Postschool Outcomes of Youths with Deafblindness in the United States: Building Further Understandings for Future Practice

2019 ◽  
Vol 113 (3) ◽  
pp. 274-282
Author(s):  
Jerry G. Petroff ◽  
Nadya Pancsofar ◽  
Engy Shaaban
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
High School ◽  
General Education ◽  
Independent Living ◽  
Transition Planning ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Experiences ◽  
Postschool Outcomes ◽  
High School Experiences ◽  
Paid Employment

Introduction: This study examines the postschool outcomes for youths with deafblindness, aged 18–30 years, in the areas of independent living, employment, and friendships. Methods: Survey data were collected on 80 youths with deafblindness across the United States. Data addressed postschool outcomes, in addition to youths’ demographics and high school experiences. Results: The findings of this study suggest that very few youths were living independently or engaged in paid employment. Conversely, it was reported that the vast majority of youths had friends, and most youths had five or more friendships. Associations between the youths’ demographics, high school experiences, and postschool outcomes show that youths with higher skills in reading and problem-solving were more apt to have been educated in inclusive secondary education settings, had access to the general education curriculum, and to have experienced positive postschool outcomes. Transition planning for these youths was not significantly associated with their postschool outcomes. Discussion: These findings are consistent with trends in previous studies regarding postschool outcomes for youths with deafblindness. Future research is needed in formal transition planning and what additional factors may need to be better understood in providing opportunities in postschool life for youths with deafblindness. Implications for practice: Findings from this study suggest better inclusion efforts are needed for students with deafblindness in terms of associated opportunities and experiences that would prepare them for paid employment and independent living, along with social engagement and friendships.

In-Between: Late-Arriving Teens in Adult Education Programs Navigating Child and Adult Immigrant Narratives

2020 ◽  
pp. 074355842096711
Author(s):  
Dina Birman ◽  
Ashmeet K. Oberoi ◽  
Maria Fernanda Garcia ◽  
Miryam Haarlammert ◽  
Massiel Leiva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
High School ◽  
Grounded Theory ◽  
General Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social And Emotional ◽  
Self Sufficiency ◽  
Core Category ◽  
Ged Programs ◽  
Immigrant Narratives

We report on a grounded theory study of late-arriving immigrant youth (LIY) who arrived in the United States at 16–18 years of age and were referred to daytime General Education Diploma (D-GED) programs. These programs provide an alternate path to a high school diploma for youth with insufficient knowledge of English to complete graduation requirements before turning 19 years. Based on interviews with 38 youth from Latin America, we propose the core category of our grounded theory to be students Navigating Child and Adult Immigrant Narratives while making educational and career decisions. This process begins before immigration when youth imagine ambitious alternate selves—ideal educational and career selves in the United States, consistent with the American Dream and immigrant child narrative. The D-GED programs represent a compromise between a child and adult educational pathway. Students in these programs felt excluded from the regular high school but received social and emotional support while on a faster track to graduation and self-sufficiency as adults. However, students lacked concrete information and roadmaps for how to attain their ambitious goals. The study highlights the unique challenges faced by LIY as they develop ambitious and realistic education and career goals.

Immigrant Entrepreneurship: The Effect of Early Career Immigration Constraints on New Venture Formation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajshree Agarwal ◽  
Martin Ganco ◽  
Joseph Raffiee
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Capital ◽  
The United States ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
New Venture ◽  
Opportunity Costs ◽  
Paid Employment ◽  
Specialized Human Capital ◽  
New Venture Formation

We examine how institutional factors may affect microlevel career decisions by individuals to create new firms by impacting their ability to exercise entrepreneurial preferences, their accumulation of human capital, and the opportunity costs associated with new venture formation. We focus on an important institutional factor—immigration-related work constraints—given that technologically intensive firms in the United States not only draw upon immigrants as knowledge workers but also because such firms are disproportionately founded by immigrants. We examine the implications of these constraints using the National Science Foundation’s Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System, which tracks the careers of science and engineering graduates from U.S. universities. Relative to natives, we theorize and show that immigration-related work constraints in the United States suppress entrepreneurship as an early career choice of immigrants by restricting labor market options to paid employment jobs in organizational contexts tightly matched with the immigrant’s educational training (job-education match). Work experience in paid employment job-education match is associated with the accumulation of specialized human capital and increased opportunity costs associated with new venture formation. Consistent with immigration-related work constraints inhibiting individuals with entrepreneurial preferences from engaging in entrepreneurship, we show that when the immigration-related work constraints are released, immigrants in job-education match are more likely than comparable natives to found incorporated employer firms. Incorporated employer firms can both leverage specialized human capital and provide the expected returns needed to justify the increased opportunity costs associated with entrepreneurial entry. We discuss our study’s contributions to theory and practice.

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