Full Citation
Title: Long-Term Educational Attainment Trends in the U.S.: A New Look
Citation Type: Conference Paper
Publication Year: 2006
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Abstract: We are currently in the middle of the latest wave of recurring interest in graduation and dropping out (see Dorn, 1996, for historical patterns). Part of this interest has been stimulated by those concerned about the equity consequences of graduation rates (e.g., Orfield, 2004; Orfield, Losen, Wald, & Swanson, 2004). Part has also been stimulated by No Child Left Behinds sole measure targeted specifically at high schoolsgraduation ratesand at moves since 2005 to reform high school (e.g., the National Governors Association summit in 2005 and a week-long series on the daytime Oprah Winfrey television show). And part has been the development of new measures. veral researchers have proposed different measures of graduation, using information from the Common Core of Data and Census Bureau estimates of state population changes (e.g., Greene & Winters, 2002, 2005; Haney et al., 2004; Seastrom, Hoffman, Chapman, & Stillwell, 2006; Swanson, 2004; Warren, 2005). At the same time, historical data has become more accessible with the development of online archives, most importantly IPUMS but also Bob Hausers rectangularization of October Current Population Survey microdata, which is available from the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research. Most of the social history on educational attainment in different countries relies on cross-sectional data from censuses and surveys. The problem with cross-sectional information is that can be misleading when underlying conditions are changing rapidly. Producing synthetic period measures can be feasibly done using indirect methods of estimation. Two tools in particularSchmertmanns (2002) method of estimating increments in population characteristics from cross-sectional data, and an application of Preston and Coales (1982) variable-rate model of populationscan allow one to create some important measures of educational experiences. This paper describes and applies those methods to U.S. data using decennial census microdata at the Integrated Public Use Microdata Sample project (Minnesota Population Center, n.d.).
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Authors: Dorn, Sherman
Conference Name: Social Science History Association
Publisher Location: Minneapolis, MN
Data Collections: IPUMS USA, IPUMS CPS
Topics: Education
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