Graduation Gap: academic outcomes for students in foster care
In 2017, students in foster care graduated from NYC public high schools at a rate more than 4 times lower than that of their peers.
The following information has been extracted from a research study I conducted attempting to examine how the traumas associated with foster care might be reflected in students’ high school graduation rates and the types of diplomas they receive. Data was collected from New York City high schools, which boasted a higher than ever graduation rate and a lowest ever dropout rate for students in the class of 2017 (New York City Department of Education). In the wake of this progress, I sought to determine whether New York City’s foster care children can be included in this celebration of success or if they should be awarded more attention due to differentiated outcomes.
Children removed from one or more parents’ care have been found to experience recurring feelings of confusion, fear, apprehension, loss, sadness, anxiety, and stress (Bruskas, 2008). Furthermore, most individuals enter the foster care system due to past maltreatments such as abuse and neglect. These are the realities that over 400,000 children within the United States foster care system face each and every day (United States Congress, Children’s Bureau 2017). Having to navigate such disruptive factors makes these children an especially vulnerable population for many developmental setbacks, including lower educational outcomes (Zetlin, et al., 2004).
High school graduation was selected as the main outcome in question for this study due to the increasing importance of an individual’s level of education as a predictor of health and employment. High school dropouts earn an average of $9,200 less per year than high school graduates. The divide is even pronounced when comparing dropouts to college graduates, who will earn $1 million more over the course of their lifetimes. Also, for Americans at every age range studied, especially those over 45 years old, there is a significant correlation between high school graduation and good health (Bridgeland, et al., 2006).
Figure 1: 2017 Graduation Rate by Demographic & Enrollment in Foster Care
The figure above illustrates graduation rate across all New York City high schools for the class of 2017.
The total graduation rate for the general population was 74.3% while the rate for foster children was just 16.3%.
This data represents the 73,154 students (and 3,059 foster children) who enrolled in New York City high schools in the 2013–14 school year. As is clear from the stark discrepancies, an achievement gap holds true across all gender and ethnicity demographics.
The minority of students in foster care who were on track to graduate were still over 5 times less likely to receive Advanced Regents Diplomas.
To contextualize differences among diplomas, previous studies have used the distinctions “College- and Career-ready” (CCR) versus non-CCR. In the present analysis, an Advanced Regents Diploma would be considered CCR, meaning that a student has completed four years of grade-level English/Language Arts, three years of Math through Algebra II or Integrated Math III, and has earned New York’s regular high school diploma. A Regents Diploma without advanced would be categorized as non-CCR and a Local High School Diploma is considered a Special Education pathway. Results from this study on foster children are consistent with other findings that traditionally underserved populations such as students of color, students with disabilities, students from low-income families, and English Language learners receive CCR diplomas at significantly lower rates (Almond, et al. 2017).
Conditions of foster care often do not change when an adolescent reaches high school — and neither do traumatic pasts. In fact, the transition into young adulthood may present additional challenges for this at-risk population. Results from this study have shown that not only do foster children in New York City graduate high school at lower rates than their peers, but also that those who do graduate may be less prepared for college and careers based on the types of diplomas they receive.
Despite containing hundreds of thousands of individuals, this population continues to be underserved and consequently to underperform in high schools. The subsequent question to be asked is what can be done? To answer this question more research is surely needed, but the role of advocacy and attention cannot be understated. Children in foster care are left stranded without parents to advocate on their behalf in school systems. One experiment demonstrated the value such advocacy can have on foster children’s experiences through interventions with an education liaison from the child’s school system.
“We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say ‘It's not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.’ Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.”
-Fred Rogers
The liaison worked directly with the foster child and then with social workers to alleviate potential challenges regarding the child’s education. This advocacy work led to increased scores on standardized tests for reading and mathematics as well as an increased attendance rate for the sample studied — 120 foster youth with an average age of 12 years (Zetlin, et al., 2004). Evidently the first step to be taken may be simply to devote more effort into understanding the problems students in foster care face, and then perhaps academic outcomes may be improved with thoughtful interventions.
References:
Almond, Monica, et al. (2017). “Paper Thin? Why All High School Diplomas Are Not Created Equal.” Alliance for Excellent Education.
Blome, W. W. (1997). “What happens to foster kids: educational experiences of a random sample of foster care youth and a matched group of non-foster care youth.” Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 14, 41–53. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/
Bridgeland, John M, et al. (2006). “The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts.” ERIC Institute of Education Sciences, Civic Enterprises.
Bruskas, Deliah. “Children in Foster Care: a Vulnerable Population at Risk.” Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, vol. 21, no. 2, May 2008, pp. 70–77. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744–6171.2008.00134.x
New York City Department of Education. (2017). Cohorts of 2001 through 2013 (Classes of 2005 through 2017) Graduation Outcomes [Data File]. Retrieved fromhttp://schools.nyc.gov/Accountability/data/GraduationDropoutReports/default.htm
United States, Congress, Children’s Bureau. “Trends in Foster Care and Adoption.” Trends in Foster Care and Adoption, Administration for Children and Families, 2017, pp. 1–3. Retrieved from https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb
Zetlin, Andrea, et al. (2004). “Improving Education Outcomes for Children in Foster Care: Intervention by and Education Liaison.” Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, vol. 9, no. 4, 2004, pp. 421–429. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327671espr0904_5
