Changes in the Educational Attainment Process: A Trend Analysis of Senior
High School Students’ Plan, Attendance and Graduation Outcomes in the
Last Three Decades
Introduction
Over the past fifty years, much research has examined the educational attainment process.
Researchers have documented the large and continuing influences socioeconomic status (SES)
and individual ability have on students' educational success (Baker and VĂ©lez 1996; Coleman
1966; Karen 1991; Mare 1981b; Peng 1977; Sewell and Shah 1967). In addition, social
psychological factors such as aspirations (e.g., college plan) are found to be significant mediators
of SES and individual ability in the attainment process (Hauser 1969; Sewell, Haller, and
Ohlendorf 1970; Sewell, Haller and Portes 1969; Sewell and Shah 1967). Researchers have also
looked at ascriptive factors (such as gender and race) and their relations to educational success
(Alexander and Eckland 1974; Alexander, Entwisle, and Bedinger 1994; Collins and Chafetz
1993; Epps 1995; Featherman and Hauser 1976; Hout and Morgan 1975; Jacobs 1999; Karen
1991). In general, studies of students in the 1950s and 1960s find that low SES students, women
and minorities had limited opportunity in higher education: few planned to attend college, few
attended, and even fewer graduated.
American society has changed a lot since then. The rise of civil rights and other social
movements have pushed issues such as race, class, and gender inequality into the forefront of
public debate and onto the national political agenda. In response, the federal government
implemented several programs to address inequalities in higher education. Programs such as the
G.I. Bill, the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant (BEOG), the Equal Education Opportunity
Program (EEOP), National Defense Student Loan Program (NDSL), opened up higher education
access to traditionally disadvantaged groups. Correspondingly, higher education expanded.
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Convention