| Past research indicates the important role that parent aspirations play in the formation of student educational aspirations. However, until now, research has neglected to examine the relation between parent educational aspirations and the educational aspirations of students with learning disabilities. The purpose of this present study was to examine the relations among learning disability status and parent and student educational aspirations. The data from the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS:88), were collected during the student's eighth and tenth grade years, and again two years after the expected date of graduation. Parent aspirations for their children did affect the educational aspirations of their children, regardless of learning disability status. The higher the parents' aspirations for their children, the higher the aspirations children held for themselves. Although learning disability status did not affect parent or student educational aspirations directly, it did have an indirect influence through academic performance, consequently decreasing parent and student aspirations. Sex of students, regardless of disability status, affected parent educational aspirations, with parents holding higher aspirations for their daughters than their sons. Students with learning disabilities were significantly less likely to attend college than students without learning disabilities. For students without learning disabilities, increased parent aspirations led to an increased likelihood of postsecondary attainment. For students with learning disabilities, parent aspirations had no significant effect on actual college attainment.; Much more influential in actual postsecondary attainment for students with learning disabilities was socioeconomic status (SES) with students with LD from low SES backgrounds less likely to attend college than students with LD from high SES backgrounds. Since parent aspirations do influence the educational level to which adolescents with learning disabilities aspire, school psychologists may indirectly influence the aspirations of these students by increasing parent aspirations. Furthermore, due to the influence of academic achievement on the aspirations of students with learning disabilities, school psychologists and teachers may need to increase and improve the current academic interventions and services to allow these students to achieve at their highest potential. |
