Book Description

This study examines the factors that influence participation in vocational education among students who attended high school during the early 1990s--that is, when the focus of federal vocational education policy began to change. The factors examined included three types of characteristics of students, their parents, and their high schools: (1) demographics; (2) behaviors; and (3) expectations. The influence of each characteristic is assessed by examining the difference in vocational education participation rates among students who do and do not possess the characteristic, adjusted for other differences between students that may affect participation. Results were examined for overall 1992 high school graduates and for three subgroups: (1) students in the lowest third of eighth-grade math and reading achievement; (2) students who attended a high school where more than half of the students received a free or reduced-priced lunch; and (3) students who, before starting high school, were not planning to pursue any type of postsecondary education. The results are organized and presented in table form in appendix B. Appendix A contains "The National Education Longitudinal Study and Our Analysis File." (Contains 7 tables and 2 footnotes.).