A Longitudinal Follow-up Study of High School Graduates and Their Evaluation of a Curriculum and Guidance Program

Download or read book A Longitudinal Follow-up Study of High School Graduates and Their Evaluation of a Curriculum and Guidance Program written by Thomas Euclid Brisson and published by . This book was released on 1974 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It was the purpose of this study to investigate the educational, occupational, and personal experiences of the 1967 graduates from the Roseville Joint Union High School District over a five year period (1967-1972). Also, the study was designed to secure data concerning the attitudes of these graduates concerning their perception of the district's curriculum and guidance program. The sample consisted of 443 1967 graduates of the Roseville Joint Union High School District, Roseville, California. In addition, for comparative purposes, the Roseville class of 1972 was surveyed with a pre-graduation questionnaire. The study itself was a five year longitudinal survey. In 1967 a pre-graduation questionnaire was administered followed by a first-, third-, and fifth-year post-graduation questionnaire. Each of the questionnaires was designed to elicit Approximately two-thirds of the 1967 graduates, with relatively equal percentages of females and males, attended a post-high school educational institution. Ninety percent of the graduates who continued their education were satisfied with the first school they attended and 65 percent of this group felt that their high school education had adequately prepared them for further schooling. However, nearly half of these subjects received a first-term college GPA of less than 2.0. The high school courses most highly valued were English and business. The courses for which a higher priority was assigned five years after graduation, compared with value given at time of graduation, are: mathematics, industrial arts, and homemaking. The graduates believed their greatest dificiencies to be English (for males) and mathematics (for both sexes). Responses indicated that personnal contact with teachers ranked highest as the school experience which had the greatest affect on the subject; athletics was second; and a specific course third. The 1967 graduates expressed a strongly felt need for counseling assistance in making educational plans, selection of high school courses and vocational counseling, but believed little counseling was needed in the areas of personal problems and self-understanding. The data indicated that a review of the role of the counselor should be made to determine how it can be augmented to make it a service which is perceived by students as an essential part of the information regarding the subjects' post-high school educational training, occupational experiences, personal experiences, and an evaluation of the school's curriculum and guidance program. Also, the transcript of each subject who attended college the fall term of 1967 was obtained. Response to the first-year questionnaire was nearly 90 percent while the questionnaires mailed three and five years from the time of graduation yielded a two-thirds response. Questions that subjects were asked to answer involved these key aspects: 1. Occupational experiences and satisfaction 2. Post-high school educational experiences and degree of satisfaction and success 3. Marital and residential status 4. Evaluation of high school guidance and counseling program 5. Evaluation of high school curriculum The data obtained were analyzed to discover if pertinent differences regarding these aspects existed between and/or among: (1) females and males, (2) subjects who had taken a college preparatory program and those who had pursued a non-college preparatory course of study, and (3) top quartile, middle half and bottom quartile subjects (as determined by high school GPA). A high degree of agreement between the 1967 graduates' anticipated and actual course of action the year following graduation was evident. Nearly 90 percent of the first-year respondents indicated they were satisfied with their educational-vocational choices and three-fourths of the fifth-year respondents repeated this view. educational program. Since the subjects of this study indicated parents are the greatest influencing factor upon a student in making educational and vocational decisions, it is suggested that more counseling contact with parents be one of the functions that receives high priority.