High School and Women's Life Course: Curriculum Tracking, Race/Ethnicity, and Welfare Receipt

Life course scholarship considers how institutional contexts, such as schools, influence adolescent development. Likewise, educational scholars examine how high school experiences influence nonacademic life course outcomes. This study connects these disparate research areas to determine how high school curricular tracks relate to racial/ethnic differences in welfare dynamics. Using National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1979) data, the author finds that college preparatory coursework provides greater benefits to White women than to Black and Latina women in helping them avoid early welfare receipt. This benefit accrues largely through lowering their chances of dropping out of high school. Theoretical implications and relevance to the current policy environment are discussed.