Russell W. Rumberger

University of California, Santa Barbara | UCSB · Department of Education

One of the major educational challenges in the United States is ensuring that all students graduate from high school. This article reviews research evidence on four facets of this issue: (1) the magnitude of the problem and trends over time; (2) the economic and social consequences of dropping out; (3) the causes of the problem, including individua...

This paper examines disparities in dropout and graduation rates among various subgroups of students. First, we review the various ways dropout and graduation rates are measured. Next, we briefly review the research literature on predictors of high school graduation and identify four key factors that are most strongly associated with subgroup differ...

Using a sample of 2541 students attending 25 high schools in Sacramento, California, this study examines the association between students’ 21st century skills and their level of behavioral disengagement at school. Behavioral disengagement pertains to problem behaviors at school such as poor attendance, truancy, tardiness, and disciplinary problems...

Background/Context The 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision on Brown v. Board of Education concluded that segregated schools were inherently unequal and therefore unlawful. That decision was not based solely upon the notion that segregated black schools were inferior in terms of academic instruction, curricular rigor, resources, etc., but also on resea...

This chapter first reviews some prominent models of dropping out and the role that individual factors, including engagement, and contextual factors play in the process. It then reviews empirical research related to those factors, with a focus on engagement-related factors. Scholars have proposed a number of models to explain the process of dropping...

One of the major educational challenges in virtually all industrialised nations is raising the education level of the workforce. This includes getting more students to complete upper secondary school or what is referred to as ‘high school’ in the United States. Completing high school is increasingly viewed as a minimal requirement for entry into th...

One of the major educational challenges in the United States is ensuring that all students graduate from high school. This article reviews research evidence on four facets of this issue: (1) the magnitude of the problem and trends over time; (2) the economic and social consequences of dropping out; (3) the causes of the problem, including individua...

This study investigates the relationship between family background and both college completion and earnings for a cohort of young adults. The study is based on sample of 8901 respondents from the National Education Longitudinal Study who were first surveyed as eighth graders in 1988 and last surveyed 12 years later and who were working and not atte...

Background/Context According to U.S. Census figures, 11 million elementary and secondary students of immigrant families were enrolled in the public schools in October 2005, representing 20% of all students, and this figure is expected to grow in the coming years. Most of these students enter school as English learners (ELs), and most ELs have excep...

The Education of Language Minority Immigrants in the United States draws from quantitative and qualitative research methodologies to inform educational policy and practice. It is based on cutting-edge research and policy analyses from a number of well-known experts on immigrant language minority education in the USA. The collection includes contrib...

This article explores the components of an “adequate” education for linguistic minority students in California and attempts to distinguish these from the components of an adequate education for low-income students who are native English speakers. About 1.6 million students were classified as English learners (ELs) in California in 2006. We argue th...

This study uses Early Childhood Longitudinal Study data to investigate the importance of three general aspects of teacher effects—teacher background qualifications, attitudes, and instructional practices—to reading and math achievement gains in first grade. The results indicate that compared with instructional practices, background qualifications h...

Policy makers are especially concerned about persistently high dropout rates among U.S. Latinos, the largest minority population in the United States. This study used a national longitudinal database to show that the behavioral and social aspects of schooling are dynamically linked in the process of school completion and dropout among Mexican Ameri...

This document is an extension of "Resource Needs for California's English Learners" and is the result of deliberations from several informal meetings and two formal meetings of major stakeholders in the area of English Learner (EL) education. Its intent is to suggest a series of policy options, based on data examined in the initial report that Cali...

Highlights: Dropping out is more of a process than an event—a process that, for some students, begins in early elementary school. Poor academic achievement, as early as elementary school, is one of the strongest predictors of dropping out. Preschool improves school readiness and early school success, positively affecting student outcomes, including...

This paper examines the effects of different child-care arrangements on children's cognitive and social proficiencies at the start of kindergarten. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, we identify effects using OLS, matching and instrumental variables estimates. Overall, center-based care raises reading and math scores, but has a...

One of the most urgent educational challenges in the United States is eliminating the large achievement differences among racial and ethnic groups (Jencks & Phillips 1998; Lee 2002; Rothstein 2004; Thernstrom & Thernstrom 2003). Although this challenge has existed throughout the history of the country, it has taken on increased urgency in the curre...

This chapter records a discussion among several experts on assessing the economic environment of higher education.

This study examined participation in preschool and its relationship with the cognitive and social development of language-minority students. Although there is a large body of research that demonstrates the cognitive and social benefits of attending preschool (Barnett, 1995; Gorey, 2001; National Research Council, Committee on Early Childhood Pedago...

The Coleman report, published 12 years after the Brown decision, confirmed that widespread school segregation in the United States created inequality of educational opportunity. This study examines whether racial and socioeconomic segregation, which is on the rise in the United States, is still contributing to the achievement differences among stud...

The Coleman report, published 12 years after the Brown decision, confirmed that widespread school segregation in the United States created inequality of educational opportunity. This study examines whether racial and socioeconomic segregation, which is on the rise in the United States, is still contributing to the achievement differences among stud...

The Coleman report, published 12 years after the Brown decision, confirmed that widespread school segregation in the United States created inequality of educational opportunity. This study examines whether racial and socioeconomic segregation, which is on the rise in the United States, is still contributing to the achievement differences among stud...

This study investigated the relationships among several different indicators of high school performance: test scores, dropout rates, transfer rates, and attrition rates. Hierarchical linear models were used to analyze panel data from a sample of 14,199 students who took part in the National Education Longitudinal Survey of 1988. The results general...

Previous research has demonstrated that attending center care is associated with cognitive benefits for young children. However, little is known about the ideal age for children to enter such care or the "right" amount of time, both weekly and yearly, for children to attend center programs. Using national data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal...

The article provides an abridged version of a report prepared for the lawsuit, Williams v. State of California. The report first examines the achievement gap for English learners in California. Second, it reviews evidence in seven areas in which these students receive a substantially inequitable education vis-a-vis their English-speaking peers, eve...

The article provides an abridged version of a report prepared for the lawsuit, Williams v. State of California. The report first examines the achievement gap for English learners in California. Second, it reviews evidence in seven areas in which these students receive a substantially inequitable education vis-a-vis their English-speaking peers, eve...

Abstract One of the most pressing problems in California is improving student academic performance, especially the state’s burgeoning Latino student population. This study examined,the extent of the achievement,gap between Latino and White students over the first two years of elementary school and the characteristics of students and schools that co...

The Williams vs the State of California class action suit on behalf of poor children in that state argues that California provides a fundamentally inequitable education to students based on wealth and language status. This article, an earlier version of which was prepared as background to that case, reviews the conditions of schooling for English l...

It is widely recognized that high school dropouts, or early school leavers, often experience difficulty in making the transition from school to productive activities in adulthood, particularly post-school education, training, and employment. This study examines the experiences of high school dropouts from the United States and Australia in the firs...

Student mobility-students making nonpromotional school changes—is widespread in many schools and districts throughout the United States. Mobility not only can harm the students who change schools, it can also harm the classrooms and schools they attend. This article examines the incidence, causes, and consequences of student mobility in the United...

Student mobility (students moving from one school to another for reasons other than being promoted to the next school level) is widespread in the United States. This Spanish-language Digest examines the research on the academic consequences of mobility for elementary school students and discusses what schools and parents can do to mitigate the poss...

The proportion of California's limited English speaking students is increasing rapidly. Language minority students represent more than one-third of all students in California public schools. The most central educational outcome for these students is English proficiency. Research varies on how long it takes for students to become English proficient,...

Although school dropout remains an Important policy issue and has generated considerable research, little of this research has examined dropout as a measure of school performance. Even less attention has been paid to student turnover, another, related measure of hovv well schools are keeping students enrolled. study examined the distributions of bo...

A study examined experiences of early leavers in the United States (US) and Australia in the first two years beyond high school. Data were from these comparable longitudinal surveys: US data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988; Australian data from the 1975 cohort of the Youth in Transition surveys. Findings indicated similar per...

A variety of evidence suggests that students in the United States change schools frequently. But there has been relatively little research that examines the educational consequences of student mobility. This study examined the incidence of student mobility between the eighth and twelfth grades and its effect on high school completion using the Nati...

One major question confronting educational researchers and practitioners is why some minority students are successful in school and others are not. This study documented the extent of differences in educational achievement among a cohort of Mexican American language-minority students in a large, urban middle school and assessed them using two theor...

Prior research on dropouts has often focused on high schools and examined the issue from either the individual perspective or the institutional perspective. Using data from the National Educational Longitudinal Survey of 1988 and a new form of hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), this study focuses on dropouts from middle school and examines the iss...

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Incl. bibl.

This paper estimates the impact of three types of qualitative differences in college experiences on the earnings of recent college graduates — college major, school quality and educational performance. The analysis is based on a new statistical technique, known as hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), which distinguishes more precisely between the ef...

This study examines the extent and impact of racial and ethnic segregation in California high schools during the 1988-1989 school year. We find that racial and ethnic segregation is wide- spread in California and that the extent of segregation varies widely among ethnic groups and among the six largest school districts. We also find significant dif...

Achievement for Latinos through Academic Success is a unique Chicano dropout prevention program in a large Los Angeles junior high school. Program features include: (1) focus on the school's highest-risk students; (2) construction of a comprehensive cluster of research-based interventions addressing four different spheres of influence on school per...

Human capital theory suggests that education enhances worker productivity and is reflected in higher individual earnings. We use data from the 1969 Survey of Working Conditions and the 1973 and 1977 Quality of Employment Surveys, and a model derived from the industrial psychology literature, to test the proposition that workers' education in excess...

Research has investigated a wide range of factors associated with dropout behavior, including family-related factors. However, most investigations of family-related factors have relied on structural measures, such as socioeconomic status, parental education, and family income. Such measures reveal little about the processes by which families influe...

Examines education, work and employment in developed nations, and identifies present economic trends that affect changes in the job market. Concentrates on the relationship between labor force changes and education, which cause the problems of undereducation and overeducation. Outlines competencies needed by workers in a changing work environment....

U.S. competitiveness depends on higher worker productivity, greater technological investment, and streamlined organizational structure, which require a flexible, highly trained work force. The demand for educated workers continues to rise in industrialized societies, influenced by the demand for certain goods and services, decline in real labor cos...

Workshop organized by IIEP on the occasion of its 25th anniversary. Incl. bibl.

One of the major focuses of the recent reform movement in education concerns perceived and anticipated teacher shortages, especially in particular fields such as mathematics and science. It is widely believed that lower salaries relative to alternative occupations are responsible for teacher shortages and that higher salaries will therefore help re...

This article examines the impact of surplus schooling on individual productivity and earnings. It proposes a model that divides workers' education into two components: education that is required and thus fully utilized in the job, and education that exceeds the amount required and thus may be underutilized in the job. The model is tested with data...

The problem of high school dropouts has generated increased interest among researchers, policymakers, and educators in recent years. This paper examines the many issues involved in trying to understand and solve this complex social and educational problem. The issues are grouped into four areas covering the incidence, causes, consequences, and solu...

Small businesses are increasingly considering the application of computers to their office operations. However, little is known about the types of education and training required of their personnel for such applications. This study is based on a survey of almost 3,000 small businesses regarding their consideration, adoption, and use of computers. E...

The problem of high school dropouts has generated increased interest among researchers, policymakers, and educators in recent years. This paper examines the many issues involved in trying to understand and solve this complex social and educational problem. The issues are grouped into four areas, related to the incidence, causes, consequences, and s...

The debate over the nature of effects that new technologies will have on job skill requirements has consequences for public policy and education. Much of the controversy over how to prepare students for the workplace of the future arises because different questions are being addressed. This report examines the disparate visions and disagreements ov...

A survey was administered to a sample of about 10,000 members of the National Federation of Independent Business in 1985 to ascertain a variety of information about the use of computers in the nation's small businesses, including the extent of their use, training needs of users, and impacts and benefits. Major findings summarized from the 2,813 usa...

Many people believe that one major problem currently confronting American education is a severe shortage of mathematics and science teachers. This paper develops alternative ways of measuring shortages and reviews the evidence based on these alternative measures. Evidence from other studies as well as new evidence presented here suggests that short...

This paper examines recent occupational projections in order to determine how new technologies will affect future job growth in the United States. The first part of the paper reviews the methodologies used to derive occupational projections, focusing on how adjustments for technological change are incorporated into the forecasts. The second part of...

This article examines the relative economic benefits for white male college graduates in 1971 and 1976. It focuses on two factors that may account for some of the observed differences in the economic value of college: different indicators of economic benefits and variations in benefits by college degree and major. The results suggest that the relat...

Technology creates jobs, but it also eliminates them. These two outcomes raise two important questions: Does technology create more jobs than it destroys? Does technology create more highly skilled jobs than those that it destroys? Evidence suggests that future technologies may provide answers to these questions that are different from the answers...

An examination of changes in the job market for college graduates between 1960 and 1980 forms the basis for speculating on the opportunities in 1990. The job market in 1970 was better than in either 1960 or 1980; job opportunities will continue to decline through the 1980s.

The recent proposals of vast changes in the educational system in the United States are considered. The upgrading of math and science education at the elementary, secondary and college level is examined, and the future growth of high-technology is studied. The opinion is expressed that high technology will not ease the unemployment problems or upgr...

This paper examines the extent of the high school dropout problem in 1979 and investigates both the stated reasons students leave school and some of the underlying factors influencing their decision. Particular attention is focused on differences by sex, race, and family background. Data for this research come from a new, national sample of youth w...

This paper examines the extent to which wealth explains the relationship between family background and adult economic status for white and black males. Wealth is treated both as a component of family background and as a measure of adult economic status. The findings reveal that parental wealth influences schooling independent of other, social compo...

The United States is faced with two serious economic problems: declining productivity growth and rising unemployment. These problems have become severe in the last decade. Both problems are caused by a number of factors, but experts fail to agree on which factors have most contributed to the problems. This paper examines the relationship between ed...

An analysis illustrating the direct and indirect role of government policy in generating employment begins by documenting the level and composition of government spending over the last 50 years. In 1929, federal, state, and local expenditures amounted to 10 percent of the Gross National Product (GNP); by 1980, government expenditures represented on...

There is a growing disparity between jobs' educational requirements and workers' educational attainments, and also an increasing underutilization of college-educated workers. Changes in the demand for educated labor arise from changes in the U.S. economy's industrial structure and from changes in particular jobs' educational requirements. Changes i...

Documents recent differences (by race, sex and age) in the educational experiences of high school and college youth. High school experiences examined include attitudes toward school, academic performance, courses taken, and dropping out; college experiences cover participation, attendance patterns, major field of study, and sources of financial aid...