| Jianjun Wang
California State University, Bakersfield
An empirical study of the effects of science and mathematics education on non-college bound students' school-to-work transition
FINAL REPORT:
Study 1: A Structural Model of Student Career Aspiration and Science Education
School-to-work transition is an issue of national significance in the 1990s. The gap between school and work places has been especially large for non-college bound students due to their limited training in sciences. While factors of educational productivity were extensively studied by many researchers, few investigations covered the school influence on student career orientation. A new feature of this study is to model the relationship between student career aspiration and educational productivity in science teaching. The structural equation model was cross-validated by the seventh grade data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY). The statistical findings were interpreted in terms of student aptitude-attributes, instructional characteristics, and contextual factors in the class, home, peer, and media environments.
Study 2: An Empirical Examination of Structural Relations Between Mathematics Education and Student Career Preparation
Tenth grade data from the NELS:88 project were split into odd- and even-numbered halves to cross-examine relationship between student career preparation and educational productivity. Productivity factors were identified according to the existing research literature, and structural parameters were estimated using the LISREL8 software. The empirical results confirmed that educational attainment had a strong link with student career preparation. In addition, indirect relations were found between career preparation and contextual factors of educational productivity through articulation of education outcomes. Implication of the structural relations has been discussed in this article to facilitate improvement of non-college bound students' school-to-work transition.
Study 3: A Structural Model of Student Career Aspiration and Mathematics Education: The lOth Grade Investigation
A lOth grade national data base from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY) has been analyzed in this article to confirm structural relations between educational productivity and student career aspiration. Eight factors of educational productivity were identified in mathematics teaching to reflect the effect of student aptitude-attributes, instructional characteristics, and psychological environment. The model was developed according to Walberg's educational productivity theory and supported strongly by results of the LSAY data analyses. On basis of the parameters estimated in this study, suggestions were made to further enhance student career inspiration and improve the quality of mathematics teaching.
Back to Funded Research Grants Page |