KEY DATA: Students from intact families were 9 percent more likely to apply to college than students from disrupted families. Students from intact families were more likely to be admitted to college (92 percent, versus 89 percent of those who applied), more likely to attend a four-year college immediately after high-school graduation (62 percent, compared to 52 percent of those who were admitted), and more likely to attend a four-year college (51 percent, compared to 37 percent) than those who did not live with their biological parents. A student was 33 percent less likely to apply to a selective college if he or she did not live with both biological parents while in high school. Those experiencing family disruption were 20 percent less likely to attend a selective school immediately after high school and 22 percent less likely to ever attend a selective school….(more)

College pays. Not only do individuals reap the rewards of a college education, society as a whole benefits from an educated citizenry. As the value of a college education continues to grow, the factors that influence the decision to attend, or not attend, college gain greater importance. Among these factors is a student’s family background.

A study published in the Journal of Higher Education explored the relationship between family structure and high school seniors’ college choices. Using data from the High School and Beyond survey of over 26,000 students interviewed in the 1980s, the study found that, compared to their peers who did not live with both biological parents, students from intact families were more likely to apply to, be admitted to, and enter college immediately after high school. In addition, students from intact families were more likely to attend a four-year college.

These findings suggest that family structure affects a student’s pursuit of higher education and the likelihood of achieving those academic aspirations.

Click here to see September’s Top Ten Findings: Back to School

Other findings on child outcomes and family structure:

Parents on the verge of a breakup were less involved in their children’s education…(more)

Children raised in two-parent families from birth were less likely to exhibit behavioral problems…(more)

A teachers’ union strike is threatening to delay the start of the school year in Detroit’s public schools. It’s just the latest lesson about how special interest politics disserves kids.

Instead of returning to the classroom this week, Detroit teachers took to the picket line after voting to reject the school district’s latest contract offer. The union wants annual pay raises of 5 percent. The district’s package includes 5.5 percent pay cuts and reductions in benefits because of budgetary constraints. A court order is forcing the two sides into negotiations to see if they can reach a deal before September 5, when about 130,000 students are due back to school.

>> Read More of the Notebook

Every year at this time, the Census Bureau announces the official poverty rate of the United States. And every year, the same fruitless debate takes place.

Some will point to the successes and urge that we stay the course. Some will point to the failures and call for more spending on anti-poverty programs. Unfortunately, the analyses on both sides are based on faulty data — because our measures are critically flawed and overstate the number of Americans in poverty.

>> Read Mores of the Commentary

It wasn’t exactly man-bites-dog news when word came this week that the number of Americans without health insurance has continued to climb.

The number reached 46.6 million in 2005 — up from 45.3 million in 2004 — according to the Census Bureau. At the same time, the percentage of workers with employer-based coverage continues to decline. These trends will continue until Congress comes to grips with the changing dynamics of the health insurance market. >> Read More of the Commentary

There it was at our staff meeting: the first birthday cake with the magic number 65 on top. They went with the big number candles, so they wouldn’t have to bother lighting dozens of separate ones. Probably a smart move.

Sixty-five. That was once time to retire. And indeed, when I was younger I expected that in my mid-60s, I would join the “over the hill gang.” After all, when I consider the staff here at the Heritage Foundation, I note almost all 200 are younger than I. Even a couple members of our board are years my junior. Yet there’s plenty of work to do, and I’m not ready to hang it all up. When I wrote about turning 50 –which I did just yesterday, it seems — I noted, “Fifty really does have a different feel to it than 49.” Tom Brokaw put it well when he turned 50: “At this age, mistakes, however daring, are not easily excused. Achievement is not a cause of praise; it is expected.”

Sixty-five is an age and, too often, an end. At 65. Jack Welch and so many others have followed company policy and hit the golf course — permanently.

>> Read more of the Commentary

This may sound odd, but as we mark the 10-year anniversary of the passage of the historic welfare reform act, we really ought to honor one of the men who opposed this legislation when it came before the U.S. Senate.

For long before the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) voiced his doubts about welfare reform legislation, Professor Daniel Patrick Moynihan laid much of the intellectual groundwork for the consensus now building about the root cause of child poverty and welfare dependency.

>> Read More of the Commentary

Organized Labor in America has lost its way. The most telling evidence is that unions have been shedding members for decades. It is time for Americans to ask why this is happening, not whether it is happening. A powerful example of how lost unions have become was seen during the debate over Social Security reform, when the AFL-CIO and other unions fought loudly against President Bush’s proposals. Unions demonized all solutions aiming at solvency except one: an increase in payroll taxes. In retrospect, their argument was stunning—a direct call by a special interest for higher taxes that are paid exclusively by their interest: labor.

Other recent events highlight the peculiar dilemma facing modern American unions. The slow demise of General Motors (GM) is visibly intertwined with the inefficient labor contracts that the United Auto Workers (UAW) secured in decades past. Regular media stories showcasing problems at GM and Delphi send a potent signal to other U.S. workers that big labor’s ideal business model is a bust. The AFL-CIO splintered last summer when a number of major member unions broke away. Finally, the federal government has begun implementing significant changes to labor regulations. The Labor Department is enforcing accounting transparency in an effort to weed out corruption and bring some accountability between labor bosses and membership. That has been decried as an attack on organized labor, but it may instead prove a powerfully rejuvenating tonic.

>> Read WebMemo #1202

A year after one of the most devastating storms in American history ravaged the three-state region along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, Congress still has not taken some of the most obvious and important steps needed to improve the nation’s capacity to respond to catastrophic disasters. When Members of Congress return to Washington, they need to focus on initiatives that will help establish a true national response system to meet disasters like Hurricane Katrina.

>> Read WebMemo # 1199

Congress can no longer afford to ignore the chang­ing dynamics in health care coverage. The latest Cen­sus Bureau report shows that the number of uninsured increased from 45.3 million in 2004 to 46.6 million in 2005.1 Moreover, the percent of people with employer coverage is still declining, dropping from 59.8 percent in 2004 to 59.5 percent in 2005.2

Failure to address these changing dynamics rein­forces the status quo, which ultimately leads the uninsured to depend on an inefficient and disjointed system of uncompensated care and creates political pressure to expand government-run health care pro­grams—both at the expense of U.S. taxpayers.

>> Read Backgrounder #1963

A recent study published by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) contains some surprising results based on a snapshot of student achievement data. According to the study, public school students are performing better than private school students in fourth grade mathematics and at the same level as pri­vate school students in fourth grade reading and eighth grade math. Indeed, the report says that private school students have an advantage over public school stu­dents only in eighth grade reading.[1] These results should be handled very carefully.

Policymakers and journalists need to know that the NCES findings that public schools outperform private schools employ significantly limited data. Some com­mentators on the NCES report appear to believe that this study describes causal relationships—that public school attendance causes better student achievement and that private school attendance causes students to have lower math and reading achievement.

>> Read Backgrounder #1968