Memo from CalYOUTH: Predictors of High School Completion and College Entry at Ages 19/20. Chapin Hall Issue Brief

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.