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Studies have shown that, aside from student differences, the college that a student attends plays a role in their likelihood of remaining in college and ultimately earning a degree. Increasing attention has been given to "undermatching," which occurs when a student enrolls in a college for which they are overqualified, based on their academic credentials. Low-income students and students who are first in their families to enroll in college have a lower supply of individuals with college knowledge and resources and are more likely to be undermatched. A study of foster care alumni in three Midwestern states estimated that nearly one in three youth who enrolled in college were undermatched. Previous CalYOUTH memos suggest that the overwhelming majority (upwards of 85%) of youth in California foster care who go to college first attend an in-state, public, 2-year college. The current memo takes a closer look at the types of colleges that foster youth enroll in, including average retention rates and the number of semesters completed at those institutions. The findings yield important insights on the types of colleges California foster youth most commonly attend and the differences between college types in student demographics and short-term outcomes.

Previous CalYOUTH memos suggest that the overwhelming majority (upwards of 85%) of youth in California foster care who go to college first attend an in-state, public, 2-year college. The current memo takes a closer look at the types of colleges that foster youth enroll in, including average retention rates and the number of semesters completed at those institutions. The findings yield important insights on the types of colleges California foster youth most commonly attend and the differences between college types in student demographics and short-term outcomes.

Graduating from college is a life-transforming achievement for young people with foster care backgrounds. Not only do the majority of adolescents in foster care aspire to finish college, but holding a degree has been associated with an increased likelihood of being employed and having higher earnings. Still, existing research estimates that fewer than one in ten foster youth complete 2-year or 4-year degrees by early adulthood. Few studies have investigated factors that promote or hinder foster youths' likelihood of completing a college degree. Given the importance of college degree completion for foster youth and the limited research on this topic, this memo provides an early look at contributors to college degree completion for participants in the CalYOUTH Study. The report draws on data collected from the several hundred youths who participated in the longitudinal study to identify factors that promote or stymie youths' likelihood of completing a college degree by around age 23.

This report presents findings from the "CalYOUTH Wave 4 Youth Survey." CalYOUTH (the California Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study), is an evaluation of the impact of the California Fostering Connections to Success Act on outcomes during foster youth's transition to adulthood. CalYOUTH includes collection and analysis of information from three sources: (1) transition-age youth; (2) child welfare workers; and (3) government program data. The study, directed by Dr. Mark Courtney at the University of Chicago and conducted in collaboration with the California Department of Social Services and County Welfare Directors Association of California (CWDA), is being carried out over an 8-year period from 2012-20. The study addresses three research questions: (1) Does extending foster care past age 18 influence youths' outcomes during the transition to adulthood (e.g., outcomes in education, employment, health, housing, parenting, and general well-being)?; (2) What factors influence the types of support youth receive during the transition to adulthood in the context of extended foster care?; and (3) How do living arrangements and other services that result from extending foster care influence the relationship between extending care and youth outcomes? The "CalYOUTH Wave 4 Youth Survey," conducted when the young people participating in CalYOUTH were 23 years old, follows up on surveys of the same young people when they were approaching the age of majority in California's foster care system and again when they were 19 years old, and 21 years old. Results from the "CalYOUTH Wave 4 Youth Survey" are summarized in this report. The report provides feedback for all parties interested in improving youths' transitions from foster care to adulthood. [This report was funded by the Reissa Foundation. For "Findings from the California Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study (CalYOUTH): Conditions of Youth at Age 21," see ED614177.]

Since the late 1990s, the federal government has increased supports that promote college success for foster youth (Okpych, 2012), such as the $5,000 education and training voucher that foster youth can use each year toward college expenses. A key piece of federal legislation supporting foster youth is the 2008 Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act, which gives states the option to extend the age limit of foster care up to youths' 21st birthday (Courtney, Dworsky, & Napolitano, 2013). Youth participating in extended foster care receive services past their 18th birthday that could impact their likelihood of going to college, such as subsidized housing, access to child welfare professionals, and other resources. In fact, enrolling in college and making satisfactory academic progress is one of the five eligibility criteria for participating in extended care. To date, little research has evaluated the impact of extended foster care on early college outcomes. The current study draws on a large sample of youth from administrative California child welfare records, including youth who were in care before and after California's extended foster care law (Assembly Bill 12, or AB12) was enacted. This memo estimates the impact that California's extended foster care law had on postsecondary education enrollment and persistence. [For related reports, see "Report from CalYOUTH: Findings on the Relationship between Extended Foster Care and Youth's Outcomes at Age 21" (ED597295) and "Memo from CalYOUTH: Factors Associated with Youth Remaining in Foster Care as Young Adults. Issue Brief" (ED597309).]

This memo adds to the growing literature on the transition to college for young people in foster care, focusing specifically on issues of preparedness to enter higher education. First, the authors assess the extent to which youths' perceptions of their own educational preparedness and their child welfare workers' perceptions of their educational preparedness each predict the likelihood that youth will enroll in college. Next, the memo compares youths' perceptions and their child welfare workers' perceptions, examining youth and worker agreement about how ready the youth is to pursue their educational goals. Finally, the authors investigate the extent to which foster youth enter colleges that align with their academic proficiency, identifying cases where foster youth may have attended colleges that did and did not align with their proficiency. [For related publications, see "Memo from CalYOUTH: Early Findings on the Impact of Extended Foster Care on Foster Youths' Postsecondary Education Enrollment and Persistence" (ED597313) and "Youth and Caseworker Perspectives on Older Adolescents in California Foster Care: Youths' Education Status and Services" (ED602993).]

Support for the extended care provisions of the federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 was, to a large extent, based on the belief that allowing youth in foster care to remain in care past their 18th birthday would improve their outcomes as adults. In a previous memo (see ED597309), the authors reported early findings on the relationships between the amount of time youth remained in extended foster care (EFC) and host of youth outcomes. These early findings from CalYOUTH were in line with results from prior studies that found EFC promoted educational attainment, increased earnings, and decreased instances of homelessness and criminal justice system involvement (Courtney & Hook, 2017; Dworsky, Napolitano, & Courtney, 2013; Hook & Courtney, 2011; Lee, Courtney, & Tajima, 2014). This report builds on the authors' 2017 memo by examining outcomes from the third CalYOUTH interview wave, which took place when participants were 21 years old, on average, and had all left foster care. The report also incorporates another data source--state administrative data on a large sample of transition-age foster youth in California. These administrative data include youth who reached the age of majority while in care both before and after the 2012 implementation of California's law extending foster care to young adults, the California Fostering Connections Act, also known as AB12. Taken together, study findings reported in this study provide additional evidence about the benefits of extended care on outcomes for youth transitioning to adulthood from foster care.

This report presents findings from the "CalYOUTH Wave 3 Youth Survey." CalYOUTH (the California Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study) is an evaluation of the impact of the California Fostering Connections Act on outcomes during foster youth's transition to adulthood. CalYOUTH includes collection and analysis of information from three sources: (1) transition-age youth; (2) child welfare workers; and (3) government program data. The study, directed by Dr. Mark Courtney at the University of Chicago and conducted in collaboration with the California Department of Social Services and County Welfare Directors Association of California (CWDA), is being carried out over a 6-year period from 2012-18. The study addresses three research questions: (1) Does extending foster care past age 18 influence youth's outcomes during the transition to adulthood (e.g., outcomes in education, employment, health, housing, parenting, and general well-being)?; (2) What factors influence the types of support youth receive during the transition to adulthood in the context of extended foster care?; (3) How do living arrangements and other services that result from extending foster care influence the relationship between extending care and youth outcomes? The "CalYOUTH Wave 3 Youth Survey," conducted when the young people participating in CalYOUTH were 21 years old, follows up on surveys of the same young people when they were approaching the age of majority in California's foster care system and again when they were 19 years old. Results from the "CalYOUTH Wave 3 Youth Survey" are summarized in this report. The report provides feedback for all parties interested in improving youth's transitions from foster care to adulthood. [For "Findings from the California Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study (CalYOUTH): Conditions of Youth at Age 19," see ED614175.]

Finishing high school and attaining a college degree have become increasingly important to finding stable employment and earning a living wage. By age 19, most youth in the US have earned a high school credential and many have entered college. However, the educational attainment of young people who were in foster care as adolescents lags behind their peers (Gillum, Lindsay, Murray, & Wells, 2016). In one large study involving foster youths in three Midwestern states, about four in ten participants had not earned a high school credential by age 19, compared to about one in ten young people across the nation (Courtney et al., 2005). The gap in college entry was even larger; just 24 percent of foster youth had entered college, compared to 57 percent of their peers (Courtney et al., 2005). These gaps have consequences for the employment prospects and economic well-being that foster youths experience later in adulthood (Okpych & Courtney, 2014; Salazar, 2013). This Memo builds on past studies by examining factors that influence the likelihood of young people in foster care finishing high school and entering college. California is a state that has been at the forefront of promoting educational attainment for young people in foster care. The authors examine a wide range of predictors such as youths' demographic characteristics, aspects of their academic performance and background, characteristics of their maltreatment and foster care histories, and other risk and promotive factors.

California is one of the early adopters of extended foster care. The California Fostering Connections Act (AB12) was signed into law on September 30, 2010. The law ensured that, starting January 1, 2012, eligible foster youth had the right to stay in care until their 21st birthday. In addition to having the largest state foster care population in the US, California's county-administered foster care system draws the attention of many other states to California's implementation of extended care (Courtney, Charles, Okpych, Napolitano, & Halsted, 2014). Leveraging youth survey data and administrative data, this memo investigates youth- and system-level factors associated with the length of time that foster youth in California remain in out-of-home care after their 18th birthday. Understanding factors associated with youths' extended foster care (EFC) participation is important, not only for predicting future demands for the program, but also for identifying subgroups that may be excluded from extended care. The authors find that youth characteristics are associated with youths' stays in care past their 18th birthday, but the change in state policy that occurred in 2012 and between-county variation in participation in EFC play much larger roles.

Support for the extended care provisions of the federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 was, to a large extent, based on the belief that allowing youth in foster care to remain in care past their 18th birthday would improve their outcomes as adults. Research following foster youth into adulthood has shown that they generally fare much worse than their age peers in terms of educational attainment, employment and earnings, homelessness and economic hardship, health and mental health, early pregnancy and parenting, victimization, and criminal justice system involvement. This brief provides an early look at the relationship between extended foster care and selected outcomes for youth transitioning to adulthood from care in California. Examining outcomes observed when young people participating in the California Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study (CalYOUTH) were nineteen years old, the authors find evidence that remaining in extended care is associated with a number of benefits for young adults.

The current "CalYOUTH Wave 2 Los Angeles County Report" presents findings from the "CalYOUTH Wave 2 Youth Survey," focusing on just study participants in Los Angeles County. Of all of the counties in California, Los Angeles County has the greatest number of children in foster care. Since child welfare services are administered at the county level in California, studying Los Angeles provides an important perspective on one of the largest foster care jurisdictions in the nation. CalYOUTH (the California Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study) is an evaluation of the impact of the California Fostering Connections to Success Act on outcomes during foster youths' transition to adulthood. CalYOUTH includes collection and analysis of information from three sources: (1) transition-age youth; (2) child welfare workers; and (3) government program data. The study, directed by Dr. Mark Courtney at the University of Chicago and conducted in collaboration with the California Department of Social Services and County Welfare Directors Association of California (CWDA), is being carried out over a 5-year period from 2012-17. The study addresses three research questions: (1) Does extending foster care past age 18 influence youth's outcomes during the transition to adulthood (e.g., outcomes in education, employment, health, housing, parenting, and general well-being)?; (2) What factors influence the types of support youth receive during the transition to adulthood in the context of extended foster care?; (3) How do living arrangements and other services that result from extending foster care influence the relationship between extending care and youth outcomes? The current "CalYOUTH Wave 2 Los Angeles County Report" is limited to just CalYOUTH Study participants who were under the supervision of Los Angeles County child welfare services at the time the study sample was drawn. This report provides feedback for all parties interested in improving youth's transitions from foster care to adulthood. [For "Findings from the California Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study (CalYOUTH): Conditions of Youth at Age 19," see ED614175.]

This report presents findings from the "CalYOUTH Wave 2 Youth Survey." CalYOUTH (the California Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study) is an evaluation of the impact of the California Fostering Connections to Success Act on outcomes during foster youth's transition to adulthood. CalYOUTH includes collection and analysis of information from three sources: (1) transition-age youth; (2) child welfare workers; and (3) government program data. The study, directed by Dr. Mark Courtney at the University of Chicago and conducted in collaboration with the California Department of Social Services and County Welfare Directors Association of California (CWDA), is being carried out over a 5-year period from 2012-17. The study addresses three research questions: (1) Does extending foster care past age 18 influence youth's outcomes during the transition to adulthood (e.g., outcomes in education, employment, health, housing, parenting, and general well-being)?; (2) What factors influence the types of support youth receive during the transition to adulthood in the context of extended foster care?; and (3) How do living arrangements and other services that result from extending foster care influence the relationship between extending care and youth outcomes? The "CalYOUTH Wave 2 Youth Survey," conducted when the young people participating in CalYOUTH were 19 years old, follows up on a survey of the same young people when they were approaching the age of majority in California's foster care system. Results from the "CalYOUTH Wave 2 Youth Survey" are summarized in this report. The report provides feedback for all parties interested in improving youth's transitions from foster care to adulthood. [For "Findings from the California Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study (CalYOUTH): Conditions of Foster Youth at Age 17," see ED614174. For "Findings from the California Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study (CalYOUTH): Conditions of Youth at Age 19--Los Angeles County Report," see ED614176.]

This paper examines the educational status of and services available to older adolescents in foster care in California, both from the viewpoint of the young people themselves and from the viewpoint of caseworkers who work with foster youth. Not only does California have the largest state foster care population in the nation, it also is one of the early adopters of the Fostering Connections law. Unlike most of the youth included in previous studies, these youth are subject to the new era of extended foster care. Three specific areas are examined in the paper: the educational history and status of older adolescents in care, the perception of how ready these youth are to pursue their educational goals, and the availability and helpfulness of education-related services. This is one of the first analyses that simultaneously considers these issues from the perspective of the youth and the child welfare professionals who oversee their care. Since California is a geographically diverse state, the authors examine whether urbanicity affects the educational experiences of youth and the educational systems and resources at their disposal. Counties are grouped into three categories: rural/mostly rural, urban, and large urban.

This report presents findings from the "Baseline Youth Survey of the California" Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study (CalYOUTH). CalYOUTH is an evaluation of the impact of the California Fostering Connections to Success Act on outcomes during the transition to adulthood for foster youth. CalYOUTH includes collection and analysis of information from three sources: (1) transition-age youth; (2) child welfare workers; and (3) government program data. The study, directed by Dr. Mark Courtney at the University of Chicago and conducted in collaboration with the California Department of Social Services and County Welfare Directors Association of California (CWDA), is being carried out over a 5-year period from 2012-17. The study addresses three research questions: (1) Does extending foster care past age 18 influence youths' outcomes during the transition to adulthood (e.g., education, employment, health, housing, parenting, and general well-being)?; (2) What factors influence the types of support youth receive during the transition to adulthood in the context of extended foster care?; and (3) How do living arrangements and other services that result from extending foster care influence the relationship between extending care and youth outcomes? Results from the baseline survey of youth, before the youth reach the age of majority and become eligible for extended care, are summarized in this report. The report provides food for thought for policymakers and program administrators considering extending care to young adults by summarizing youths' descriptions of their assets, aspirations, and needs as they approach the transition to adulthood.