Science education in England
For the ages of 16, 17 and 18 (and older for those that remain in education below university-level), students in England do what is sometimes loosely called ‘key stage 5’ or KS5; it has no legal meaning (unlike the other key stages). And unlike KS1–4 in which the levels of complexity of topics learnt at each stage are prescribed within relatively narrow limits, at KS5, the levels of complexity of topics cover a wide range, although the highest level of complexity at KS5 is RQF level 3. Whether or not a student actually studies at this level of complexity in KS5 depends on his/her GCSE results—crucially on what subjects the student obtained passes at RQF level 2 standard (including mathematics and English) as well as the actual grades themselves. In other words, unlike KS1–4, where a specific student studies at one RQF level, at KS5, a specific student may be studying at several RQF levels depending on what s/he obtained at GCSEs. Regardless of the RQF-level mix, a KS5 student can do his/her post-16 study in one of the following:
National Longitudinal Surveys
The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97), the newest survey in the NLS program, is a sample of 8,984 young men and women born during the years 1980 through 1984 and living in the United States when first interviewed. Survey respondents were ages 12 to 17 when first interviewed in 1997. The U.S. Department of Labor selected the NLSY97 cohort to enable research on youths’ transition from school to the labor market and into adulthood. Data from the first 17 rounds of data collection are available to researchers. Round 17 consisted of 7,103 respondents, age 30- 36, and was completed in 2015-2016 with data made available in fall of 2017. In addition, survey staff conducted special high school and college transcript data collections to supplement the data on schooling provided by respondents. Many NLSY97 respondents also participated in a special administration of the computer-adaptive form of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, and scores from that test are available for approximately 80 percent of sample members.