Using Add Health and AHAA to Predict AHAA End of High School Outcomes

Figures A and B (below) highlight suggested Add Health and AHAA data to use for predicting end of high school academic outcomes, such as highest math level attained or cumulative GPA. These figures illustrate the importance of evaluating the relationship between the timing of student coursework and the Add Health surveys when selecting samples for this type of analysis. Significantly, these figures point out that researchers can choose to use the AHAA data that corresponds to Wave I (i.e., 9th graders’ Year 1 AHAA data, 10th graders’ Year 2 data, 11th graders’ Year 3 information), or they can opt to focus on all cohorts’ Year 1 (or Year 2 or Year 3) AHAA information as a baseline or predictive measure of end of high school academic outcomes.

Figure A: Conceptual Model for Predicting AHAA End of High School Outcomes

Figure B: Suggested Add Health & AHAA Data for Use When Predicting AHAA End of High School Outcomes

Numbers (9, 10, 11, 12) indicate grade level, Years refer to the academic years of course taking (with Year 1 referring to the first year of high school, and so forth).