Collaborative Research: High School Exit Examinations and Labor Market Outcomes Among Young Adults

自20世纪80年代初以来，越来越多的州要求学生通过全州范围的高中毕业考试(HSEE)才能毕业。各州普遍采用HSEE，是因为人们认为高中毕业生缺乏在“新经济”中取得成功所需的技能，而且要求学生通过高风险测试将使高中文凭对雇主有意义。2003届毕业生在20个州面临HSEE要求。这些教育改革对学生毕业后的就业和经济前景意味着什么？如果HSEE真的证明学生拥有在现代劳动力市场取得成功所必需的基本技能，那么HSEE的政策应该加剧高中毕业生和未能完成高中学业的人之间的劳动力市场差异。调查人员研究的中心假设是，州HSEE政策的效果是，拥有高中文凭的学生和没有高中文凭的学生在就业率、收入、贫困率和公共援助使用方面的差距扩大。为了评估这些假设，作者根据1984年至2003年的当前人口调查(CPS)和1980年、1990年和2000年的十年人口普查数据，对每个结果的状态固定效应模型进行了估计。对于那些读完和没读完高中的人来说，每个结果都被认为遵循着潜在的不同的州特定的增长轨迹，并受到个人和州的特征的影响。州HSEE要求的影响被确定为偏离了高中完成者相对于未完成高中的学生的结果的州特定轨迹。该项目将对社会学做出基础和应用贡献。在基础研究方面，社会学家和劳动经济学家对高教育程度带来的收入优势给出了相互矛盾的解释。人力资本和信号传递理论的支持者认为，工人的生产能力要么提高了，要么通过高中文凭来表示，而证书持有者则坚持认为，高中文凭只是标志着某种身份文化的成员身份。如果人力资本和信号理论是正确的，我们预计在实施HSEE后，毕业生和未完成学业的人之间的收入差距将会扩大。然而，证书理论家预计高中毕业生的优势不会改变，因为HSEE不太可能改变高中毕业生和高中毕业生之间的地位文化分布。在更实用的意义上，州和联邦两级的政策制定者都将高中毕业考试作为学校问责改革的重要组成部分。他们认为，HSEE将有助于使高中文凭变得有意义，从而为那些完成高中学业的人带来更大的劳动力市场成功。然而，尽管这些主张具有修辞上的吸引力，但几乎没有实证工作来证实它们。这项研究将通过对卫生与环境保护政策的益处提供全面的国家评估来填补文献中的一个空白。

Since the early 1980s, an increasing number of states have required students to pass statewide high school exit examinations (HSEEs) in order to graduate. States have generally adopted HSEEs in response to the perception that high school graduates lack the skills required for success in the 'new economy' and that requiring students to pass a high-stakes test will make the high school diploma meaningful to employers. Members of the class of 2003 faced HSEE requirements in 20 states. What do these education reforms mean for students' post-high school employment and economic prospects? If HSEEs really do certify that students possess basic skills necessary for success in the modern labor market, it follows that HSEE policies should exacerbate labor market differences between high school graduates and those who fail to complete high school. The central hypotheses of the investigators' research is that state HSEE policies have the effect of widening gaps in employment rates, earnings, poverty rates, and public assistance use between students who have high school diplomas and those who do not. To evaluate these hypotheses, the authors estimate state fixed effects models for each outcome based on the 1984 to 2003 Current Population Survey (CPS) and the 1980, 1990 and 2000 decennial census data. Each outcome is assumed to follow potentially different state-specific growth trajectories for those who do and do not complete high school, and to be affected by characteristics of both individuals and states. The effect of state HSEE requirements is identified as a deviation from the state-specific trajectory of the outcome for high school completers relative to the outcome for those who do not complete high school.This project will make both fundamental and applied contributions to sociology. In terms of fundamental research, sociologists and labor economists have offered competing explanations for the earnings advantage associated with higher levels of educational attainment. Proponents of human capital and signaling theory argue that the productive capacities of workers are either enhanced or signified by a high school diploma, while credentialists maintain that high school diplomas serve only to mark membership in a certain status culture. If human capital and signaling theorists are correct, we would expect to see an increase in the earnings difference between graduates and noncompleters following the implementation of an HSEE. Credential theorists would expect no change in the high school graduate advantage, however, as the HSEE would be unlikely to alter the distribution of status culture across those who do and do not complete high school.In a more applied sense, policy makers at both the state and federal levels have embraced high school exit exams as an important component of school accountability reforms. The HSEE, they argue, will help make the high school diploma meaningful, resulting in greater labor market success for those who complete high school. Despite the rhetorical appeal of these claims, however, there has been little empirical work to substantiate them. This study will fill a hole in the literature by offering a comprehensive national evaluation of the benefits of HSEE policies.