2023 will mark eight years since the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed into law. The law, the latest reauthorization of the seminal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), is notable for being the first federal law explicitly stating
that students must be taught skills that will allow them to succeed in college and careers. Since its passing, 27 states (including Washington, DC) have incorporated college and career readiness (CCR) indicators into their school accountability systems.
However, without any guidance in the law, these indicators vary wildly between states.
In a new report, The Alliance for Excellent Education (All4Ed) compared these readiness measures with college enrollment
and college remediation rates. This report shined some light on how much variance there is in the college and career readiness indicators between states. Some states saw 18% of their students being deemed CCR ready, while other states saw 89% of their
students meeting the indicators. But postsecondary enrollment varied significantly less, the percentage of high school completers who enroll in college immediately after graduation ranged from 35% to 75%.
The report also found a large amount of variance of CCR rates when comparing racial/ethnic student groups. Across the states that disaggregated this data by race, 33% of Black students and 41% of Latino/a students were deemed college and career ready,
on average, compared to 61% of White students. In every state, Black students were less likely to demonstrate college and career readiness compared to White students. In every state except Vermont, Latino/a students were less likely to demonstrate
readiness compared to White students.
In a similar vein, Black and Latino/a students are less likely to enroll in postsecondary education than White students. On average, 53% of Black students and 49% of Latino/a students who recently completed high school in a state went on to enroll in
college, compared to 62% of White students. Despite these differences in enrollment rates, all groups had a similar range of postsecondary enrollment rate, roughly 40 percentage points, while the variation in CCR rates was much wider for students
of color than for White students.
While we all hope that graduates are prepared for college and a career, students are not required to be deemed ready to enroll in order to actually enroll. This means that the percentage of students enrolling is higher than the college and career
readiness rate in 34 states (including Washington, DC). This difference is the largest in those states that relied on college entrance exams to measure college and career readiness.
In order to address these discrepancies, the All4Ed offers three suggestions:
Use readiness indicators that consider multiple options for students to demonstrate readiness, as opposed to relying on a single measure.
Include postsecondary measures in college and career readiness indicators.
Integrate college readiness into career-ready pathways.
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