Launching into Adulthood 2025
Launching into Adulthood:
2025 Issue Briefs
By Rachel E. Durham and Juan B. Cortes
These issue briefs update two of the 2018 Launching into Adulthood research briefs. They continue important conversations about the high school-to-postsecondary transition in Baltimore and trends over time in students’ opportunities and outcomes.
Brief 1, “First-Fall Destinations of Baltimore City Schools Graduates in Brief,” offers an updated look at the postsecondary and workforce destinations during the first fall after high school among Baltimore City Public Schools (City Schools) graduates from the Classes of 2009 through 2020. Additionally, for the first time this brief offers a state-wide comparative look at the percent of high school graduates who in the fall following high school were neither enrolled in college anywhere in the United States nor found in the Maryland workforce.
Brief 2, “Earnings Outcomes for Baltimore City Schools Graduates in Brief,” offers an updated look at the wage outcomes for Baltimore City Public Schools graduates 6 and 10 years after high school graduation.
Highlights
The share of Baltimore City Public Schools graduates pursuing postsecondary education at 4-year colleges increased over time. Beginning in 2014, most college-enrolled graduates attended 4-year institutions.
The share of Baltimore City Public Schools graduates who were not enrolled and not formally employed in Maryland during the first fall (six months) after graduation decreased significantly over time. Whereas 27% of the Class of 2009 were neither enrolled nor employed in Maryland, the percentage decreased steadily each year to only 15% for the Class of 2019.
Graduates from all Baltimore City Public Schools cohorts with higher educational attainment (bachelor’s degree and associate/certificate completers) earned significantly more than those with some college or no college experience both six years and a decade after high school graduation.
This research was conducted using de-identified individual-level data from the Maryland Longitudinal Data System (MLDS) and with the technical support of the MLDS Center Staff. The conclusions of this research do not reflect the opinion of the State of Maryland, MLDS Center, the MLDS Governing Board, or its partner agencies.
We thank the Abell Foundation and the Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Foundation for supporting the production and dissemination of these briefs.