The High School and Beyond Longitudinal Study (HS&B:80/92) followed two cohorts of students.⁶ It began in the spring of 1980 with the collection of Base-Year questionnaire and test data on a nationally representative sample of more than 58,000 high school seniors and sophomores. An extensive survey was administered in the base year along with a battery of cognitive tests. Both cohorts were followed up at 2-year intervals through 1986, and the sophomore cohort was followed up a fourth time in 1992. The sample used in this report was the based on the 1980 sophomore cohort and adjusted to reflect only those students who graduated in 1982 and entered postsecondary education by December 1984.

Cognitive tests were administered to the sophomore cohort during the first follow-up survey, when most were high school seniors. In addition, high school transcripts were collected and coded. The fourth follow-up included a collection of postsecondary transcripts for members of the sophomore cohort who had continued their education beyond high school. The HS&B Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS) includes transcript information to September 1993. The CATI survey response rate was 85.3 percent and the transcript level response rate was 90.1 percent. The weight used for the analysis of data from the HS&B-So:80/92 was WTH00, which includes students who entered postsecondary education.