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Page 3 of 8

  The Deep Gap in Educational Connections and
  Its Impact on Students


Almost all high school seniors intend to go to college directly after graduation, and the vast majority do attend some form of postsecondary education. These educational aspirations reach across racial and ethnic lines to include all groups of students.1 Yet the nation's disconnected K-12 and postsecondary education systems reflect an earlier era in which only an elite group of students attended college. As a recent national study has found,

    States have created unnecessary and detrimental barriers between high school and college, barriers that are undermining these student aspirations. . . . High school assessments often stress different knowledge and skills than do college entrance and placement requirements. Similarly, the coursework between high school and college is not connected; students graduate from high school under one set of standards and, three months later, are required to meet a whole new set of standards in college. Current data systems are not equipped to address students' needs across systems. This means that no one is held accountable for issues related to student transitions from high school to college.2

This lack of adequate communication and connection contributes to students' lack of preparation for college. It particularly harms the growing numbers of first-generation college-goers and economically disadvantaged students-students who often need very clear information about what it takes to succeed in college. But this lack of "college knowledge" extends to other students as well, many of whom, once they enter college, find themselves unprepared for college-level courses and in need of remedial classes. While over 70% of high school graduates go on to college, 40% of students at four-year institutions, and 63% at two-year institutions, take some remedial education. Large numbers of students drop out before their second year and never finish their degree.3

These high remediation and drop-out rates reflect significant human and institutional costs. A college education greatly improves an individual's opportunities for economic security in today's marketplace. Data from the U.S. Census illustrate the significant economic returns of enhanced education. In 2000, the median annual earnings for workers ages 25 and over with a high school diploma was $24,267, compared with $26,693 for workers with an associate's degree and $40,314 for those with a bachelor's degree.4

1 "Ticket to Nowhere: The Gap Between Leaving High School and Entering College and High Performance Jobs," in Thinking K-16 (3), No. 2 (Washington, D.C.: Education Trust, 1999).

2 A. Venezia, M. Kirst, and A. Antonio, Betraying the College Dream: How Disconnected Systems Undermine Student Aspirations (Stanford, CA: Bridge Project, Stanford Institute for Higher Education Research, 2003).

3 National Center for Education Statistics, The Condition of Education (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, 2001), p. 148.

4 U.S. Bureau of the Census, CPS Annual Demographic Survey, March Supplement (Washington, D.C.: 2001), http://ferret.bls.census.gov/macro/032001/perinc/new03_001.htm.

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