1. The University of Washington “Beyond High School” Research Project
October 19, 2007

2. HISTORY OF PROJECT Fall of 1999 with Mellon Fdn support
Impact of I-200 on access to college
Baseline survey of high school seniors
Collaborative effort of UW & Tacoma
“Discovery” of Washington State Achiever Program
Gates Foundation Grant:
From 5 to 12 high schools
Transition to High School Project
NICHD Grant: on race/ethnic identities

3. The UW BHS DATA ARCHIVE Senior Survey (5 cohorts, 2000-05)
One Year Follow Up Survey
Parental Survey (only 3 cohorts)
Administrative Records

4. The UW Beyond High School Data
Almost 10,000 seniors in 12 high schools in Pacific Northwest
2000 & 2002: 1 district w/ 5 schools
WSA and non-WSA
2003, 2004, 2005: continued, plus
2 districts with 2 high schools in each
3 private high schools

7. Administrative Data Only available from 1 school district
1/2 sample
Enrolled students
Courses taken and grades
Allows us to track students from 9th to 12th grade
What is the universe of seniors in BHS high schools?
Those still enrolled and classified as seniors.
Considerable attrition during high school
Some “social” seniors are still 4th year juniors
Survey conducted in auditorium or in classrooms
Project worked closely with administrators/advisors to get 100% participation
Extensive mail campaign for those not present on survey day

9. Student Participants Partner Schools
UW BHS Outreach
Student Participants
Partner Schools

13. The University of Washington Beyond High School Research Project
Presentation of:
Henry Foss High School Findings
Home of the FALCONS
For: Tacoma Public Schools, Department of Research and Evaluation
October 7, 2004

14. The University of Washington Beyond High School Research Project
Hello, Principles, counselors, teachers, and staffs:
My name is ______, I am currently a graduate student at the university of washington. I would like to first thank you on behalf of the Beyond the H.S. project for giving us an opportunity to present to you some of our most interesting findings from our study of the seniors in the class of 2003 and Before I begin, I would like to tell you a little about what our project is about.
The beyond h.s. project is a study of senior students from a dozen high schools among Muilteoko, Clover Park, tacoma school districts, and we are particularly interested in studying how high students formulate plans for college. In the spring of each year, we go to h.s. and ask seniors students to tell us what they plan to do after graduation from h.s, and if they have any college or if they have any plans for work, and we are most interested in how they come up with these plans. As many of you know, college education is perhaps one of the most important pathways for economic opportunity and upward mobility in the U.S. And in the past few years, there has been some major policy changes within the educational system in the WA state, such as the (1) introduction of the WASL examinations, the implementions of the Gates foundundation Achievers Program, and (3)the most recent redesign of h.s. to create a personalized focused learning programs. In addition, in 1998, the I-200 end of affimative policy went into effect in the year of 1998, thus with these policy changes, we are interested in how student from different racial and ethnic backgounds are able to get equal acccess to higher education.
Presentation of:
Kamiak High School Findings
January , 2005

15. The University of Washington Beyond High School Research Project
Presentation of:
Mariner High School Findings
I am a Fifth year Graduate Student at the University of Washington, with an interest in labor market stratification
And I would like to briefly introduce you to the Beyond High School project, or, for those already familiar with it, refresh your memory of our general aims and concerns. But before I do, I would like to, once again, extend our gratitude for allowing us to conduct this research study in Mariner. Mariner HS has been wonderfully supportive of this project, which I believe is indicative of how supportive you are of your students.
2. What is the project:
The beyond h.s. project is a study of senior students we sample from a dozen high schools among Mukilteo, Clover Park, Tacoma school districts. This project started out as a study of the effects of I-200 on the transition from high school. And although the scope of the project has expanded significantly since then, we are still particularly interested in studying how high students formulate and actualize plans for college.
In the spring of each year, we go to h.s. and ask seniors students to tell us what they plan to do after graduation from h.s, and if they have any plan for college or if they have any plans for work, and we are most interested in how they come up with these plans. We then contact the students approximately one year later to see if they have actuate their plans and aspirations.
3. Take-away message tease: The “big Picture” is indeed quite positive for Mariner. For the most part, Mariner students have incredibly positive perceptions of their school. They also have very supportive home and peer environments, and receive encouragement from teachers, parents and peers. This reflects in the increases in college application and enrollment rates we’ve found after conducting our follow-up interviews.
December 8, 2005

17. A BIG THANK YOU TO: Administrators, Teachers, and Students
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
NICHD (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development)
The College Success Foundation
CSDE (Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology)
UW Department of Sociology