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During the past few decades, South Korea has experienced a remarkable educational expansion at its secondary and tertiary levels as well as at the primary level, resulting in extraordinary variation between the educational attainment of recent and older cohorts. Using 1990 data from the Social Inequality Study in Korea, the study examines trends in the influence of social background on educational attainment across three male cohorts born between 1921 and 1970. Although in general the impacts of social origin have changed little at the secondary levels of education, there is a significant reduction in the effect of father’s occupation on the odds of completing middle school for the youngest cohort. From a multinomial model of transitions to each type of tertiary education, it is found that family background has a stronger effect in the transition from high school to four-year university than to junior college. Interestingly, there has been an increase across cohorts in the influence of father’s education on the likelihood of entering a university, while such a pattern is not observed for the transition to junior college.

We examine how school districts in California help their high schools respond to state accountability requirements. We discovered two contrasting forms of district interventions: those aiming to increase schools’ internal coherence and those encouraging direct but narrower responses to state requirements. Drawing on interviews in six districts and eight high schools, we find that many district efforts focus on immediate responses to state requirements to raise test scores. Yet, our analysis suggests that without strong district efforts to increase internal coherence, interventions aimed at eliciting school responses will be less beneficial over time.

The basic structure of Korea's formal education system is 6-3-3-4. This school system, which was established soon after its independence from Japan after World War II, has not been changed very much until recently. Primary education covers grades 1–6. Kindergarten has not been a part of the official school system until now, although making it a part of the pubic school system has been under discussion for some years. In the secondary education sector, there are two levels of schools: middle schools covering grades 7–9, and high schools covering grades 10–12. After 12 years of formal education, students advance to higher education. Typically, undergraduate degree (B.A. or B.S.) takes four years.

Purpose – Using Philadelphia as a case study, the chapter explores whether the city is poised to meet the Obama administration's goal of restoring the country's place to first in the world in college attainment. The chapter provides an overview of the national funding and policy contexts in which the president announced the college attainment goal, examines Philadelphia's efforts to improve high school and college graduation rates, and describes the challenges facing low-income students in disadvantaged neighborhoods who articulate college ambitions. The chapter ends with a set of policy recommendations to improve education outcomes in cities that struggle to educate their own.

Methodology/approach – At its core, the chapter uses interview and focus group data to understand college awareness in North Central Philadelphia. The study draws upon interviews and focus groups conducted with students, parents, teachers, program administrators and staffs, and other community stakeholders.

Findings – The data show that Philadelphia is unprepared to meet the president's challenge due to extremely low literacy rates and other significant barriers associated with poverty.

Research limitations/implications – It is a small qualitative study. Additional study designs can build upon the data collected.

Practical implications/originality/value of paper – The study provides valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities to improve education outcomes in Philadelphia.

Mental illness, in its various forms, is common in the United States. Tens of millions of Americans are afflicted by an episode of mental illness every year. Estimates of the 12-month prevalence of mental disorders in the U.S. (including alcohol and substance abuse or dependence) indicate that 22–30 persons per 100 in the adult population are afflicted each year.¹ An episode of a psychiatric disorder, like a physical disorder, is debilitating – often disrupting the ability of the afflicted to carry on normal personal, social, and work activities. Mental illness also commonly results in large medical expenses. In addition, a number of recent papers have found that mental illness imposes large labor market losses on the ill, decreasing the likelihood of employment and limiting earnings for the employed.² In particular, research by two of the authors indicates that depressive disorders cause significant reductions in the labor force participation of women and the earnings of both men and women.³

High school completion is one of the strongest predictors of health and well-being. There is increased public attention on the challenges faced by young people of color and educational achievement. In particular, young men of color must navigate myriad stressors which often undermine their mental health, as well as their academic performance, including likelihood of graduation from high school that fare worse in academic outcomes than their female counterparts. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of Step-Up, a positive youth development and mental health promotion program, created in collaboration with young people of color on their high school achievement as measured by grade point average (GPA).

This exploratory pre-post study employed multivariate analysis of data drawn from a sample of 212 youth of color to examine student’s GPA before their involvement in Step-Up and the number of Step-Up groups they attend in the first year could improve their high school achievement.

Results revealed an association between students participation in Step-Up, specifically having at least ten life skills group contacts, and significant increases in GPA.

High school achievement is measured by GPA, which might not be a clear indication of achievement since grades are not truly comparable across schools. The exploratory pre-post research design of this study, and the lack of control group, limits any references to causality but the descriptive changes in GPA demonstrate a statistical significance of Step-Up group participation and improved high school achievement. A potential next step is to design an experimental study that includes psychosocial and developmental mechanisms while examining the treatment effect of Step-Up vs students receiving standard of care.

Programs that aid young people of color in increasing their GPA should acknowledge the multitude of stressors that youth in urban environments encounter by creating interventions targeting multiple ecological contexts. These preliminary analyses suggest how programmatic supports that are collaboratively designed with youth, such as Step-Up, may yield promising results in improving young people of color high school achievement.

To better serve adolescents experiencing serious academic and behavioral health challenges, there needs to be programs that offer intensive, short-term mental health support in school settings. Given the widespread risk factors that adolescents and particularly young men of color are facing, Step-Up is informed by both the developmental assets framework and the social development model and aims to provide youth with opportunities for prosocial interactions and additional resources to combat multiple stressors. Since successful completion of high school is associated with better outcomes as young people transition to adulthood, programs that are developmentally timed to allow for an optimal protective factor during the high school years is necessary.

This research contributes to the knowledge base of the importance of providing mental health supports in school settings and may contribute to studies examining the academic achievement of young people of color in school settings.

The increasing rate at which individuals, especially, females in Ghana are seeking higher education calls for an estimation of the returns to schooling and education in Ghana.

The study employs the Mincer equation to a representative cross-sectional micro-data from Ghana using OLS and instrumental variable (IV) methodologies. The paper uses spouse's education as instruments in the IV estimation.

Return to schooling was found to be higher for females than males, likewise, membership of an old student associations and location of the household. Returns to education increases as the level of education rises whilst the rate of returns initially increases but fall as labour market experience rises. The study also found that the rates of return to education were higher for Christian, followed by Muslim and believers of other lesser-known religion in Ghana.

Return to schooling was found to be higher for females than males. Likewise, individuals who are members of an old student association and are in urban areas were found to have a higher return to schooling than individuals who are not members of an old student association and are in rural areas. Returns to education increases as the level of education rises whilst the rate of returns initially increases but fall as labour market experience rises. The study also found that the rates of return to education were higher for Christian, followed by Muslim and believers of other lesser-known religion in Ghana.

Wage determination process is different for males and females, across religion and residency. The higher returns to schooling for females imply education is a good investment for women and girls and should be a development priority.

The higher returns to schooling for females imply an investment in girl's education should be a development priority.

The paper extends the existing literature by focussing on the role of religion, old student's association (alma mater) and gender on the differential earning returns to schooling.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on student trust and to examine the relationship between student trust, behavior, and academic outcomes in high school. It asks, first, does trust have a positive effect on high school outcomes? Second, does trust influence student behavior, exerting an indirect effect on schooling outcomes? Third, are school size and student socioeconomic status (SES) antecedents of trust?

A nationally representative sample of students attending public high schools in the USA (n=10,585) is drawn from the Educational Longitudinal Study. Structural equation modeling is used to examine the relationship between student trust, behavior and high school outcomes, controlling for SES, school size and prior achievement. Multiple measures of academic achievement are considered.

There is a significant relationship between student trust, behavior and high school outcomes. Students who trust have fewer behavioral incidents and better academic outcomes with results suggesting that trust functions through behavior. This is true regardless of SES, school size or prior achievement.

School leaders cannot change parental income or education, but can build trust. Developing and attending to student trust may not only mean that students are better behaved but, more importantly, are more successful academically.

In spite of decades of policy and legislation intended to improve schools, closing the achievement gap has proven elusive. One reason may be the relentless focus on physical artifacts of schooling, such as school organization, curriculum, testing and accountability, and a concomitant lack of attention to sociocognitive factors key to learning. Schools are social systems, and high levels of learning are unlikely to occur without a nurturing environment that includes trust.

This research makes a valuable contribution by focussing on student trust in high schools and by illuminating the relationship between trust, behavior, and academic outcomes. Results suggest that trust impacts a broad range of high school outcomes but functions indirectly through behavior.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the enrolment at university and the subsequent possible dropout as a piece of the school-to-work transition and ask whether it improves or worsens the labour market outcomes a few years after graduation from the high school.

The analysis exploits data from the upper secondary graduate survey by ISTAT on a cohort of high school graduates and investigates the effect of dropping out four years after graduation. The labour market outcomes of university dropouts are compared to the outcomes of high school graduates who never enrolled at university. A propensity score matching approach is applied. The model is also estimated on the subsamples of males and females.

The findings show that spending a period at university and leaving it before completion makes the transition to work substantially more difficult. Both the probability of being NEET and getting a bad job increase in the case of dropout, while no relevant effect is found on earnings. Moreover, the impact of university dropout tends to be more harmful the longer the spell from enrolment to dropping out. Separate estimates by gender point out that females appear to be relatively more affected in the case of dropping out without a fallback plan.

While the existing studies in the literature on the school-to-work transition mostly focus on the determinants of the dropout, this paper investigates whether and how the employment outcomes are affected by dropping out in Italy. Moreover, university dropouts are compared to high school graduates with no university experience, rather than to university graduates. Finally, evidence on the mechanisms driving the effect of dropping out is provided, by considering timing and motivations for dropping out.

The purpose of this paper is to examine teacher perceptions of the practice of co‐creating leadership and its potential impacts on student achievement.

Using a quantitative approach, the study compared the levels of the practice of co‐creating leadership dispositional values and institutional conditions that facilitate the practice of co‐creating leadership between high‐ and low‐performing high schools. Data was collected using a survey. The respondents were teachers from high‐ and low‐performing high schools. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t‐tests, correlations, and regression.

Teachers in high‐performing schools scored significantly higher on perceptions of the practice of co‐creating leadership dispositional values and the presence of institutional conditions that facilitate the practice. Correlation analyses found positive significant relations between dispositional values and institutional conditions facilitating co‐creating leadership. High‐performing schools had high correlations. Regression analyses indicated that active listening, deep democracy, and evolving power significantly predicted teachers' perceptions of the impact of dispositional values and organizational conditions on student achievement.

The paper offers insights into how co‐creating leadership may have potential impact on student achievement.