DOCUMENT RESUME ED 362 785 CE 065 019 AUTHOR Sedey, John M. TITLE Follow-Up 92. Minnesota High School Follow-Up. Class of 1991--One Year Later. Trend Data: 1978-1991. INSTITUTION Mounds View Public Schools, St. Paul, Minn. SPONS AGENCY Minnesota State Board of Vocational-Technical Education, St. Paul. PUB DATE 93 177p; For related documents, see ED 299 385, ED 316 NOTE 649, and CE 065 016-018. PUB TYPE Research/Technical (143) Reports Statistical Data (110) Tests/Evaluation Instruments (160) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC08 Plus Postage. Academic Achievement; Career Choice; Curriculum; DESCRIPTORS *Educational Trends; Employer Attitudes; Employment Level; *Employment Patterns; Graduate Surveys; Higher Education; *High School Graduates; High Schools; *Outcomes of Education; Postsecondary Education; Questionnaires; Records (Forms); State Surveys; Student Educational Objectives; Tables (Data) *Minnesota IDENTIFIERS ABSTRACT A study examined the educational and employment activities of members of Minnesota's high school class of 1991. Data regarding 12,270 students (11,674 graduates, 218 dropouts, and 378 students school leavers not classified as dropouts) were collected from 107 high schools participating in the Minnesota Secondary School Follow-up System and from 918 of the students' employers. Current employment/education-related activities of the class of 1991 were also analyzed by curriculum area, and trend data covering the years 1978 through 1991 were summarized. At the time of the survey, over one-quarter of the class members were both employed and attending a school, 20.9 percent were employed only, 1.2 percent were unemployed and not attending a school, and one-quarter were involved in education only. The percentage of individuals employed and not simultaneously attending any school has generally declined since 1978, whereas the percentage of individuals participating in education only has remained fairly steady. (Appended are lists of secondary schools participating in the project and the specific industries and occupations within categories reported, the base data coding form, and selected survey questionnaires. Also included are 56 figures and 213 tables.) (MN) ******************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. FOLLOW-UP a tr) Got) a Cr) s a 92 Minnesota High School Follow-up Class of 1991--One Year Later. a Trend Data: 1978-1991 a a a U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 'PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS Omce oi Educanonsi Rosearch and ImPrOvInent MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY E DUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Thd document hal been naproduced as rece.ve,1 from the prien Or °roam:aeon ongrnalmg C Nfinor changOs have been mad lo tatmovet reproduChOn Quahty Pomts of rm., or op.mons etatd in Ints docu- TO THE EDUCATIONAL ment do nOt neCetelinly drpnisent oTbcral RESOURCES OE RI poathon or policy INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) BE SOMEBODY ASTAR - BEST COPYrittABLE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author wishes to acknowledge the Minnesota Board of Technical Colleges and the Minnesota State Thanks goes to Dolores Pospesel, Follow-up Board of Education for their support of this project. Specialist, for lending encouragement, leadership and guidance to the entire effort. The contributions of the participating local education agencies, local project directors and clerical staff for making special efforts to accurately collect and code the student data for nearly 13,000 former students is deeply appreciated. to Michelle Day who has Special thanks are extended to those who have helped make the system work supported all phases of the system in addition to generating local and State data as requested, to John Ferguson who cocarlinated the interrelationship between the micro and the mainframe computers to generate diagramming of reports, and to Julie Sedey who has been responsible for the careful word processing and this report. The support of all of these people has been invaluable to the project. John Sedey TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION Basic Model CHAPtER II: SUMMARY OF THE CLASS OF 1991 Characteristics of Participating Schools 3 Questionnaire Response 3 Combinations of Present Activities 4 Educational Activity 5 Education Time Status 6 Schools Attended by Individuals at Present 7 Employment Activity 9 Employment Time Status 10 Wages Earned by Individuals Employed at Present 11 Industries in Which Individuals are Employed at Present 12 Occupations in Which Individuals are Employed at Present 13 CHAPTER III: PLANS VERSUS ACTUAL ACTIVITIES OF THE CLASS OF 1991 Introduction 16 Actual Activity of Those Planning Employment Only 17 Actual Activity of Those Planning Employment and Vocational School 18 Actual Activity of Those Planning Employment and Community College 19 Actual Activity of Those Planning Employment and College or University 20 Actual Activity of Those Planning Vocational School 21 Actual Activity of Those Planning Community College 22 Actual Activity of Those Planning College or University 23 CHAPTER IV: SUMMARY OF THE CLASS OF 1991 BY CURRICULUM AREA Introduction 24 Agriculture 25 Art 30 Business 35 Distributive Education ao English 45 Foreign Language 50 Health Occupations 55 Health-Physical Education 60 Home Economics 65 Industrial Technology 70 Mathematics 75 Music 80 Natural Science 85 Office Occupations 90 Service Occupations 95 Social Studie 100 Trade and Industrial Education 105 CHAPTER V: EMPLOYER FOLLOW-UP OF THE CLASS OF 1991 110 APPENDIX A: Minnesota Secondary Schools Participating in the Follow-Up Project in 1991 112 . . A PPEN DI X B: Specific Indu.stries Within Categories Used in Report,: 113 A PPENDIX C: Specific Occupations Within Categories Used in Reports 116 A PPEND I X 9: Base Data Coding Form , 120 APPENDIX E: Career Planning Survey Questionnaire 121 APPENDIX F: High School Follow-Up Report Form 123 APPENDIX G: Employer Follow-Up Form 124 5 Chapter I: INTRODUCTION At the end of each school year, about 50,000 students graduate from high schools in Minnesota. Additionally, there are several thousand students who leave without diplomas. Based upon the assumption that a high school education is a means to some future end rather than an end in and of itself, it is important to identify "what happens" to students after they leave high school. This information, along with other data (i.e., economic, school programs, etc.), may be used to improve student services. It can also enhance curriculum development, program planning, and evaluation efforts. This publication presents a summary of the research obtained from senior high schools in Minnesota which utilized the Minnesota Secondary School Follow-Up System to collect data on the class of 1991. There were 107 high schools collecting information from 12,270 students. Of this total; 11,674 students were graduates, 218 were classified as dropouts and 378 were defined as having left high school without a diploma hut not classified as dropouts. BASIC MODEL The Minnesota Secondary School Follow-Up System is a data collection and reporting system to be used by local education agencies (LEAs) to gather information from present and former students. The System was originally developed by the Minnesota Research and Development Center for Vocational Education, at the University of Minnesota, under contract with the Minnesota State Department of Education, Division of Vocational-Technical Education. The Follow-Up System, initiated in 1972, was designed to provide useful information for the State and LEAs in areas such as curriculum development, program planning, evaluation, guidance and counseling. The System has been adapted to help LEAs meet both State and Federal reporting requirements, as these requirements relate to the post-high school activities of former students. Although the System was developed under grant by the Vocational Division and provides information for vocational reporting, it does provide equally valuable information on all former students in all program areas. In 1982 the University's direct involvement in the System terminated. A group of local administrators concerned that this proven data collection might no longer be available, approached the State Department of Education to maintain it. Under grants from the State Department of Education a joint project intended to maintain the System was initiated. The University developed a software program to be used by LEAs for data entry utilizing an Apple 11 system. The Mounds View Schools have developed software to read the Apple data disks into a Burrou2hs mainframe for processing local and State reports. The System is designed as a decentralized data collection operation, (See Figure 1). That is, the LEA is provided a common set of instruments and procedures in regional training sessions. Actual data collection and data entry are then carried out indvendently by the LEA. The data disks are submitted to the Mounds View Schools for data analysis and report generation. The service is provided under a grant with the State Department of Education. Although most districts have utilized the System to conduct one-year follow-up studies, the procedures and programs can be used identically to conduct others--typically three and five-year studies. Follow-up forms are available upon request to the local project directors for such studies. Processing is provided without charge to the local district, as per the one-year plan. 1 The selection of this decentralized model was based on the following factors/assumptions: 1. Local district participation maximizes the possibility that the data will be appropriate, and therefore u.sed; 2. Students are more likely to respond to a questionnaire from the high school as compared to a central state agency; and 3. The large number of school districts involved would make centralized data collection costs prohibi tive. In addition to these factors, several goals were established for the system. The goals are that the system will: I. Provide information necessary to meet local, state, and federal reporting requirements; 2. Provide data which will be useful in assisting local and state personnel in planning and evaluating educational programs; 3. Provide a basis for the comparisons of plans prior to leaving high school with actual activities one year later; 4. Produce a high rate of response; 5. Be of reasonable cost; and 6. Provide consistent information across schools. The data collected from the Class of 1991 are reported in the following chapters. Chapter 2 presents a summary of activities for all respondents, as well as comparative data from the classes of 1977-1981 and 1983-1990. Because the system was interrupted for 2 years, follow-up data are unavailable for the Class of 1982, as well as career planning data for the Class of 1983. Chapter 3 presents a comparison of the plans versus the actual activities of the Class of 1991. The data on the plans of the Class of 1991 were collected via the Career Planning Survey component of the Follow-Up System. The Career Planning Survey is administered to high school seniors about one month prior to their graduation date. Chapter 4 is a summary of the class by curriculum area, and shows the potential relationships between the amount of coursework taken and post high school employment and educational activities. Chapter 5 presents information collected by a survey of employers of members of the Class of 1991. FIGURE 1 MINNESOTA SECONDARY SCHOOL FOLLOW-UP SYSTEM MOUNDS VIEW SCHOOLS LEA STUDENTS Designs Instruments Administers Complete and Procedures, Survey Survey Conducts Training Codes Data, Enters Data on Apple H Processes Data Floppy Disk Generates Local Analyzes and Education Agenc y Utilizes Report Reports Data Generates State and Federal Reports 7 2 Chapter 2: SUMMARY OF THE CLASS OF 1991 Using the procedures outlined in Chapter One, 107 Minnesota high schools conducted a follow-up survey of the Class of 1991. Included in this survey were graduates and dropouts, as well as other members of the class who didn't complete their high school program. This chapter of the report will: (1) describe selected characteristics of those 107 schools reporting follow-up data, (2) present a statewide summary of the Class of 1991, and (3) present summary data for the classes of 1977 through 1990. (Statewide follow-ups were not conducted on the Class of 1982). Summary data over several years allows for the examination of trends over time. CHARACTERISTICS OF PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS Each district which offers vocational education is required to participate in the Minnesota Secondary School Follow-Up System every five years. Each year other districts voluntarily participate. Therefore, the schools included in this report do not represent a random sample, nor do they comprise a sample which would necessarily be valid for statistical inference to the population of all schools in Minnesota. However, the schools that participated in the follow-up are diverse in terms of class size and geographic location within Minnesota; and may, for practical purposes, be considered representative of the schools in the State. A list of participating schools may be found in Appendix A. QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONSE The student response rate to the follow-up questionnaire is shown in Table 1. The "Return Complete" category identifies the percentage of former students who returned fully completed questionnaires. The "Return Incomplete" category identifies the percentage of former students who returned partially completed questionnaires. The "No Return Received" category reports the percentage that did not respond to the follow-up questionnaire. As shown in Table 1, 64.6 percent of those surveyed responded with a fully completed questionnaire. 14.6 percent responded with a partially completed questionnaire. The total response rate to the questionnaire was 79.2 percent. TABLE 1 QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONSE CLASS OF 1991 ALL STUDENTS Female Male Total % Change Percent From 1990 Percent Status Percent N N N 64.6 67.9 61.3 4165 3764 Return Complete -8.0 7929 933 +7.0 858 Return Incomplete 15.2 14.0 14.6 1791 20.8 23.5 1442 +1.0 1108 No Return Received 2550 .18.1 6139. 100.0 100.0 100.0 6131 Total Assessed 12270 COMBINATIONS OF PRESENT ACTIVMES Table 2 represents a detailed description of the activity status one year after high school for the Class of 1991. These selected categories were designed to be independent and mutually exclusive, thus providing non-duplicated counts. As shown in Table 2, 20.9 percent of the Class of 1991 were "employed only" at the time of the survey. Only 1.2 percent were "unemployed only" at the time of the survey. Of those responding, over one quarter were involved in education only, while one third were attending a school and employed. Figure 2 illustrates the trends in the combinations of activities. As can be seen, the percentage responding "employed only" has generally declined since 1978. Likewise, the percentage listed as "education only", has In the years 1977 through 1981 a fairly constant 25 percent reported generally remained quite steady. education and employment. In 1983 this percentage increased substantially to 30 percent, and has held at this level for the succeeding eight graduating classes. TABLE 2 COMBINATIONS OF PRESENT ACTIVITIES CLASS OF 1991 ALL STUDENTS Female Total Male % Change Status Percent Percent Percent N N From 1990 N 909 Paid Employment (only) 23.7 20.9 1098 18.3 2007 +0.1 Paid Employment and 5.9 Vocational School 5.2 260 5.6 275 -0.8 535 Paid Employment and Community College 9.9 8.0 9.0 368 492 860 -0.9 Paid Employment and College or University 650 22.4 18.4 14.1 +0.8 1111 1761 i School (only) Vocatie 2.6 2.5 2.5 114 127 +0.4 241 Community College (only) 3.2 2.2 2.6 254 146 0.0 108 4-year College or 984 University (only) 21.3 20.9 21.1 1038 2022 +2.0 Education and Seeking Employment 516 11.2 529 10.7 10.9 +0.2 1045 60 Unemployed (only) 58 1.2 1.2 1.3 -0.7 118 Activities Other 9.0 416 Than The Above 6.6 7.8 328 -1.2 744 Total Reporting 4625 Activity 4962 100.0 100.0 100.0 9587 9 4 FIGURE 2 COMBINATIONS OF PRESENT ACTIVITIES AVERAGE OF RESULTS FOR CLASSES 1977-81, CLASSES 1983-87 AND RESULTS FOR 1988-91 AU 30 .. 20 F- cc cc :Az 0. CO CO 10 co cc -- Cu t cc 1st 1st 110 cc 1st 1 Ist est cc Ost Cs1 cc CO cc .71 Cr, 0 es e, cc cs4 Cs. cs,1 AVERAGE 88 89 90 91 AVERAGE 88 90 89 AVERAGE 91 88 89 90 91 EMPLOYMENT ONLY EDUCATION ONLY EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT 20 CO r-. . ^ CO 03 CO cc ^- m r.t rt t-t t-t t-t tst cc cc cc cc cc 8 cc cc; cc AVFRAGE 88 90 89 AVERAGE li 88 89 90 AVERAGE 91 88 89 90 91 UNEMPLOYED ONLY EDUCATION AND SEEKING EMPLOYMENT OTHER EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY The educational activities of the Class of 1991 are summarized in Table 3. 48.7 percent of the class were enrolled in a four-year college or university at the time of the follow-up. 9.7 percent of the class were enrolled in a vocational school and 13.4 percent in a community college. Approximately one-quarter of the Class of 1991 had no educational activities at the time of the follow-up survey. As can be seen in Figure 3, the total educational activities of leavers of Minnesota high schools has been increasing over time. 0 5