ROP Home 2010-11 Follow-Up Study

Dr. David Matuszak, Director
www.sccoe.org/depts/scrop/

Follow-Up Study of 2010-11 12th Grade and Adult Program Completers August 2012

Rationale:
This study was performed to comply with California Department of Education reporting requirements.  The study included all graduating 12th graders and adults who received certificates of completion from an ROP program in 2010-11.  Certificates of completion were issued to all students who successfully completed a course. The report includes the total number of Vocational Program Completers, the number continuing their training/education, the number entering military service, and the number who were employed as of December 31, 2011. 

Methodology:
A total of 1288 12th graders and 729 adults completed an ROP program during the 2010-11 school year.   A total of 804 completers responded to an end of the school year survey in June, 2011, or telephone contact between January and March, 2012.  The contacts were made by telephone on weekday evenings and on weekends by SCROP staff, using a standard interview protocol.  The employment category was further broken down into related or non-related employment. If no contact was made the student was listed as "status unknown".  The results were then tabulated and resulted in the following data.

Findings of Study:

Twelfth Grade Completers: (based on a 48% response rate)

• 2%  entered active military duty
• 71% entered postsecondary education
• 5% entered related employment
• 14% entered non-related employment
• 8% not employed, other

Adult Completers: (based on a 28% response rate)

• 1% entered active military duty
• 57% entered or continued postsecondary education
• 18% entered related employment
• 14% entered non-related employment
• 2% not employed, other

The percentages above include all students who were contacted.  Survey respondents are allowed to submit multiple responses so some of the data needs further interpretation. For example, many students are continuing their education and working, therefore they may have responded to both categories.

Discussion:
The results appear to be consistent with the survey results from last year and from studies done over the previous ten years.  The response rates vary between the high school and adult populations, with 48% of the high school students contacted compared with 28% of the adults.  This may be due to the inaccuracy of the telephone numbers that were provided by the students upon initial enrollment.  The high school students were more likely to be continuing their education, but not as much as historically. The adult students had a higher percentage of employment indicating that their career goal was to complete job training courses leading to immediate employment. Continuing education rates were also strong for adults, possibly due to the students' awareness of the need to complete several related ROP classes in order to enhance their employability.

The number of High School Program Completers is consistent with historical trends. The number of Adult Program Completers has stabilized around 300-400 for the past several years. The number of high school students entering active military duty has been consistent for the past 5 years.

Recommendations:
The large percentage (70% of the students contacted) of 12th grade ROP students entering postsecondary institutions continues to support the belief that ROP courses are appropriate for the college-bound student.  The in-depth study that is being conducted by UC-Riverside reinforces this recommendation (http://www.carocp.org/library/document/M4_longitudinal_study_2010.pdf)

Follow-up calls continue to support the finding that most students who were continuing their education were also employed. If the system enabled individual students to be included in more than one follow-up category, it may have shown that many obtained entry-level and job preparation skills assisting them in obtaining employment to help finance their postsecondary education.

Adult completers appear to be successfully entering the labor market or continuing with their training/education.  A significant (52%) category for adults was "employed in a related field", indicating that the students are receiving appropriate training to enter the workforce. An additional 2% entered non-related employment while a very high percentage (42%) are continuing their education.

Adult program offerings, marketing, and career counseling continue to be needed to increase the number of males involved in SCROP training programs targeted to adults. The male/female adult completer ratio was close to 1:1 for several years. The ratio is about 4:1 F/M for 10-11. This change was anticipated and may be due to the reduction in the number of computer hardware and software offerings as a result of the large labor market shrinkage in this sector.  A recent study of California Community College enrollments indicates that the system overall is experiencing a decrease in male enrollment.

Self-identified race/ethnicity and special populations groups appear to be continuing their education or obtaining employment at very similar rates. There appears to be no adverse impact on any of the groups identified in this study. An area of continuing interest for further study is the low incidence of self-identification as Limited English speakers.

Santa Clara County Regional Occupational Program (ROP)  
700 W. 6th Street, Suite L, Gilroy, CA 95020 - Phone (408) 842-0361 / Fax (408) 842-0653  

Email: david_matuszak@sccoe.org