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This chapter looks at the similar issues as Chapter 9, but does so using a multivariate Markovian model of poverty transitions rather than hazard regression methods. The advantages and disadvantages of this complementary approach are explained. The analysis demonstrates that taking account of so-called initial conditions and sample drop-out issues is relevant when modelling poverty entries and exits. Despite these complications, the Markovian model's results are also reassuring in the sense that the patterns of differences across individuals in the experience of poverty that are found are similar to those derived using hazard regression models.

In this chapter we study the differences between ethnic groups in early school-leaving in six of the countries: England and Wales, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the USA. We find sizeable gross differences in early school-leaving between the majority group and some, but far from all, ethnic minority groups, mainly to the disadvantage of minorities. Most differences disappear when we compare those with similar social origins, however, and once we also control for educational performance (grades, or test results) a substantially important disadvantage remains for only one minority group out of the 42 we study. In particular, except for those from the Middle East, Asian minority groups have very high continuation rates into upper secondary education. There is little evidence to suggest that there is any intrinsic or cultural ethnic disadvantage that discourages minority students from staying on in school, or that discrimination or unfair treatment pushes them out.

This chapter analyses the socio-economic factors that continue to encourage children to drop out of school. It starts with reviewing literature and also national-level secondary data on dropouts. Then the focus is on micro-study conducted in more than 50 villages in the Yadgir district in north-east Karnataka. It elaborates the nature of dropout problem there and also the socio-economic determinants (which was based on an analysis within logistic regression framework). Mothers’ literacy was found to be an important predictor of whether the child is in school or not. The data is analysed in a disaggregated manner to the differential impact on the dropping out of boys and girls. In general it shows that school-related and income-related factors, though important, do not explain fully the tendency to drop out of school, and social conditions (such as mothers’ literacy) too are important.

This chapter discusses the Jobseeker's Employment Act (JEA) in the Netherlands, which represents a universal strategy of compulsory activation for young unemployed people and a less comprehensively developed programme for older unemployed people. This chapter aims to identify the ideological, political and economic developments that form the background to policy implementation. It looks at the three different ‘regimes’ that compose the special character of the JEA, and emphasises on the ‘measurement’ of clients in order to produce individualised, tailored programmes. The chapter concludes with an overview of the research findings and themes that point to the very high ‘drop out’ levels from JEA schemes that may be considered counter productive with respect to the objective of tackling social exclusion.

Chapter 2 discusses the impact of World War I and its aftermath on the students and educational program at Fordham Law School and other law schools in New York City. It presents empirical evidence of the religious and ethnic composition of the student body from the 1920s to the 1940s, and it explains the role the Law School played in providing a legal education and the opportunity to achieve middle class respectability to Catholic and Jewish immigrants and their children as well as to women and black Americans, though the latter groups were underrepresented until the last quarter of the twentieth century. The Law School’s third dean, Francis P. Garvan, was concurrently an official in President Woodrow Wilson’s administration who planned and executed the Palmer Raids and the deportation of radical aliens in 1920.

This chapter summarizes and extends the literature on the effects of GED certification. It estimates the social and economic benefits of GED certification for numerous adult outcomes using a variety of major data sets and empirical specifications. After controlling for their higher cognitive ability, male GED recipients are nearly indistinguishable from other male dropouts with regard to labor market outcomes including annual earnings, hourly wages, employment, and hours worked. Female GED recipients have higher annual earnings than other dropouts because they are more likely to be employed, not because they earn higher hourly wages. Our analysis shows that female GED recipients are more likely to participate in the labor force compared to other dropouts, but are not more likely to be employed if they do participate in the labor force. This finding is consistent with the interpretation that women who do not plan to work in the future have no incentive to earn a GED. The weight of the evidence supports the interpretation of the estimated GED effect for women as a selection effect. We find little evidence that the economic benefits to the GED increase with work experience. GED recipients and dropouts have very similar hourly wage profiles.

Students who enter college but drop out without a degree are an important target for those who wish to increase educational attainment. Dropout rates are especially high at community colleges, where poor students are concentrated. Interventions that increase persistence in community colleges are therefore a sensible focus if the goal is to increase the educational attainment of the poor. The Opening Doors demonstration projects provide strong evidence that pairing financial incentives with support services can increase college persistence among low-income students attending community colleges. This chapter reviews the evidence from experimental and high-quality quasi-experimental studies on a key tool available to policy makers: reducing college costs.

This chapter examines the impacts of civic engagement on youth. For young people, civic engagement takes the form of activities such as joining a club or team at school, doing volunteer work, and participating in a youth group at church or in the community. Youth who participate in these kinds of activities are less likely to abuse drugs or alcohol, smoke, engage in delinquent acts, drop out of school, get pregnant, or experience mental illness. They are more likely to have higher self-esteem, better relationships, better school achievement, higher aspirations for their future, and a greater sense of social responsibility. These benefits can last for many years and, quite possibly, for a lifetime. Moreover, it is those young people who are at-risk for developing problems that derive the greatest benefit from civic engagement.

This chapter sets the scene for the book. It describes the size of the family background gaps in entry to any university in England and to high status universities, before showing how these gaps have changed over time and how they compare with those in other countries. The reasons why these gaps ‘matter’ are discussed. The chapter then summarizes the key features of the book’s approach and contribution—a focus on quantitative and up-to-date evidence—and the contents of each of the other chapters, emphasizing that the book’s analysis goes beyond application and entry to university to consider also the differences by family background in university drop-out, degree class, and subsequent labour market success.

The benefits of higher education typically relate to actually having a degree. Chapter 7 looks at the relationship between family background and success at university once young people arrive there. University drop-out in England and the rest of the UK is low compared to in the USA and in some continental European countries. Nevertheless, Chapter 7 shows that there are differences in England between students from different socio-economic backgrounds in drop-out, in degree completion, and in the class of degree awarded. These differences are present even amongst students with the same prior attainment in school, attending the same universities, and studying the same subjects. The chapter also provides evidence that the likelihood of graduating varies by the type of school attended before entering university.

This chapter provides evidence on the extent of child labor in Tunisia, its determinants and its impact on schooling. It shows that 5.87 percent of the target population are involved in work, a rate which may increase in the future if policymakers and stakeholders do not take adequate measure to protect children’s rights to a decent life and better education. In this chapter, and using TLMPS data (2014), we show the “atypical” picture of Tunisia regarding this phenomenon. First, child labor is both rural and urban: the impact of poverty on child labor is more pronounced in urban areas than in rural ones. Second, most children are involved in the service sector and third, poverty does not explain child labor. We provide evidence that working-children are more likely to repeat school-grade and to lag-behind. Likewise, working-children are more at risk to drop out, with girls more affected than boys.