Data primarily from Australia's Youth in Transition Survey were analyzed to explain differences in the schooling decisions of individuals born in 1961 versus 1970. The main measured factors affecting individuals' schooling decisions were as follows: ability; school type; and family background. Participation in school was positively associated with individual ability, enrollment at a nongovernment school, and having parents with high educational attainment. The main factors that have contributed to the change in educational attainment of the 1970 cohort compared to the 1961 cohort were as follows: individual ability; parents' educational attainment; family size; and attendance at Catholic and other independent schools. Over the decade studied, male and female schooling increased at similar rates, with the mean female schooling level increasing only slightly faster than the mean male level of schooling. The analysis indicated that labor market reforms focusing on females per se are not likely to have a major impact on females' schooling decisions. Information on the following items is appended: the ordered probit model of participation in education; decomposition analysis of changes in educational attainment over time; the study data and variables; decomposition of schooling attainments based on logit models; and the return to education and school continuation decisions. (Contains 17 tables and 46 references.) (MN)