Secondary and Postsecondary Education Outcomes of Students with Experience in Foster Care - Systematic Review of the Literature From 2000–2023

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Pentious

Educational outcomes for students who experience foster care (SEFC) remain a major concern, yet secondary and postsecondary results vary widely across studies, limiting policy use of the evidence. This systematic review synthesizes methodologically sound research published from 2000 to 2023, applying six inclusion criteria to identify 17 eligible studies. Findings show ranges in high school/GED completion, postsecondary enrollment, and postsecondary degree completion, with limited race-disaggregated reporting and clear needs for future work.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages23

Reading Time58 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Methods and Inclusion Criteria

Findings: Educational Outcome Ranges

Equity Gaps and Future Research Needs

AERA Open January-December 2025, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 1–23 DOI: 10. 1177/23328584251331454 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)© The Author(s) 2025. [https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero](https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero) Secondary and Postsecondary Education Outcomes of Students with Experience in Foster Care: Systematic Review of the Literature From 2000–2023 Nathanael J. Okpych University of Connecticut Kenyon Whitman University of Nevada Jane Lee University of Connecticut Liz Neria-Piña Oklahoma State University Lisa A. Jackson Florida State University Maddy Day Maddy Day LLC and Associates Students who experience foster care (SEFC) remain some of the most educationally marginalized youth in the United States. However, rates of secondary and postsecondary outcomes vary widely across studies, limiting the ability to inform policy. At present, there is no definitive publication that reports secondary and postsecondary education rates based on best available evidence. The goal of this study is to fill this gap by reviewing methodologically sound studies with SEFC. We conducted a systematic review of publications between 2000 and 2023. A total of 17 publications met our six inclusion criteria. Most findings came from regional rather than national studies. The high school/General Educational Development (GED) completion rate ranged from 69% to 85%, the postsecondary enrollment rate ranged from 29% to 64%, and the postsecondary degree completion rate ranged from 8% to 12%. Only three publications reported differences by race, which is an area in need of attention in future studies. Keywords: at-risk students, disparities, higher education, postsecondary education, descriptive analysis, secondary data analysis, survey research, systematic review, foster care, aging-out of foster care, high school completion, postsecondary enrollment, postsecondary completion, racial disparities Introduction Students who experience foster care (SEFC) remain some of the most educationally marginalized youth in the United States. In the current study, SEFC include young people in foster care on or after their 13th birthday, which is the age limit set forth in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) that allows students to file as an independent student when determining their financial aid needs. Three commonly reported statistics are that less than half of SEFC graduate from high school, about 20% enroll in college, and just 3% earn a college degree (Pecora et al., 2005; Wolanin, 2005) . These statistics can be found on the websites of government agencies, college programs, and community-based Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License ([https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages ([https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage](https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage)). Okpych et al. organizations, as well as in many peer-reviewed articles. A problem is that these statistics come from regional studies that are more than 2 decades old and that have formidable methodological limitations (discussed below) . Moreover, both studies include SEFC from a bygone era of child welfare policy. Since the late 1990s, several foundational policy changes have occurred, including the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act, a 2008 federal law that allowed states to raise the foster care age limit from 18 to 21. Moreover, an increasing number of states offer college tuition and fee waivers to SEFC. These and other policy

FAQs

What gap does the study address?

The review targets the absence of a definitive publication reporting secondary and postsecondary education rates for SEFC using the best available evidence.

How was the evidence gathered and filtered?

The authors conducted a systematic review of publications from 2000 to 2023 and applied six inclusion criteria, resulting in 17 eligible studies.

What outcome ranges does the review report?

The study reports high school/GED completion from 69% to 85%, postsecondary enrollment from 29% to 64%, and postsecondary degree completion from 8% to 12%.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Pentious