Reagan+Demographics


 * =[|Changing Demographics in the Reagan Years]=

Click on the link above to go to the document published by NCES regarding comparative demographics from 1980 -1990.

"This study of high school sophomores in 1980 and 1990 identifies changes in: in-school and out-of-school activities; academic achievement; self-concept and plans and aspirations; and demographics; Similarities and differences between the two groups of sophomores are documented using data from two nationally representative studies: longitudinal studies program, an overview of which is provided in Appendix C). They are marked by basic demographic differences, including the lesser size of the 1990 sophomore cohort (around a fifth smaller than 1980 sophomore cohort), which reflects the “baby bust” of the 1970s, and a higher proportion of racial minority and poverty status sophomores in 1990. The 1990 sophomores also reflect a different experience of American education, insofar as the various initiatives of the school reform movement that rose to prominence in the late 1970s and early 1980s may have affected the nature and quality of their schooling in numerous ways. Highlights from the findings of this report are presented in the summary. These highlights paint a picture that is in most respects encouraging in its portrayal of the high school academic orientation and post-secondary expectations of the 1990 sophomore class. The evidence for positive educational trends reported in this document does not, of course, license complacency. The positive changes reported here are typically small or moderate in magnitude, and this report provides no basis for ascertaining the mechanisms or processes by which they have occurred. Moreover, improvements could be achieved, and are called for by the nation’s current education goals. It is our hope that this report will be of interest to policymakers and educational practitioners, as well as to education researchers. Policymakers can use results to turn statistics into practical, workable programs to help solve the problems facing the American educational system and its students. Researchers may be inspired by this report to use this data to explore their own interests and concerns, and to thereby further illuminate the condition and prospects of Americansecondary education."  **Paul Planchon, Associate Commissioner of Education Statistics**
 * FROM THE SUMMARY OF MAJOR FINDINGS: **
 * Jeffrey Owings, Chief, Longitudinal and Household Studies Branch **