Vocational Opportunities of Students with “Learning Disabilities”

In her dissertation, Jonna M. Blanck explores the transitions into vocational training of secondary students with so-called “learning disabilities” to identify individual and institutional factors that complicate, impede or support those transitions. By pursuing this research question, she builds on studies that address the effects of educational poverty on career opportunities using a life course perspective. Her inquiry follows a mixed-method approach: On the one hand, she draws on data collected in the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) to perform a quantitative analysis of those transitions. On the other hand, she uses interviews with experts and document analyses to learn more about the ways in which institutions structure the educational trajectories of youth.