Joanne Jacobs, my favorite edublogger, reports on US educational pipeline drop-out rates.
If you talk to a class of ninth graders, nearly all will say they want to go to college. But nationwide, only 18 percent will earn a two-year college degree within three years of leaving high school, or a four-year degree within six years. Only 68 percent of students who start high school earn a diploma, says a study of K-16 success rates by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. The study uses data from the National Center for Education Statistics. About 59 percent of graduates -- 40 percent of the original ninth grade class -- go directly from high school to college. By sophomore year, one third have dropped out, leaving 27 percent of the original ninth graders still enrolled.The results are summarized in this graph. Apparently, 32 percent of US 9th graders drop out of high school, and only 18 percent get a college degree. Some states are far worse than others, with Massachusetts having the highest college graduate rate (29%) and a better than-average drop-out rate (24%), but New Jesey has the lowest drop-out rate by far at 10%, although they also have the worst college drop-out rate (36%), with another 30% never making the transition. Wonder what's up with that?