Examined race and sex differences in the stability of mobility goals over a seven-year period following high school graduation and assessed effects of race, sex, social class, and academic ability on current mobility goals of young people who participated in a recent national longitudinal survey. (Author/GC)

As part of the National Longitudinal Study (NLS) of the High School Class of 1972, NLS respondents who went to college, dropped out, returned, and graduated on schedule are analyzed in detail. Information was obtained from the base year and the first three follow-up surveys of the NLS. Findings include the following: whereas 41 percent of the…

Background/Context: Although there has been progress in closing the test score gaps among student groups over past decades, that progress has stalled. Many researchers have speculated why the test score gaps closed between the early 1970s and the early 1990s, but only a few have been able to empirically study how changes in school factors and…

The National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS) is an ongoing project focusing on the educational, vocational, and personal development of high school graduates, and the personal, familial, social, institutional, and cultural factors that contribute directly or indirectly to that development. A national probability sample of…

As part of the third follow-up to the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972, the Third Follow-Up Questionnaire was administered to a sample of the members of the high school class of 1972 who had been surveyed in 1972 and 1974. The questionnaire contains 158 items about education and work experience and is divided into the…

Meant to study post secondary educational and vocational activities, the National Longitudinal Survey of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS) is reported to have consistently succeeded in overcoming diminishing response rates and sample attrition found in other longitudinal surveys. The purpose of understanding the focus and experiences affecting…

Over 150 journal articles, papers presented at professional meetings, dissertations, government publications, contract reports, and studies in progress as of March 1977 on the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS) are annotated and indexed by subject, author, and sponsoring agency. Introductory chapters describe the…

Though a previous study examined the data for vocational-technical students provided by the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972, it did not exhaust the possibilities for evaluation of the data. The current study concentrated on three specific areas of analysis: (1) educational characteristics of students and selected…

This book examines the educational and occupational choices that 1972 high school graduates made over the succeeding 15 years, focusing on how postsecondary education has made a difference in their lives. It uses data collected for the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS-72), which has tracked a representative sample…

As part of the third follow-up to the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972, the Third Follow-Up Questionnaire was administered to a sample of the members of the high school class of 1972 who had been surveyed in 1972 and 1974. This file contains the responses to that questionnaire. The questionnaire has 158 items about work…

Copies of the survey instruments used in the base-year, first, second, and third followup studies of the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS) are contained in this publication. The instruments were used to gather data on the educational, vocational, and personal development of high school graduates, and the personal,…

Some findings about attrition from two- and four-year colleges and universities based on the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS) are presented. Attrition is defined as withdrawal from college without completing a degree. After 2 years, the four-year institutions had lost 23.5 percent of their entrants. More two-year…

The basic design of the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS) called for repeated surveys of a statistical sample of the Class of 1972. Each sample member was followed so as to build a historical database that would allow the investigation of the complex developmental paths that occur in the transition years from high…

This manual was produced to familiarize data users with the procedures followed in data collection and processing of the fifth follow-up survey of the National Longitudinal Survey of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS-72) and to provide documentation for use of the file. The data file is a computerized data base, which is available on magnetic…

The potential of research which uses the data base from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS) for affecting federal policy is discussed. Currently, social science research is rarely used as a basis for policy decisions. A reason for this is that social scientists profess interest in policy issues, yet are naive in…