1

June 2003

Educational achievement and attainment are often of central

importance to education policymakers because of their relationship to economic outcomes. Racial/ethnic equity in these

education measures is often of particular interest. Jacobson

et al. (2001), for example, summarized differences in educational achievement and attainment between Black and White

students,1 as well as the relationship between achievement

and attainment differences (e.g., educational achievement was

found to mitigate race differences in college completion).2

This Issue Brief focuses on racial/ethnic differences in educational attainment. These differences are well documented, with

Blacks and Hispanics typically having lower attainment rates

than Whites, and Asians having a higher rate than other

groups.3 These racial/ethnic differences represent the culmination of differences at various progression points in the education pipeline. For example, students from different racial/

ethnic backgrounds have different likelihoods of graduating

from high school and attending college, with Blacks and Hispanics typically having lower rates of educational progress

(as measured by these indicators) than their White counterparts, and Asians having a higher rate of progress (at least for

college attendance).4

This Issue Brief tracks student progress along the path from

high school to a postsecondary credential, examining where

in this path racial/ethnic differences arise. Specifically, this

Issue Brief uses data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, “Fourth Follow-up, 2000” (NELS:88/2000)

to examine various education milestones along the path to a

postsecondary credential. This NELS:88/2000 survey tracks

students who were in the eighth grade in 1988, and who were

thus 8 years beyond their expected (1992) high school graduation in 2000.

The Issue Brief first examines three milestones that are traditional indicators of student progress—the on-time attainment

of a regular high school diploma;5 enrollment in a

postsecondary institution within the year following high school

graduation (hereafter referred to as immediate enrollment);

and attainment of a postsecondary credential within the

“scheduled” time frame6

 (i.e., within 4 years of enrollment

for a bachelor’s degree, 2 years for an associate degree, and 1

year for a postsecondary certificate). Although this “on-time”

schedule might be indicative of a traditional postsecondary

path, few students follow it. For example, among NELS:88/

2000 students, only 12 percent attained a postsecondary credential through this path.7

Racial/Ethnic Differences in the Path to a

Postsecondary Credential

U.S. Department of Education

Institute of Education Sciences

NCES 2003–005

IssueBrief

The traditional path is not the only route to obtaining a

postsecondary credential. The American education system is

relatively flexible, providing numerous opportunities for adults

to further their education at later stages of their lives (e.g.,

high school equivalency programs such as the GED, open

enrollments at community colleges, college programs for

working adults). In fact, as of 2000, 15 percent of the

NELS:88/2000 students who completed high school had done

so through an alternate means, 30 percent of those who enrolled in a postsecondary institution had delayed their entry,

and 59 percent of those who obtained a postsecondary credential had done so over an extended period (beyond the

scheduled time frame). The second part of this Issue Brief

examines student progress through high school and

postsecondary education as of 2000 to show how this flexibility within the education system affects progress.

Racial/Ethnic Differences in Meeting Traditional

Milestones

Figure 1 shows the progress of NELS:88/2000 students

through each traditional education milestone. This figure

shows the percentage of students of each racial/ethnic group

who met each milestone, given that they had met the previous milestone(s). Racial/ethnic differences emerged at the first

milestone, the receipt of a regular on-time high school diploma. Asian students were more likely than White, Black,

and Hispanic students to receive a regular on-time diploma,

with 91 percent doing so. White students also were more likely

than Black and Hispanic students to receive a regular ontime diploma, with 82 percent of White students doing so

compared to 72 percent of Black students and 67 percent of

Hispanic students. When these on-time high school graduates reached the next milestone—immediate entry to a

postsecondary institution—similar (but not identical) patterns

emerged. Asian students who graduated from high school with

a regular on-time diploma were more likely than White, Black,

and Hispanic students to immediately enroll in a

postsecondary institution. White students were more likely

to do so than their Black counterparts, but no differences were

detected in the rates of immediate enrollment between White

and Hispanic students.

Finally, at the third milestone, Black and Hispanic students

who had graduated on time and immediately enrolled in a

postsecondary institution were again found to have lower

attainment rates than their Asian and White peers. Although
2

Figure 2. Percentage of 1988 eighth-graders meeting each less

stringent milestone, of those who met the previous

milestone(s), by student race/ethnicity

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education

Statistics, National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, “Fourth Follow-up

2000” (NELS:88/2000).

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Hispanic

Black

White

Asian

92 Total

99

94

91

87

82

95

82

80

82

40

56

46

27

23

Percent

3. Postsecondary 

 credential 

 by 2000

2. Postsecondary 

 enrollment 

 by 2000

1. High school or 

 GED completion 

 by 2000

Milestone

Figure 1. Percentage of 1988 eighth-graders meeting each

traditional milestone, of those who met the previous

milestone(s), by student race/ethnicity

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education

Statistics, National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, “Fourth Follow-up”

(NELS:88/2000).

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Hispanic

Black

White

Asian

Total

3. Attainment of a post- 

 secondary credential 

 within the scheduled 

 time frame (e.g., two 

 years for an associate 

 degree)

2. Enrollment in a post- 

 secondary institution 

 within the year follow- 

 ing high school 

 graduation

1. On-time attainment 

 of a regular high 

 school diploma

Milestone

Percent

78

91

82

72

67

69

83

71

61

66

22

31

26

10

9

about one-quarter of both Asian and White students who had

received a regular on-time high school diploma and had immediately enrolled in a postsecondary institution obtained an

on-time credential, no more than 10 percent of their Black or

Hispanic peers did so. The net result of these differences in

progress is that 23 percent of all Asian students who were in

the eighth grade in 1988 completed a postsecondary credential through the traditional path, compared to 15 percent of

all White students, 4 percent of all Black students, and 4 percent of all Hispanic students.8

Racial/Ethnic Differences in Attainment as of

2000

To examine progress regardless of the route taken, figure 2

shows the percentage of students who met three less stringent

milestones—completing high school, enrolling in a

postsecondary institution, or obtaining a postsecondary credential by the year 2000—given that they had met each previous milestone(s). The first milestone allows the completion of

high school through alternative means such as the GED; allowing this second-chance route to high school completion

(along with more time) results in a significantly greater high

school completion rate among each group of students. Asian

students, however, still had a higher completion rate than other

students, and White students had a higher completion rate

than Hispanic students (although there were no longer detectable differences between White and Black students). At the

second milestone, more students in each racial/ethnic group

who completed high school enrolled in a postsecondary institution by 2000 than had enrolled immediately after high school;

although Asian students still had higher enrollment rates than

the three other student groups, the enrollment rate for Whites

was not significantly higher than for Blacks or Hispanics. Finally, at the third milestone, obtaining a postsecondary credential, completion rates again were higher among each group

of postsecondary entrants, but the differences for Asians and

Whites versus Blacks and Hispanics remained.

Further, although the gaps in high school completion rates

between Asians and their Black and Hispanic peers and between Whites and Hispanics were not eliminated, they were

reduced when “nontraditional” completion was allowed in

addition to on-time graduation with a regular diploma. Thus,

nontraditional paths do seem to help reduce or eliminate at

least some racial/ethnic attainment differences.

These findings also suggest that one issue for Black and Hispanic students, compared to White students, is persistence

through high school and postsecondary education. As discussed

above, Whites were more likely than Hispanics to graduate

from high school by 2000, and among those who graduated

from high school and enrolled in postsecondary education by

2000, Whites were more likely than Blacks and Hispanics to

obtain a postsecondary credential by 2000. In addition, Whites

were more likely than Blacks and Hispanics to graduate from

high school on time, and even among those who graduated on

time and immediately enrolled in college, Whites were more

likely than Blacks and Hispanics to obtain an on-time

postsecondary credential.

Finally, flexibility within the education system increases the

proportion of all racial/ethnic groups who meet these education milestones, and in some cases, seems to reduce differences

in attainment. This attenuation of attainment differences reflects the fact that among those who met each milestone, Blacks

and Hispanics often were more likely to meet the milestone

via a nontraditional means than were Asians and Whites (figure 3).9

 Attainment differences could be further attenuated

over a longer time frame, which would provide more opportunity for meeting the milestones via a nontraditional path.

Footnotes

1

Throughout this Issue Brief, the terms Black and White are used as

shorthand for non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White,

respectively. Asian is used as shorthand for Asian or Pacific Islander.
3

The Issue Brief series presents information on education topics of current interest. All estimates shown are based on samples and are subject to sampling

variability. All differences are statistically significant at the .05 level. In the design, conduct, and data processing of National Center for Education Statistics

(NCES) surveys, efforts are made to minimize the effects of nonsampling errors, such as item nonresponse, measurement error, data processing error, or other

systematic error.

This Issue Brief was prepared by Lisa Hudson, NCES with analytic support from Yann Yann Shieh and Ben Cohen of the Education Statistics Services Institute (ESSI).

This Issue Brief was desktopped by Carol Rohr of Pinkerton Computer Consultants, Inc. For further information, contact Lisa Hudson, NCES, at 202–502–7358 or

Lisa.Hudson@ed.gov. To order additional copies of this Issue Brief or other NCES publications, call 1–877–4ED–Pubs. NCES publications are also available on the

Internet at http://nces.ed.gov.

Figure 3. Percentage of 1988 eighth-graders reaching each

milestone by 2000 who did so via nontraditional

means, by student race/ethnicity

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education

Statistics, National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, “Fourth Follow-up”

(NELS:88/2000).

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Hispanic

Black

White

Asian

Total 15

8

13

22

23

30

20

26

42

40

59

55

57

77

74

Percent

Milestone

 Postsecondary 

 credential (percent 

 of credential-holders 

 who received creden- 

 tial after scheduled 

 time frame)

 Postsecondary 

 enrollment (percent 

 of enrollees who 

 enrolled after the 

 year following high 

 school graduation

 High school 

 completion (percent 

 of completers who 

 received diploma or 

 GED after scheduled 

 on-time graduation)

2

Socioeconomic status is also related to race/ethnicity and may

mitigate attainment differences among racial/ethnic groups (see e.g.,

Jacobson et al. 2001).

3

U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, March Current

Population Surveys (data tabulated in U.S. Department of Education

2002, 80–81); Ingels et al. 2002.

4

U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, October

Current Population Surveys (data tabulated in U.S. Department of

Education 2002, 73); Sanderson et al. 1996; Jacobson et al. 2001.

5

In this context, an on-time high school diploma is in reference to

eighth-graders. Students who had been held back (or otherwise stayed

back) prior to the eighth grade are counted as graduating on time as

long as they were not also held back between the eighth grade and

high school graduation. The on-time high school graduation measure

used in this Issue Brief is from student transcripts; all other measures

are based on students’ self-reports.

6

These milestones may not describe typical paths; for example, 59

percent of postsecondary graduates fail to complete their credential

within the scheduled time frame. However, these milestones are related

to persistence factors. Berkner, Cuccaro-Alamin, and McCormick

(1996) found that the following factors lowered postsecondary

student persistence and attainment: being a high school dropout or

GED recipient, delaying enrollment by a year or more, and attending

part time.

7

Unless otherwise noted, all findings reported in this brief are from

analyses of NELS:88/2000.

8

The percentage for Asians is significantly higher than the percentages

for all other groups; the percentage for Whites is significantly higher

than the percentages for Blacks and Hispanics. Analysis of credentials

by level was beyond the scope of this Issue Brief; however, the reader

should bear in mind that the differences observed here may include

racial/ethnic differences in credential level as well as in the attainment

of a credential. For example, among NELS:88/2000 students, 51

percent of Asians obtained a bachelor’s degree or higher by 2000,

compared to 34 percent of Whites, 17 percent of Blacks, and 15

percent of Hispanics (Ingels et al. 2002).

9

This analysis examined each milestone independently of whether

the student had reached previous milestones. No difference was

detected in the percentages of Black and White students who

completed high school via a nontraditional means, possibly due to a

relatively high standard error for these Black students. In all other

cases, Blacks and Hispanics were more likely than their Asian and

White counterparts to reach these milestones via a nontraditional

means.

References

Berkner, L., Cuccaro-Alamin, S., and McCormick, A.C. (1996).

Descriptive Summary of 1989–90 Beginning

Postsecondary Students 5 Years Later, With an Essay on

Postsecondary Persistence and Attainment (NCES 96–

155). U.S. Department of Education, National Center

for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S.

Government Printing Office.

Ingels, S.J., Curtin, T.R, Kaufman, P., Alt, M.N., and Chen,

X. (2002). Coming of Age in the 1990s: The EighthGrade Class of 1988 12 Years Later (NCES 2002–321).

U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC:

National Center for Education Statistics.

Jacobson, J., Olsen, C., Rice, J.K., Sweetland, S. and Ralph, J.

(2001). Educational Achievement and Black-White

Inequality (NCES 2001–061). U.S. Department of

Education. Washington, DC: National Center for

Education Statistics.

Sanderson, A., Dugoni, B., Rasinski, K., and Taylor, J. (1996).

National Education Longitudinal Study 1988–1994

Descriptive Summary Report, With an Essay on Access

and Choice in Postsecondary Education (NCES 96–175).

U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC:

National Center for Education Statistics.

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education

Statistics. (2002). The Condition of Education 2002

(NCES 2002–025). Washington, DC: U.S. Government

Printing Office.
Racial/Ethnic Differences in the Path to a Postsecondary Credential NCES 2003–005

The Issue Brief series presents information on education topics of current interest.

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