Student Pipeline - Of 100 9th Graders, How Many Graduate from High School on Time, Directly Enter College, and Graduate within 150 Percent of Required Degree Time
Why is this important?
This is a measure of student progression and educational attainment from 9th grade to college completion - using statistics for on-time high school graduation, direct college entry, and graduation within 150 percent of time required by degree program (6 years for bachelor's and 3 years for associate). It also indicates relative strengths and weaknesses of states at each stage of transition in the education pipeline.
What are the policy implications?
States with high values on this measure have higher proportions of students who persist to a college degree. However, states can perform relatively well at one stage of transition while performing poorly on another. These data are useful in detecting which transition stage warrants the most policy attention - whether it be high school graduation, college-going, first-year retention, or college graduation.
States that have relatively high proportions of students who persist to a college degree also have high levels of educational attainment.
Other factors to consider:
Percentage of 25 to 49 Year Olds with a College Degree
Data sources and related links:
http://www.nces. ed.gov
http://ww w.postsecondary.org
