Government Social Research
Statistics Canada publish report: Educational outcomes at age 19 associated with reading ability at age 15. It uses data from two surveys to examine the relationship between reading ability at age 15 and educational outcomes, namely high school completion and post secondary participation.. The Youth in Transition Survey (YITS) is a longitudinal survey designed to examine the patterns of, and influences on, major transitions in young people's lives, particularly with respect to education, training and work. YITS was first implemented in 2000 with two cohorts of youth: a group aged 15 and a group aged 18 to 20. Among its objectives was to gain a better understanding of the determinants of postsecondary participation.
With this in mind, it was decided to link YITS to a well recognized measure of knowledge and skills: the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which is an internationally recognised assessment of youth knowledge and skills. Among other things, it was designed to evaluate if youth are able to analyse, reason and communicate their ideas effectively.
Linking the two surveys provides a unique opportunity to better understand major transitions in youth life, including participation in post secondary education.
The first cycle of YITS was collected in 2000. Youth aged 15 also participated
in PISA. In 2004, when they participated in YITS for the third time, these
young people were aged 19. This report is the first to take advantage of
the unique feature of the YITS/PISA study.