Community college attrition of GED certificate holders and regular high school graduates : a comparative study using national BPS data

This study was purposed to extract, collate, and statistically format data contained in the national Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS) Longitudinal Study: 1996-2001 database that pertained to persistence and attainment rates of GED recipients who began their postsecondary education at a communi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Long, Angela C.
Other Authors: Roper, Larry D.
Language:en_US
Published: 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1957/30476
Description
Summary:This study was purposed to extract, collate, and statistically format data contained in the national Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS) Longitudinal Study: 1996-2001 database that pertained to persistence and attainment rates of GED recipients who began their postsecondary education at a community college during the 1995-96 academic year. The primary objective was to reckon the attrition rate of GED recipients during their first year of enrollment (FY 1995-96), and to measure degree or certificate attainment rates of that particular cohort of GED enrollees at the end of a 6-year study period (FY 2000-01). Several significant findings related to the academic prowess and characteristics of a cohort of GED students who enrolled in public 2-year educational institutions during the BPS:1995-96 study period are presented in this study. One of those findings is that the attrition rates of the GED recipients and the high school graduates who concurrently enrolled full-time at community colleges during the 1995-96 academic year were closely proximate by the end of their first year of enrollment (52.6% HS dropout rate versus 54.8% GED dropout rate). Another interesting finding is that accumulated GPAs of GED recipients who participated in the BPS:1996/2001 and who persisted through their first academic year as full-time enrollees in community colleges were slightly higher than their counterpart BPS:1996/2001 cohort of high school graduates who concurrently enrolled at community colleges. The statistical data reported in this study were garnered from a database administered by the US Department of Education; however, because this study presents its findings in the form of raw, unweighted data, it does not statistically reflect national representativeness. === Graduation date: 2004