Facilitating Prevention Science in Education Settings: An Example Using Statewide Linked Longitudinal Data from Maryland's Education System and the Workforce

Introduction: Education settings provide an optimal setting to deliver prevention content, and the use of administrative data for research analyses that inform education practice and policy is increasing rapidly. The Maryland Longitudinal Data System (MLDS) is Maryland’s statewide repository for individual-level education and workforce data that are linked across three state agencies. The system currently houses data from academic years 2007-2008 through 2015-2016, and there are close to 7 million distinct student and employee records. Through a partnership with the University of Maryland, researchers apply advanced statistical methodologies to generate information about student performance that can be used to improve the State’s education system and guide decision makers at all levels.

Methods: Greater than 95% of student high school records can be linked to either a higher education or a workforce record. For this study, we identified students who participated in a dual enrollment (concurrent enrollment in high school and college) program by examining overlapping enrollment dates in a Maryland public high school and a Maryland institution of higher education. Of the 2009-2010 cohort of 12^th grade students (N = 63,000), 7% (N = 4,200; 59% female; 79% not eligible for free/reduced price meals; 64% white; 93% non-Hispanic) were dually enrolled in their 12^th grade year. Propensity score matching was used to match each dually enrolled student to a similar student who was not dually enrolled on confounders, including demographic characteristics, high school achievement, and local school system.

Results: Results indicated that dually enrolled students were more likely to enroll in a 2-year college one year after high school (B = 0.86, p < .01) than students who were not dually enrolled. There was no difference in likelihood to enroll in a 4-year college one year after high school (p > .05). Results in years 2-4 suggest that dually enrolled students were beginning their careers at 2-year colleges and transferring to 4-year colleges. Dually enrolled students were also more likely to earn a Bachelor’s degree (B = 0.38, p < .01) and earned an additional $2,000 six years after high school when compared to similar students who were not dually enrolled.

Conclusions: This study presents example findings from a researcher-state agency partnership to inform prevention science in education settings. Results will be discussed within the context of the strengths and limitations of using statewide linked longitudinal data to inform prevention science in education settings, and best practices will be discussed.