Boston Public High School Graduates' Perce.ptions of Their High Schools' Effectiveness in Preparing Them for College and the Labor Market: Findings From the Follow-up Survey of Class of 2005 Graduates Prepared by: Joseph McLaughlin Ishwar Khatiwada Jacqui Motroni Marissa Witkowski Center for Labor Market Studies Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts Prepared for: Boston Private Industry Council Boston, Massachusetts July 2007 Research Project on Boston Public School Graduates From the Class of 2005 Research Paper No. 4 Table of Contents Introduction ......... .... .. .. ..... ....... .. ... .................... ........... ... ....... .................... ........ ...................... ......... ....................... ... .. 2 The Survey Question on School Effectiveness in Preparing Graduates for College and/or Work ... .. .......................... 3 Class of 2005 Graduates' Assessments of the Effectiveness of Their High Schools in Preparing Them for College .......... ........ ................................................. .......................... .. ................................................. ...... ... ... ... ....... .. 10 Class of 2005 Graduates' Assessments of the Effectiveness of Their High Schools in Preparing Them for the Labor Market ............................................. .............. .. ..... ............. ......... .. .. ......... ................................ .............. 11 Summary and Conclusions ... ... .. ................ ...................................................... ......... .. ... .................. ........................... 13 Introduction Each year since the mid-l 980s, the Boston Private Industry Council (PIC) has conducted a follow-up survey of all of the new graduates from the city of Boston's public high schools. The main objective of these follow-up surveys is to obtain information on the success of Boston public high school graduates in transitioning from high school to college and the world of work in the first year following graduation. The survey is used to obtain information on the college enrollment and employment status of each graduate at the time of the survey (February to May 2006), the types of colleges and post-secondary training institutions attended by college students, their college majors, their financial aid status, the key characteristics of the jobs held by the employed, such as hours of work, hourly wages, occupations, and industries of their employers, and their job-related training activities. During the late winter and early spring of 2006, Boston PIC staff made an effort to interview each of the more than 3,130 Class of2005 graduates of city of Boston public high schools. The follow-up interviewing process was somewhat less successful than in past years, yielding an interview completion rate of only 71 % percent for the Class of 2005, tied with the rate for the Class of 2004, but down 10 percentage points from that of the preceding year's graduates. Follow-up interview completion rates for the Class of 2005 by high school are presented in Appendix A. Beginning with the follow-up survey for graduates from the Class of 1998, the follow-up questionnaire has included an open-ended question asking graduates to assess the effectiveness of their high schools in preparing them for college and/or work. Most of the comments were provided by the graduates themselves although some of the responses were provided by the parents/guardians of the graduates. This research paper is devoted to an analysis of the findings of the responses to the above question with respect to the effectiveness of Boston public high schools in preparing graduates for their transition from high school to college and the labor market. A listing of all individual comments provided by graduates from each high school is presented in an accompanying research paper. 1 Findings in this paper will reveal that the comments of Class of 2005 graduates on the effectiveness of their high schools in preparing them for college/work followed patterns quite similar to those for the Classes of the last five I For previous findings for the Class of 2004, see: Jacqui Motroni and Joseph McLaughlin, Boston High School Graduates' Assessments of Their High Schools' Role in Preparing Them for College and the Labor Market: Individual Comments From the Followup Survey of Class of 2004 Graduates, Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, Prepared for Boston Private Industry Council, May 2006. 2 years (2000-2004). The effectiveness of each school's overall classes/curriculum, course offerings, teachers, counseling, test preparation, job opportunities, training, etc. was given a rating based on the qualitative comments provided by Class of 2005 graduates. In this research paper, an in-depth analysis of the comments is presented for all high schools combined and for selected subgroups of high schools and students. The Survey Question on School Effectiveness in Preparing Graduates for College and/or Work As noted above, beginning with the Class of 1998, the PIC follow-up questionnaire has included a question asking graduates (or their parents/guardians) to assess the effectiveness of their high schools in preparing them for college and/or the labor market. The specific wording of the question is the following: "In your opinion, how well did high school prepare you for college and or/work?" The response rates to this question had increased steadily from 1998 to 2001 before modestly declining for the classes of 2002 and 2003. The response rate fell again modestly for the classes of 2004 and 2005, declining 6 percentage points from the peak response rate reached by the Class of 2001. The response rate for the question on the effectiveness of high schools in preparing graduates for college or the labor market was 82.8 percent for the Class of 1998, rose to 87.7 percent for the Class of 1999, and increased further to 92.4 percent for the Class of 2000 and 93.2 percent for the Class of 2001 before dipping slightly to 92.3 for the Class of 2002, to 91.4 percent for the Class of 2003, to 88.0 for the Class of2004 and finally to 87.1 (Chart 1). Still 7 of every 8 graduates of the Class of 2005 provided some assessment of their high schools' effectiveness in preparing them for college or the labor market. 3 Chart 1: Response Rates to the Question on the Effectiveness of Boston Public High Schools in Preparing Graduates for College and/or Work, Classes of 1998-2005 94.0 92.0 90.0 87.7 88.0 86.0 ~ 84.0 82.8 82.0 80.0 - 78.0 76.0 - 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Of the 2, 162 graduates from the Class of 2005 with completed follow-up surveys, 1,884 or 87 percent provided some response to this particular question. (Table 1). Slightly over 91 percent of the graduates from the city's three exam schools provided a response to this question versus 85.5 percent of those from the district and alternative schools. Among the three exam schools, the response rate was highest for Boston Latin High School (95%), followed by Boston Latin Academy (91 %) and O'Bryant Technical High School (86%). Among alternative/district schools with 30 or more graduates, the response rates to the above question as a percentage of completed follow-up surveys varied from highs of 100 percent for the Academy of Public Service and 97% for both the Economics and Business Academy and Another Course to College to a low of 50% for Brighton High School. A majority of the alternative/district schools had response rates greater than 85%. 4 Table 1: Number of Class of2005 Graduates ReQlying to the College/Work PreQaration Question and the Number ofResQonses as a Percent of Those with ConiQleted Follow-UQ Interviews (A) (B) (C) Percent of Completed Total Surveys Total Completed With School Comments Surveys Comments Exam Schools 554 606 91.4% Boston Latin High School (1010) 271 285 95.1% Boston Latin Academy (1020) 130 143 90.9% O'Bryant High School (1030) 153 178 86.0% District/Magnet Schools 1,330 1,556 85.5% Brighton High School (1040) 83 167 49.7% Charlestown High School (1050) 109 118 92.4% Economics and Business Academy (1061) 38 39 97.4% Academy of Public Service (1062) 33 33 100.0% East Boston High School (1070) 169 183 92.3% English High School (1080) 131 139 94.2% Hyde Park High School (1100) 120 127 94.5% Burke High School (1120) 81 90 90.0% Monument High School (1161) 31 36 86.1% Excel High School (1162) 40 51 78.4% Odyssey High School (1163) 22 24 91.7% Boston Community Leadership Academy (1195) 46 53 86.8% Snowden International High School (1200) 47 52 90.4% Madison Park High School (1210) 123 147 83.7% Another Course to College (1230) 36 37 97.3% West Roxbury High School (1250) 83 90 92.2% Fenway Park High Schol (1265) 20 23 87.0% New Mission (1285) 25 29 86.2% McKinley Voe. (1293) 5 8 62.5% Boston Arts Academy (1420) 47 62 75.8% Greater Eagleston (1430) 3 8 37.5% Health Career Academy (1440) 38 40 95.0% All Schools 1,884 2162 87.1% 5 Most of the comments provided by Boston public high school graduates from the Class of 2005 were related either to the role of the high school in preparing them for college or the labor market only. Relatively few graduates provided comments on both their college and labor market preparation. Each of the responses was assigned to one of two broad categories: college related and labor market related. These two response categories were further broken down into a number of sub-categories in order to provide a more in-depth analysis of the specific roles of high schools in preparing