔接,对我国职业教育的生源衔接有着重要的借鉴意义。     

Lifelong Debt: Rates of Return to Mature Study

High rates of return to first degrees have been used to justify increased student financial contributions to higher education. However, no discrete study of rates of return to mature graduates has been carried out although mature graduates now form a significant proportion of the student population. The General Household Survey 1983–1992 was used to examine the earnings of mature graduates compared with those of matriculates. The GHS yielded 616 mature graduate men in full-time work and 296 mature graduate women who were in full-time employment. It was found that the rate of return to mature male graduates was just above one per cent. With recent added costs, new male mature graduates can be forecast to make a sizeable loss on their study. Rates of return to women mature graduates were higher, between five and six per cent, and, based on these figures, the recent increased cost of mature graduate study should be covered by increased earnings. However, these calculations are based on average earnings for the modal age cohort of mature graduates. Those who are older when they complete or earn below the average (a large percentage) will not recoup the costs of study.     

The Connector Study: A Strategy for Collecting Post-Graduation Data About Low-Income High School Students

Tracking low-income students after high school graduation presents significant problems for data collection. The Connector Study is an attempt to increase and enrich outcomes data in a longitudinal study of low-income graduates of a national network of innovative high schools by gathering alumni updates through telephone interviews with high school staff members who remain in touch with their former students. Approximately 2 years after they worked with groups of students in high school, these individuals were able to provide information about education, job, and personal outcomes for 96% of 563 graduates. The Connector Study strategy offers a feasible method for collecting quantifiable outcome measures for longitudinal studies. This method also provides information about student change and individual circumstances that is difficult to obtain from students themselves, and that goes beyond the basic outcome indicators available through federal and state student tracking systems.     

High School Economic Composition and College Persistence

Using a longitudinal sample of Texas high school seniors of 2002 who enrolled in college within the calendar year of high school graduation, we examine variation in college persistence according to the economic composition of their high schools, which serves as a proxy for unmeasured high school attributes that are conductive to postsecondary success. Students who graduated from affluent high schools have the highest persistence rates and those who attended poor high schools have the lowest rates. Multivariate analyses indicate that the advantages in persistence and on-time graduation from 4-year colleges enjoyed by graduates of affluent high schools cannot be fully explained by high school college orientation and academic rigor, family background, pre-college academic preparedness or the institutional characteristics. High school college orientation, family background and pre-college academic preparation largely explain why graduates from affluent high schools who first enroll in 2-year colleges have higher transfer rates to 4-year institutions; however, these factors and college characteristics do not explain the lower transfer rates for students from poor high schools. The conclusion discusses the implications of the empirical findings in light of several recent studies that call attention to the policy importance of high schools as a lever to improve persistence and completion rates via better institutional matches.     

An analysis of the determinants of the demand for upper secondary education in Portugal

This article uses individual data from a 1979 random sample of 3,300 Portuguese students in their final year of lower secondary eduaction to anlyze the determinats of their plans regarding further study. Labor market expections are related to the student's socioeconomic characteristics and checked against the actual labor market performance of graduates from other surveys. Ex ante privates rates of return to upper secondary education are estimated, and the categorical dependent variable of further study plans is analyzed by means of maximum likelihood. The results indicate a high degree of realism of student expectations regarding their future economic role. Also, age (repetition), family income, school grades, and school type are found to exert a sizeable influence on the decision to continue to upper secondary education. The results of the empirical analysis are given a policy interpretation.     

Career effects of occupation-related vocational education: Evidence from the military's internal labor market

Prior research on the labor market success of secondary vocational education has produced mixed results, with several studies finding wage gains only for individuals who work in training-related occupations. We contribute to this debate by focusing on a single occupation and organization and by comparing the careers of employees with and without occupation-related training in high school. We use longitudinal data on the careers of military recruits who completed high school Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC), a military science program that has features of a vocational training and school-to-work program. We find that the occupation-specific training received via JROTC reduces early turnover and improves long-run job stability for those who choose military jobs, suggesting that an important effect of vocational training is to improve job match quality. We also find that promotion rates for vocational graduates are similar to their peers, suggesting that vocational education in general works by improving occupational sorting.     

Exploring dimensions of social inclusion among alternative learning centres in the USA

Increasing disparities in out-of-school suspension and dropout rates have led a number of school districts to develop alternative models of education to include alternative learning centres (ALCs). Using an exploratory mixed methods design, this study explores dimensions of social inclusion among ALCs, located in the southeastern region of the USA. In the first phase, case-study analyses across two sites contextualised student experiences from the perspective of students, teachers, and assistant principals. In the second phase, data explored student outcomes among a sample of 593 students across 28 ALCs in the school district. Qualitative findings revealed varying dimensions of social inclusion through access, success through empowerment, and participation and engagement. Quantitative findings revealed a majority of students transitioned back to the traditional school environment. There were no clear student or school advantages associated with student transitions; however, high school students were more likely to transition back to the traditional school environment than middle school students. Discussion centres on the challenges school districts experience in promoting social inclusion and implications for inclusive models of education.     

Equity in New Zealand university graduate outcomes: Māori and Pacific graduates

Higher education confers significant private and social benefits. Māori and Pacific peoples are under-represented within New Zealand universities and have poorer labour market outcomes (e.g., lower wages, under-represented in skilled professions). A New Zealand tertiary education priority is to boost Māori and Pacific success in an effort to improve outcomes for these graduates, their communities and society in general. Using information collected in the Graduate Longitudinal Study New Zealand, we compared Māori and Pacific university graduate outcomes with outcomes of other New Zealand graduates. Data were collected when the participants were in their final year of study (n?=?8719) and two years post-graduation (n?=?6104). Employment outcomes were comparable between Māori, Pacific and other New Zealand graduates at two years post-graduation; however, Māori and Pacific graduates had significantly higher student debt burden and financial strain over time. They were significantly more likely to help others (e.g., family) across a range of situations (e.g., lending money), and reported higher levels of volunteerism compared to their counterparts. Boosting higher education success for Māori and Pacific students has the potential to reduce ethnic inequalities in New Zealand labour market outcomes and may result in significant private benefits for these graduates and social benefits as a result of their contribution to society.     

The Philadelphia Experiment

In this article, we discuss one of the central findings from our study of the long-term impact of school desegregation on adult graduates of racially mixed high schools: what graduates said about the impact of their schooling experiences on their current understandings about race, and on their lives in a racially diverse society. Of the 242 graduates we interviewed, nearly all said that their high school experiences left them more prepared for life in a racially diverse society than they otherwise would be. In addition, every one of the graduates interviewed said that their high school experiences left them with a deeper understanding of people of other backgrounds and an increased sense of comfort in interracial settings. Many of these graduates stressed the importance of their daily experiences of negotiating race in high school as one of the most challenging yet rewarding aspects of their education. These lessons, they observed, could not be gained through multicultural curricula or student exchange programs; rather, such insights, they believed, could only be learned by the daily experience of attending racially diverse schools. In this way, the experiences of these graduates speak to the need to reconsider our national retreat from policies designed to foster diversity in public schools.     

Year-long Undergraduate Research Projects

Abstract

Undergraduate research has become the centerpiece of many institutions of higher education’s efforts to attract and recruit high school graduates. Since 1987, throughout my tenure at Bloomsburg University, I have involved over 20 students in my research. In my experience, there is clear evidence that students of mathematics substantially benefit if they engage in research during their undergraduate studies. Whether the student plans to apply for employment after graduation or continue with graduate studies, the undergraduate research experience has a tremendous effect on the student’s success. In this paper, I will provide some personal insight on my experience in working with undergraduate students. In most cases, my experience has been in working with one student on a long term (one semester or mostly year-long) research problems. I will discuss my approach to identifying students, the type of projects, providing guidance, and finally the challenges that we face in supervising undergraduate research. To exemplify, emphasis will be placed on the status of a recent 1-year research project, which was funded by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, and a senior undergraduate student worked on it for one year.     

Career oriented and university bound: higher education outcomes of IB Career-related Programme graduates in the US

The Career-related Programme (CP) is an innovative education programme by the International Baccalaureate (IB). Designed to promote college and career readiness equally in the last two years of high school, the CP combines rigorous university preparatory coursework with targeted career-related studies. This study examines the patterns of higher education enrolment, destination and persistence of all CP graduates from high schools in the US between 2013 and 2015. The results indicate that CP graduates enrol in higher education at higher rates than do all high school graduates nationally and career and technical education concentrators specifically: 81% versus 68% versus 70%, respectively. They persist for 1 year at higher rates than do all high school graduates: 89% versus 72%, respectively. Results of logistic regression show that the number of IB exams and the completion of the CP certificate are significant predictors of postsecondary enrolment and that higher mean IB exam scores predict higher odds of a student attending a 4-year institution over a 2-year institution. The results suggest that students who engage in career and technical education alongside rigorous university preparatory coursework within the CP are well-prepared to succeed in higher education.     

‘Ready for big school’: making the transition to primary school – a Jamaican perspective

The aim of this small-scale, qualitative study is to understand the perspective of varying stakeholders responsible for student transitions from pre-primary to primary school in the Jamaican context. The questions that guided the research are: What factors affect student transitions to primary school? What skills do children need in order to successfully transition? and Who/what is responsible for preparing students to transition from pre-primary to primary school? To answer these questions a representative from the Early Childhood Commission, 13 parents and 16 Grade 1 teachers from 12 schools across the island of Jamaica were interviewed. Findings reveal that student transitions from pre-primary to primary school need systematic attention particularly in light of how this impacts on student success, not only in primary school, but in their secondary years as well. The data also reveal that a major issue affecting student transitions is the quality of pre-primary education and parenting practices in the early years. Also highlighted are the differing perspectives of teachers and parents on the skills needed for success in primary school. Parenting programmes and professional development for both parents and teachers, respectively, are critical if strides are to be made.     

建立大学生预警教育机制的探索

大学生预警机制以＂预防为主＂为原则,构建学校教育、学生自我教育管理新模式,建立大学生预警教育机制,对大学生工作中较容易出现问题的环节加强防范和管理。增强对大学生思想政治教育,有的放矢地对大学生开展预警教育。     

Teacher Beliefs in Action: A Cross-Sectional,Longitudinal Follow-Up Study of Teachers' Personal Practical Theories

Based on a cross-sectional, longitudinal follow-up study of graduates from our master's-level elementary education program, in this article we examined changes in espoused beliefs elicited in the form of personal practical theories (PPTs) of three graduates with 2, 4, and 6 years of experience teaching in the same partnership school where they did their student teaching. We compared their original PPTs collected during their teacher education program with their current PPTs elicited in follow-up interviews, and then observed their classroom practices. Case summaries of these teachers are presented, and analysis and implications focus on changes in their PPTs, how their PPTs played out in their classrooms, and perceived barriers and supports to enacting their beliefs.     

高职院校服务质量实证研究——以我国27个省、市、自治区高职院校应届毕业生抽样调查为例

根据用户满意度理论和利益相关者理论,编制"学生评价高等职业教育服务质量评量表",并对我国27个省、市、自治区28所高职院校应届毕业生进行在线抽样调查。结果显示,学生的总体满意度较低,为74分,期望值为81.4分,满意度与期望值的差距值为7.36分;学生对"关心学生"、"入学与学籍管理"、"收费"、"校园安全"评价较高;对"学校生活环境"、"实践教学"与"就业服务"评价较低。研究发现,学生评价结果与人才培养水平评估结果、与学校是否是示范性学校关系不密切,与教师、学校管理人员的评价也不同;加强对学生的学习与实践指导、密切校企合作、提高选修课程比例和创造更舒适的校园生活环境是改进高职院校服务质量的优先事项。     

Science of Education

ABSTRACT

With more students pursuing university, it becomes essential for high schools to provide training that maximizes their graduates’ success. There is debate over whether an extra year of high school better prepares students for university. The authors used a nationally representative survey to contrast academic and employment outcomes between high school graduates of Grade 12 and Grade 13. Results suggest that Grade 13 graduates obtain higher grades in high school, are more likely to pursue university, and are less likely to be employed full time compared with Grade 12 graduates. Among students enrolled in university, Grade 13 graduates report higher grades in university and satisfaction with their program and do not transfer out of their programs compared to Grade 12 graduates. These findings highlight the importance of an additional year of high school to produce better prepared and more satisfied graduates.     

Labour Market Relevance of European University Education. From Enrolment to Professional Employment in 12 Countries

In accordance with the education policy which puts human capital at its heart, higher education is expected to produce marketable competent professionals in response to the needs of an expansive knowledge-based economy. In one reading, to support competitive knowledge-based economy, higher education students should graduate as young and fast as possible. The article asks whether it is credible that the young & fast principle as an objective for university education would provide a feasible way of enhancing professional labour force to serve knowledge economies. The analysis of study careers of 17,000 European second cycle university graduates shows that transitions from school to higher education to professional employment vary considerably in the 12 countries. The key finding is that countries with rather slow progression in the initial part of the transition tend to do better in the end, and vice versa. Belgium (Flanders) is the most obvious example of young and fast-graduating students that need a relatively long period after graduation to start their professional careers. In Finland, Austria, and Norway, relatively old and experienced graduates are employed rapidly. The time before professional employment after graduation is short for students who have acquired relevant work experience and acquainted themselves with professional fields. The youngest professionals are found in France where they tend to have access to opportunities for professionally relevant training. However, professional employment cannot be fostered by simply trying to recruit student populations as young as possible, but rather by enriching the labour market relevance of their student careers.