Dec 29, 2011

New Data on College Completion Rates, Pathways of CT High School Students

A new report providing an overview of college degree and certificate completions by the state’s public high school students.

Postsecondary Enrollment and Completion Patterns of Students from Connecticut Public High Schools
View Report (pdf)

View High School Data

About P-20

The P-20 Council, the Board of Regents for Higher Education (BOR) and the State Department of Education (SDE) today released a new report providing an overview of college degree and certificate completions by the state’s public high school students. Through an analysis of data from the National Student Clearinghouse, the report examines the educational pathways Connecticut public school students took after graduating from high school in 2004.

The report finds that before September 2010:

Two out of five (41%) public high school students in the class of 2004 completed at least one degree or certificate.
At least another third enrolled at a college or university during this period, but did not complete a credential.
About another quarter were not found in the National Student Clearinghouse database, suggesting they did not enroll in a collegiate institution during those six years.

The report provides degree completion rates by high school for each school in the state, information which has previously not been available in Connecticut. This research was initiated at the request of the Connecticut P-20 Council to support efforts to improve connections across the state’s educational systems and workforce. This report follows a series of workshops on college and career readiness held this fall attended by leaders from schools and higher education institutions. The purpose of releasing this data is to make information widely available so that schools, colleges, universities, students, parents, policymakers and other stakeholders can better understand the state’s pathways to educational success and develop partnerships to improve the effectiveness of our educational system.

“We need to ensure that we’re preparing our students for success from the very moment they step foot in our schools,” said Michael Meotti, BOR executive vice president. “That means identifying ways in which we can help them learn and be better able to adapt to the 21st century workforce. This will only be achieved through an intensive partnership between pre-K-12 and higher education.”

"Student success in the global economy is grounded in preparation,” said State Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor. “This partnership reinforces our collective commitment to college and career readiness, regarding which we will remain unyielding in our pursuit."

The report also calls for directing attention to the third of students who enroll but don’t graduate within six years. Creating better ways to connect information about students across state agencies while maintaining individual privacy was also among the report’s conclusions. The report also recommended conducting additional research to understand better what factors make students more likely to enter college prepared and to complete degrees and certificates.

The National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) is a non-profit organization with a nationwide central repository of enrollment status and graduation data. NSC’s database includes institutions that enroll over 93% of all college students in the country.

View Report (pdf)
View High School Data
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