Students from a high socioeconomic background show relatively homogeneous, high levels of educational attainment, whereas students with a low socioeconomic origin display a large variability in their educational careers. In this paper, we examine whether the varying degrees of students' academic self-efficacy can contribute to an explanation of…

This study focuses on the disparities between the educational aspirations and expectations of high school students in the U.S., and explores why students do not expect to earn a bachelor's degree despite their aspirations. Using a national dataset and logistic/multinomial logistic regression analyses, the study identified the factors associated…

Scholars generally agree that financial deprivation negatively affects students' educational outcomes. However, while absolute levels of resources are important, individuals' perceived relative economic wellbeing also shape their educational outcomes. This article asks whether attending school with peers from comparably richer families is related…

Reading motivation may help explain some discrepancies in higher education attainment among Latinx adolescents. Using a person-centered approach to understand underlying reading motivation profiles among N = 254 Latinx adolescents, results identified four ordered classes of reading motivation including, (a) a "High" class characterized…

This study investigated factors that are likely to influence students' educational expectations in the State of Qatar, concentrating on selected parental factors. Drawing on recent work in the field, the study examined the intersection of student demographic and socio-economic attributes along with contextual factors, on student educational…

The literature in science education highlights the potentially significant role of outside-school factors such as parents, cultural contexts and role models in students' formation of science attitudes and aspirations, and their attainment in science classes. In this paper, building on and linking Bourdieu's key concepts of habitus, cultural and…

Growth curve modeling was utilized to examine change in the educational aspirations of adolescents from early high school through to three years beyond high school, as a function of gender and other adolescent characteristics. Significant gender effects were found for level of education aspired to, rate of growth, and degree of acceleration: boys'…

The present study examined the extent to which mothers' and fathers' expectations for their offspring's future education, their level of education, and adolescents' academic achievement predict adolescents' educational expectations. To investigate this, 230 adolescents were examined twice while they were in comprehensive school (in the 7th and 9th…

This report provides a first look at selected findings from the first follow-up of the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09). HSLS:09 focuses on understanding students' trajectories from the beginning of high school into higher education and the workforce. The core research questions for the study explore secondary to postsecondary…

This First Look presents findings from the base-year survey of the newly launched High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09), the first round of a study that will follow a ninth-grade cohort through high school and into their postsecondary years. HSLS:09 is the fifth in a series of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) high school…

In 2004, the Center for Rural Pennsylvania contracted with Pennsylvania State University to begin a longitudinal study of rural Pennsylvania school students to understand their educational and career aspirations and the factors influencing their aspirations, whether their plans change as they age and if they attain their goals. In its entirety,…

Few researchers have asked students directly about what they know and need to know regarding college and career planning. Given the critical choices made early in high school, ninth graders (n = 222) were surveyed regarding their educational and career plans and the resources they were using in their decision-making. Overall results as well as…