where do rural high school students go to find information about their futures? results from the...
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Where Do Rural High School Students Go to Find Information About Their Futures?
Results from the Rural High School Aspirations Study
Bryan C. Hutchins
Soo-yong Byun
Judith L. Meece
Thomas W. Farmer
Matthew J. Irvin
Dana Griffin
• What is the relationship between obtaining career information and future career attainment?
– According to Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) career information is essential for developing realistic outcome expectations (Lent, 1994)
– With accurate and realistic career information one can assess his or her values, interests, self-efficacy beliefs, and career aspirations as it relates to potential occupations and careers (Lent, 2005)
– Those who do not have accurate information may develop unrealistic career goals that can lead to failure in such areas as completing college or obtaining a rewarding job (Gray, 2009)
INTRODUCTION
• We know very little about where students go for information about their futures as well as what information is most helpful (Gibson, Borders, Wiles, Stephan, & Davis, 2006)
• Most studies that have explored this topic have focused on college bound students (e.g., Horn, Chen, & Chapman, 2003)
• Even less is known about the career exploration activities of rural youth even though they represent one-
third of the public school population (Provasnick, et al., 2007)
• Knowing where students go for information and what sources they perceive to be most helpful can inform our efforts to create effective career related interventions (Gibson, et al., 2006)
THE PROBLEM
• Much of the literature on educational and career aspirations is focused on urban and suburban samples
• Rural youth may face unique contextual factors that may limit access to career information such as:
– Family hardships (Haller & Virkler, 1993)
– Less diversified occupational structure within rural communities (Crockett, Shannahan, & Jackson-Newsom, 2000)
– Possibly fewer opportunities to take part in job shadowing, job mentoring, or internships (Brown, 2007)
– Access to higher education due to geographical isolation
Why focus on the career information gathering activities of rural youth?
• Early Studies– Mitchell (1977) found that 17 year olds discussed future plans twice as
often with parents than with counselors
– Noeth, Engen, & Prediger (1984) found college bound juniors reported the following as most helpful in career decision making: interesting classes (92%), families (90%), friends (73%), school activities (53%) counselors (52%).
– Lee (1984) rural youth (10th grade) reported parental influence as most important factor in influencing career development
• More Recent Studies– Gibson et al. (2006) found that 9th graders across NC used a variety of
sources of information, but reported parents/family as most helpful while school counselors where consulted infrequently and rated as least helpful. Other sources (internet, teachers, media) were rated as somewhat helpful
– Gibson et al. (2006) did not explore gender, grade, and ethnicity differences
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
• Where do rural youth go to find information about their future?
• What sources do they find to be most helpful?• How frequently do they talk to teachers,
counselors, or learn about college, careers, and work in the school or classroom?
• How frequently do they take part in career exploration activities such as: internships, job shadowing, mentoring, cooperative education, and school-based enterprise?
Questions to Address in this Presentation:
• Data collected from the Rural High School Aspirations (RHSA) Project
– 8,754 Students across 73 rural high schools took part in the survey during the 2007-2008 school year
– Schools with NCES locale codes 6, 7, and 8 were contacted for this study (however, this presentation will use the new urban-centric locale codes)
– Sample characteristics: • 51.5% female, 48.5% male• 64.1% White, 7% African American, 10.8% Hispanic or
Latino(a), and 18.2% other (Native American, Asian, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, or multi-racial)
• 27.9% 9th, 27.3% 10th, 25.1% 11th, and 19.7% 12th
• 20.6% town, 4.2% rural-distant, 34.7% rural-remote, 40.5% rural-fringe/other town
SAMPLE
STUDENT QUESTIONS
Question 1: Where have your gone for any information about what you plan to do after high school? (MARK ALL THAT APPLY)
Question 2: Where have you gotten information that was MOST HELPFUL for your plans after high school (MARK THE THREE MOST HELPFUL)
Guidance Counselor Friend College representative
Teacher Brother or Sister College search guides, publications, or websites
Coach Other Relative A visit to a college campus
Principal or other school staff
Pastor/priest/other religious leader
None of the above
Parent or Guardian Other adult(s) in the community
STUDENT QUESTIONS
Question 3: During the past year how often have you done each of the following activities:
Career Counseling
1. Received instruction or counseling on how to find a job
2. Talked to a guidance counselor or other advisor about possible jobs and careers
3. Talked to a guidance counselor or other advisor about college
4. Studied about different jobs and their requirements in class
5. Talked about what you’ll do after high school with one of your teachers or another adult at school, either one-on-one or in a group
Career Exploration
1. Taken part in cooperative education
2. Had an internship
3. Gone on job shadowing or work-site visit
4. Had job mentoring
5. Taken part in school-based enterprise
Where students have gone for information about their futures
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Parent orGuardian
Friend Teacher Guidancecounselor
Other relative Brother/sister College searchguides,
publications, orwebsites
Collegecampus visit
Collegerepresentatives
Other adult(s)community
Coach Principal orOther School
Staff
Religiousleader
Table 1: Top Five Sources of Information by Grade, Gender, and Ethnicity
Total 9th 10th 11th 12th χ2 Male Female χ2 White Black Hispanic Others χ2
Parent or Guardian 72.2 70.7 72.9 72.6 73.0 3.4 66.6 77.4 122.5*** 75.9 63.7 55.2 73.0 182.2***
Friend 55.4 48.9 52.7 59.7 62.7 98.5*** 48.3 61.9 158.8*** 58.1 46.1 45.9 55.4 66.5***
Teacher 46.2 37.5 44.9 49.1 56.6 152.9*** 41.0 51.1 86.2*** 46.2 44.6 45.0 46.2 3.1
Guidance counselor 41.9 25.4 32.5 48.9 68.7 883.3*** 35.1 48.3 150.1*** 44.6 39.8 34.6 38.3 43.8***
Other relative 38.6 40.6 38.7 38.5 35.9 8.9* 33.8 43.1 77.2*** 39.2 39.5 32.6 40.6 16.5***
Grade Gender Ethnicity
Data source : High School Aspirations StudyNote : Numbers indicate percentages.*** p<.001, **p<.01, *p<.05
Table 2: Top Five Sources of Information by Locale and School Income
Total Town Rural χ2Low
IncomeNon-Low Income χ2
Parent or Guardian 72.2 70.4 72.6 3.4 69.9 72.4 4.6*
Friend 55.4 56.9 55.0 2.1 52.0 55.7 6.2*
Teacher 46.2 41.9 47.3 16.6*** 49.8 44.6 12.9***
Guidance counselor 41.9 42.2 41.8 0.09 39.1 41.4 2.6
Other relative 38.6 40.4 38.1 3.0 38.6 38.6 0.001
Data source : High School Aspirations StudyNote : Numbers indicate percentages.*** p<.001, **p<.01, *p<.05
School Locale School Poverty
What information was most helpful for future plans
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Parent orGuardian
Guidancecounselor
Teacher Friend College searchguides,
publications, orwebsites
Brother/sister Other relative Collegecampus visit
Collegerepresentatives
Coach Other adult(s)community
Principal orOther School
Staff
Religiousleader
Total 9th 10th 11th 12th χ2 Male Female χ2 White Black Hispanic Others χ2
Parent or Guardian 54.0 60.5 57.5 50.2 45.0 118.6*** 52.2 55.7 10.0** 57.3 47.2 38.7 54.2 115.7***
Guidance counselor 28.9 16.6 25.2 33.6 40.8 252.4*** 25.5 32.1 44.5*** 30.3 28.8 24.0 26.7 19.0***
Teacher 25.5 23.7 26.7 27.0 24.6 8.8* 24.9 26.1 1.7 23.8 33.9 28.2 26.7 34.0***
Friend 24.4 25.3 23.8 23.8 24.4 2.0 23.5 25.2 3.3 24.6 20.9 22.5 26.7 9.7*
College search guides, publications, or websites 20.7 14.3 18.0 26.6 25.8 138.7*** 14.9 26.1 160.5*** 21.0 27.2 18.3 19.2 19.8***
*** p<.001, **p<.01, *p<.05
Grade Gender
Table 3: Top Five Sources that Where Most Helpful by Grade, Gender, and Ethnicity
Data source : High School Aspiration StudyNote : Numbers indicate percentages.
Ethnicity
Table 4: Top Five Sources that Where Most Helpful by Locale and School Income
Total Town Rural χ2Low
IncomeNon-Low Income χ2
Parent or Guardian 54.0 52.7 54.3 1.5 51.3 54.5 4.6*
Guidance counselor 28.9 28.0 29.1 0.7 27.0 28.3 0.9
Teacher 25.5 21.2 26.6 21.4*** 30.3 23.8 26.1***
Friend 24.4 24.2 24.5 0.1 22.6 24.7 2.6
College search guides, publications, or websites 20.7 20.9 20.6 0.1 19.8 20.8 0.8
*** p<.001, **p<.01, *p<.05
School Locale School Poverty
Data source : High School Aspiration StudyNote : Numbers indicate percentages.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Internship JobMentoring
JobShadowing
SchoolBased
Enterprise
CooperativeEducation
Frequency of Career Exploration Activities
Never
Once or twice
3 to 5 times
More than 5 times
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Talked withGuidance counselorabout jobs/careers
Talked withGuidance counselor
about college
Job instruction orcounseling
ClassroomInstruction about jobs
Talk withteachers/school
personnel about postHS
Frequency of Career Counseling
Never
Once or twice
3 to 5 times
More than 5times
B SE Beta B SE Beta
Constant 1.863 0.024 1.473 0.02
Individual Student Predictors
Gender
Male (reference group)
Female 0.066 0.016 0.046*** -0.13 0.013 -0.117***
Ethnicity
White (reference group)
Black 0.211 0.032 0.076*** 0.269 0.027 0.122***
Hispanic/Latino -0.033 0.028 -0.014 0.085 0.023 0.046***
Other -0.019 0.021 -0.01 0.033 0.017 0.023
Grade
9th (reference group)
10th 0.063 0.021 0.04** -0.002 0.017 -0.001
11th 0.244 0.022 0.146*** 0.017 0.018 0.013
12th 0.545 0.023 0.307*** 0.126 0.019 0.091***
School Level Predictors
School Locale
Town (reference group)
Rural 0.002 0.021 0.001 -0.019 0.017 -0.014
School Poverty
Non-Low Income (reference group) Low Income 0.016 0.022 0.009 0.018 0.018 0.012
Career ExplorationCareer Counseling
Table 5: Multiple Regression on Student and School Predictors Related to Career Counseling and Career Exploration
Data source : High School Aspirations Study*** p<.001, **p<.01, *p<.05
• Most helpful sources of information: • Parent/Guardian (54%)
– More helpful for older and White students• Guidance Counselor (28.9%)
– More helpful for older and female students• Counselors may be more helpful as older students are
generally in need of more specific and focused career information
• More recent research suggests that young women are now exploring a wider range of career opportunities making counselors’ advice more helpful (Sharf, 2010)
– Less helpful for Hispanic/Latino students• Some studies suggest that Hispanic/Latino students feel that
their career goals might not be valued by counselors (Vela-Gude, Cavazos, Johnson, Fielding, Cavazos, et al., 2009)
SUMMARY AND MAKING SENSE OF THE RESULTS
• Most helpful sources of information: • Teacher (25.5%)
• More helpful for African American and Hispanic students– May serve as an alternative to counselors (Vela-Gude, et al., 2009)
• More helpful for more rural and low income schools– Counselors in these schools may face pressure to take part in
activities that limit their abilities to provide career counseling (Cabrera & La Nasa, 2001; Trusty & Niles, 2003)
– Students may seek out teachers because of lack of other resources (i.e., internships, job mentoring, job role-models) (Crockett, et al. 2000)
– College search materials (20.7%)• Most helpful for older, females, and African American
students
SUMMARY AND MAKING SENSE OF THE RESULTS
• Frequency of career exploration activities:
• Overall, few take part in career exploration activities
• Females take part in career exploration activities less frequently than males
• African American and Hispanic students take part in career exploration activities with greater frequency than White students
• 12th graders take part in career exploration activities with greater frequency than other grades
SUMMARY AND MAKING SENSE OF THE RESULTS
• Frequency of career counseling activities:
• Overall, most students have talked to a counselor, teacher, or taken part in classroom activities to learn about future opportunities related to school and careers at least once during the past year
• Females and African American students take part in career counseling activities with greater frequency
• Students take part in career counseling activities with greater frequency across time (i.e., 9th – 12th).
SUMMARY AND MAKING SENSE OF THE RESULTS
• Results from this study suggest that students are using a variety of sources for career information
• However, some sources of information are perceived to be more helpful than others
– According to Social Cognitive Career Theory if students are not receiving information or this information is inaccurate then this can impact unrealistic expectations (Lent, 2005)
– Unrealistic expectations can lead student to select goals and undertake actions that can limit positive career outcomes
IMPLICATIONS FOR STUDENTS
• Guidance Counselors– Overall, guidance counselors become increasingly more helpful to
students as they approach graduation.– Counselors were less helpful to males and Hispanic/Latino students– Counselors may want to explore interventions that meet the unique
needs of males students and students of color. • Teachers
– Youth of color and youth in more rural and low income schools find teachers to be helpful
– Teachers may want to collaborate with counselors to develop ways to deliver career information or may simply want to make themselves available to students seeking information
• Parents– Parents can provide a wealth of career knowledge to their children– Those parents with low levels of educational attainment can benefit the
most from working with school counselors and other personnel (Schneider, 2005)
IMPLICATIONS FOR SCHOOLS
• Did not consider potential mediating factors such as educational and occupational aspirations in this analysis
• Did not gather information on why some sources are more helpful than others
• Could not compare these findings to non-rural youth
LIMITATIONS OF STUDY
• Explore the relationship between career exploration and educational and occupational expectations and aspirations
• Explore the relationship between career exploration and educational and occupational expectation alignment (i.e., having educational goals that are in line with career expectations) (Schneider & Stevenson, 1999)
• Explore why some sources of information are more helpful than others– Issues of source availability– Helpfulness of the information– Accuracy of Information
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
• Questions, Comments, Concerns?
• Please contact me if you have any questions/comments at:
Bryan C. Hutchins
National Research Center on Rural Education Support
100 E. Franklin St., Suite 200
CB#8115
Chapel Hill, NC 27599
(919) 962-0439