Understanding dropout: the relationship between school and employment during high school
Open Access
- Author:
- Gates, Laura M
- Area of Honors:
- Sociology
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Arts
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Jeremy Staff, Thesis Supervisor
Dr. Stacy Silver, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- sociology
education
employment
student engagement
educational attainment
student employment - Abstract:
- The purpose of this study is to better understand why some students drop out of high school. More specifically, I focus on whether student employment during the school year has a significant effect on the likelihood of high school graduation. I used data from a nationally representative survey collected by the National Center of Education Statistics, which follows more than 23,000 9th grade students in the United States throughout high school and beyond. After analyzing the data, it was found that after-school employment during the school year can be either a positive or negative influence on school completion, depending on the number of hours worked per week. For instance, working moderate hours (i.e., averaging about twenty hours a week or less) was positively associated with graduating from high school, whereas more intensive hours (i.e., more than twenty five hours a week) was negatively associated. Additionally, for those who worked more intensive hours, other influences, such as GPA, parents’/guardians’ highest level of education, and total family income were more significant in determining the risk of dropout. I also found that the effect of intensive work hours on high school dropout greatly contrasts with other extracurricular activities, such as sports or music. Students who spend intensive hours in sports or music did not have the same increased risk of dropout. In this way, although employment is positively correlated with dropout, it is more so a symptom of greater socioeconomic issues that can also affect a student’s likelihood of dropout. With these findings, suggestions are made that can improve school environment and potentially increase graduation rates, especially among working students. In particular, several suggestions are later made to address these societal problems, further supporting previous research in educational policy.