Now, as never before, the economic well-being of American workers depends on their education and training. For over 25 years the earnings gap between those with and without a college degree has been widening, as has the gap between high school graduates and dropouts.
The problem isn’t a shortage of post-secondary education programs. There has been a major expansion of courses offered at community colleges, and to a lesser extent, expansion of places in entering classes at four-year colleges. There also has been pressure on the K-12 education system to ensure that all students attain competency in core academic skills through the inception of high-stakes testing, which has been fostered by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.
One part of the problem is that too many students leave high school before obtaining the skills needed for further education and for the job market. Low-income students are at a particular disadvantage due to the presence of systematic barriers to educational attainment, thus perpetuating an intergenerational cycle of poverty. Another part of the problem is that differences in neighborhoods, schools, peer groups, and family resources contribute both directly and indirectly to barriers to academic aspirations and achievement. As a result, even high-performing low-income students are underrepresented throughout the upper strata of the educational pipeline. Research on income disparities in educational attainment indicates that:
- Students from the lowest quintile of family income are six times more likely to drop out of high school than students from the highest income group (Wirt et al., 2004).
- Six out of ten high school graduates from families earning less than $33,000 a year attend college, compared to nine out of ten graduates from families earning more than $88,000 (Gladieux, 2004).
- More than 40 percent of students in the top income quartile attain a bachelor’s degree within five years of entering college, compared to 6 percent of students from the lowest income quartile (Fitzgerald & Delaney, 2002).
- Only 3 percent of the freshmen at the 146 most selective colleges and universities in the country are from families in the bottom quartile of income (Carnevale & Rose, 2003).
Contents
Introduction
Comparison of Florida to Other States
Previous Research
Data
Florida’s Educational Pipeline
The Effect of Education on Earnings
The Effect of Student Preparation and Performance on Postsecondary Outcomes
Differences by FRL Status in Postsecondary Outcomes and Earnings
Conclusions and Policy Implications
Appendix 1: Abbreviations and Definitions
Appendix 2: Methodology for Regression Models
Appendix 3: Descriptive Statistics
Appendix 4: Results for Regression Models
References
