Top 10 Facts About College Readiness

1. The more education, the more likely people are to be employed and the more money they earn in their occupation. High school graduates earn 36.2 percent more than dropouts.

2. Only about two-thirds of students (68.8 percent in 2007) graduate high school on time.

3. Only about a third of eighth graders score at or above the proficient level on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in Reading (32 percent), Mathematics (34 percent), or Science (29 percent).

4. Virtually all states set their standards for Proficiency below those of the federal NAEP.

5. On the 2006 PISA test, 15-year-old students in 23 counties scored higher than those in the U.S. in math literacy and 16 countries scored higher in science literacy.

6. Teachers are the single most important factor on student achievement in the classroom. On average, having a top quartile teacher rather than a bottom quartile teacher will result in a 10 percentile point test score difference.

7. Scores on standardized tests have dropped. On the SAT students scored 501 in Reading (down from 508 in 2004 and 2005) and 515 in mathematics (down from 520 in 2005). On the ACT, the composite score went from 21.2 in 2007 to 21 in 2010.

8. Only 24 percent of high school seniors who take took the ACT test in 2010 meet its college-ready benchmarks in all four core subject areas.

9. Between 1982 and 2005, the percentage of high school graduates who took Chemistry and Physics more than doubled while the percentage taking Algebra II, went from 39.9 percent to 70.3 percent. Despite this, test scores have not increased.

10. Just 20 states and the District of Columbia set their graduation requirements to the college-ready level by requiring four years of mathematics (through Algebra II) and four years of college-preparatory English.

Citations for the Facts Above

1. U.S. Census Bureau (2009). "PINC-03. Educational Attainment--People 25 Years Old and Over, by Total Money Earnings in 2008, Work Experience in 2008, Age, Race, Hispanic Origin, and Sex.” DC: Department of Commerce.

2. Editorial Projects in Education (2010). "Diplomas Count 2010: Graduation by the Numbers," Education Week. Vol. 29, No. 34. June 10, 2010. Editorial Projects in Education: Bethesda, MD.

3. NCES (2010). NAEP Data Explorer. Eighth grade Reading and Math from 2009, all others 2005.

4. Bandeira de Mello, V., Blankenship, C., and McLaughlin, D.H. (2009). Mapping State Proficiency Standards Onto NAEP Scales: 2005-2007. NCES 2010-456. DC: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC.

5. Baldi, S., Jin, Y., Skemer, M., Green, P.J., and Herget, D. (2007). Highlights From PISA 2006: Performance of U.S. 15-Year-Old Students in Science and Mathematics Literacy in an International Context. NCES 2008–016. DC: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education.

6. Gordon, R., Kane, T., and Staiger, D. (2006). "Identifying Effective Teachers Using Performance on the Job." Hamilton Project Discussion Paper, March 2006. DC: The Brookings Institution

7. College Board (2009). College-Bound Seniors 2009. Princeton, NJ: Author. Also, ACT Inc. (2010). ACT Profile Report – National, Graduating Class 2010. Iowa City, Iowa.
8. ACT, Inc. (2010). ACT High School Profile Report: The Graduating Class of 2010 (Iowa City: ACT).

9. Snyder, T.D., and Dillow, S.A. (2010). Digest of Education Statistics 2009. Washington DC: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, D.C.

10. Achieve Inc. (2009). Closing the Expectations Gap: 2009.