U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

NCES 2017-005 MAY 2017

The Education and 

Work Plans of Public 

High School Students

This report uses data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09). HSLS:09 is a nationally representative, longitudinal study of more 

than 23,000 students who were first surveyed in fall 2009, when they were in the ninth grade, and then again in spring 2012, when most were in the 

eleventh grade. Students who had been held back and high school dropouts were also included in the 2012 follow-up. This report includes data for

the 2009 public school students who participated in the 2012 follow-up. 

This Data Point examines the activity 

that these students expected would 

be their primary focus in the fall of 

2013. These activities were divided 

into three groups: postsecondary education, work (including military service), or some other activity (including 

starting a family, caring for one’s own 

children, or attending high school or a 

high school completion program). 

Students’ plans were examined for 

students overall and by sex and family 

socioeconomic status (SES).1 Students were divided into three groups 

based on their SES quintile ranking: 

the top quintile (high SES), middle 

three quintiles (middle SES), and 

bottom quintile (low SES). 

Most students expected 

their primary activity for the 

year after high school to be 

postsecondary education. 

Overall, 94 percent of public high school 

students from the 2009 ninth-grade cohort expected their main activity in 2013 

would be either postsecondary education or work, with about three-quarters 

(74 percent) expecting their main activity to be postsecondary education, and 

19 percent expecting their main activity

to be work (figure 1).2

FIGURE 1. Percentage distribution of fall 2009 public school ninth-graders as of 2012 

according to their primary plan for fall 2013, by sex: 2012 

NOTE: Standard errors for estimates can be found at https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ctes/tables/h159.asp. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09), First 

Follow-up Restricted-Use Data File.

To learn more about the data collection used in this report, visit 

https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/hsls09. For questions about content or to view

this report online, go to https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2017005.
The Education and Work Plans of Public High School Students

Although 94 percent of both male and 

female students expected to either 

continue their education or work in 

2013, their primary activity differed by 

sex. A higher proportion of female 

than male students expected their 

main activity to be postsecondary education (83 percent of females versus

66 percent of males), whereas a higher proportion of males than females 

expected their main activity to be work 

(28 percent of males versus 11 percent of females). 

Students’ expectations for 

postsecondary education 

increased as family SES 

increased, and their expectations for working and for 

pursuing other activities 

decreased as SES increased. 

Although the majority of students from 

each SES group expected their main 

2013 activity to be postsecondary 

education, the proportions of low- and 

high-SES students with this expectation differed by over 20 percentage 

points—64 percent of low-SES students expected to primarily be pursuing 

postsecondary education, compared to 

88 percent of high-SES students (figure 

2). Conversely, although a minority 

of students from each SES group 

expected that their main 2013 activity 

would be work, 27 percent of lowSES students had this expectation, 

compared to 9 percent of high-SES 

students. 

Endnotes 

1 Family SES is a composite measure 

constructed as an average of the values from five variables: the highest 

education of each parent, the occupation prestige score of each parent, 

and family income. 

2 The 94 percent estimate in the text 

differs from the sum in figure 1 (93 

percent) because the text estimate is 

based on unrounded values while the 

figure shows rounded values.

FIGURE 2. Percentage distribution of fall 2009 public school ninth-graders as of spring 2012 

according to their primary plan for fall 2013, by socioeconomic status (SES): 2012 

NOTE: Standard errors for estimates can be found at https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ctes/tables/h159.asp. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09), First 

Follow-up Restricted-Use Data File.

This National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Data Point presents information on education topics of current interest. It was authored by Ceylan Oymak 

of NuCoreVision, Inc. Estimates based on samples are subject to sampling 

variability, and apparent differences may not be statistically significant. All stated 

differences are statistically significant at the .05 level. In the design, conduct, 

and data processing of NCES surveys, efforts are made to minimize effects of 

nonsampling errors, such as item nonresponse, measurement error, data 

processing error, or other systematic error.