Student Achievement

Study: More States Give High Schools Data on Students’ College Progress

By Sarah D. Sparks — December 19, 2011 1 min read
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More than one in five college freshmen end up taking at least one remediation course, according to federal estimates, but states are doing a better job of providing feedback to high schools about when they need to beef up course rigor, according to new data from the Data Quality Campaign.

The DQC’s new reports on high school feedback and early warning systems to prevent dropouts find that nearly every state now has the capacity to make real connections between K-12 and postsecondary student information.

According to the DQC, 39 states give high schools feedback reports on how their graduates perform academically in postsecondary education. Of these, 28 states include information on the students who need to take remedial classes once they reach campus. For the most part, this information is limited to the students who stay in-state, at public universities; only a dozen states give high schools feedback on the 19 percent of high school graduates who attend out-of-state or private colleges.

The Washington-based group pointed to Kentucky as a model for other states. My colleague Caralee Adams has reported on some of the ways that state is connecting high school administrators with the information to help them give their students a stronger foundation for college.

The group plans to follow up after the new year with a closer look at how states connect education and jobs data.

A version of this news article first appeared in the Inside School Research blog.