This report describes the 1994 postsecondary education attendance patterns, job experiences, lifestyles, and values of the eighth grade class of 1988. The data from the report are from the 1994 Third Follow-up of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 eighth graders (NELS:88/94). NELS:88/94 collected information on postsecondary education participation, employment, earnings, family formation, and other activities and experiences relevant to individuals as they are about to enter their adult lives.
NELS:88/94 contains information that represents several nationally representative samples, including 1988 eighth graders, 1990 tenth graders, and 1992 twelfth graders enrolled in public or private schools. By the time of the 1994 follow-up study most NELS:88 sample members had completed four years of high school. However, some had dropped out of high school or had attended alternative programs to complete their diploma. (A more complete description of the NELS:88 sample can be found in Appendix A of this report.)
The first section of this report is an essay that examines the postsecondary education access and choice of the 1988 eighth grade cohort. Access to postsecondary education is defined in terms of factors related to enrollment into a postsecondary institution. Student-level factors, such as their expectations and their academic preparation, may combine with background characteristics, and with life circumstances, to facilitate or inhibit enrollment. The meaning of postsecondary educational choice covers the type of institution attended, whether it was a "first-choice" institution, the level of intensity (full or part time), and location, among other things. Access and choice are examined differentially by sex, race, socioeconomic status, and tested achievement.
The second part of the report consists of sets of tables which present other information about the education, jobs, and life experiences of the 1988 eighth grade cohort. The tables are organized into four sections: Postsecondary Education Expectations and Experiences, Labor Force Participation, Family and Financial Circumstances, and Values, Other Activities, and Civic Participation. As in the essay, these experiences are examined for young people with different types of high school experiences and backgrounds.
The results presented in this report were produced using the NELS:88/94 Data Analysis System (DAS). The DAS is a microcomputer-based program that allows users to create these and other tables from the NELS:88 data. The DAS produces survey design-adjusted standard errors appropriate for testing the statistical significance of differences between the groups shown in the tables. Additional information about the NELS:88/94 DAS, including how it may be obtained, is presented in Appendix A of this report.
We hope that the information provided in this report will be useful to a wide range of interested readers. We also hope that the results reported here will encourage others to use the NELS:88/94 data. We welcome recommendations for improving the format, content, and analytic approach, so that future descriptive reports will be more informative and useful.
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