Nationally, there is limited information on how many youth formerly in foster care go to college.This generates better data on postsecondary participation and persistence rates and offers insights into how to improve them. This project includes two studies: longintudinal analysis of state administrative data and phenomenological study of lived experiences of youth.
Smart state investments in dropout prevention can be informed by examining the outcomes of prior investments. This project looks back at data from a five-year federal grant called “Colorado Graduation Pathways (CGP)” to inform new state investments made under the Student Re-Engagement Grant Program.
The four-year graduation rate for Colorado students in foster care decreased substantially from the 2015-16 school year to the 2016-17 school year, from 33.2% to 23.6%. This study examines trends in state-level child welfare and education data to uncover possible explanations for this decline.