Doctoral Dissertation Research: Student Engagement in Post-secondary Planning and Educational Outcomes.

了解学生高中毕业后的过渡是理解美国阶级结构、流动性以及特权或不平等的代际传递的关键。本文通过实证检验学生是否？决定是在一个关键时刻做出的，或者更确切地说，是随着时间的推移，在学生与制度和社会结构进行谈判时，通过日常互动展开的。该研究观察了学生的决定是如何受到学校环境的影响；在学校获得信息和咨询；父母呢?欲望、影响力和经济稳定；教师和榜样；同伴关系;以及他们自己对未来的目标和愿望。使用民族志方法，研究分析了这些独立但相互联系的社会领域如何塑造学生的道路并影响教育成果。在研究的第一阶段，联合调查人员在新泽西州随机抽样采访了一些辅导员。共同负责人目前正在新泽西州一所种族和社会经济多元化的高中进行人种学研究。这所学校学术实力雄厚，但没有主要的高等教育目的地，可以调查教育成果的差异，特别是通往两年制或四年制大学的不同途径。数据首先通过焦点小组收集，并在课堂、课后活动和体育赛事期间进行观察。最重要的是，根据GPA从班级中间的80%的学生中随机抽取了20名11年级学生参加纵向民族志研究。这些学生在学校和校外活动中接受面试和跟踪，直到毕业。共同调查委员会还将采访他们的父母、老师和辅导员。该项目通过展示社会和制度结构中个人决策的复杂性，促进了关于结构和代理的社会学辩论。大学入学对学生的影响？生活是直接而直接的，因为完成学士学位正日益成为进入中产阶级的唯一途径。该项目的研究结果可用于为教育工作者制定明确的政策建议。研究结果将以内部报告、研究报告和准备在学术和大众出版社出版的政策文件的形式，并通过研究员？教学。

SES-0926091Patrick J. Carr Audrey E. Devine EllerRutgers University-New BrunswickUnderstanding students' transition out of high school is key to understanding U.S. class structure, mobility, and the intergenerational transmission of privilege or inequality. This dissertation empirically tests whether students? decisions are made at one critical moment or rather occur slowly, over time, unfolding through daily interactions as students negotiate institutional and social structures. The research observes how student decisions are shaped by their school context; access to information and counseling at the school; parents? desires, influence, and economic stability; teachers and role models; peer relationships; and their own goals and desires for the future. Using ethnographic methods the research analyzes how these separate but interconnected social realms shape the pathways students take and impact educational outcomes. In the first stage of research, the co-PI interviewed a random sample of guidance counselors across New Jersey. The co-PI is currently conducting ethnographic research at a racially and socioeconomically diverse high school in New Jersey. This school is academically strong yet has no dominant post-secondary destination, enabling investigation of variation in educational outcomes, especially the different pathways that lead to a 2-year or 4-year college. Data were first collected in focus groups and observations during classes, after school activities, and sports events. Most importantly, twenty 11th graders were randomly selected from among the middle 80 percent of the class by GPA to participate in longitudinal ethnographic research. These students are interviewed and shadowed through school and out-of-school activities until their graduation. The co-PI will also interview their parents, teachers, and counselors. This project contributes to sociological debates about structure and agency by showing the complexity of individual decision-making within social and institutional structures. Broader impacts The impact of college access on students? lives is immediate and direct, for completing a bachelor's degree is increasingly becoming the only way to gain access to the middle class. Findings from this project can be used to develop clear policy recommendations for educators. Findings will be disseminated to the study school in an internal report, in research reports and policy papers prepared for publication in academic and popular presses, and through the researcher?s teaching.