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Are States Measuring Up? The National Report Card on Higher Ed
If the fifth biennial assessment of U.S. higher education prepared by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education had to fit on an early elementary school report card, it might very well read "Shows effort, but not keeping pace with the rest of the students."
Measuring Up 2008 first looks at national higher education performance compared against other countries and finds the traditional leadership role of the U.S. eroding in many categories: percent of 18- to 24-year-olds enrolled in college; college completion rates (never a U.S. strength, the report points out); and percent of 25- to 34-year-olds with associate degrees or higher.
Troubling signs for the future, Measuring Up reveals that national high school on-time graduation rates for all racial and ethnic groups are decreasing, with dramatic differences among demographic groups. Sharp gaps in college enrollment and graduation rates present themselves when looking at family incomes and race, raising issues of college accessibility and affordability.
The burden of improving higher education, the center contends, falls on the states, though. As a result each state is measured by its "performance" in six areas:
- Preparation for college: How well are high school students prepared to enroll in higher education and succeed in college-level courses?
- Participation: Do young people and working age adults have access to opportunities for education and training beyond high school?
- Affordability: How difficult is it to pay for college when family income, the cost of attending college, and student financial aid are taken into account?
- Completion: Do students persist in and complete certificate and degree programs in college?
- Benefits: How do college-educated and trained residents contribute to the economic and civic well-being of each state?
- Learning: How do college-educated residents perform on a variety of measures of knowledge and skills?
While nationally the U.S. is slipping, on an individual state basis, most states are making progress for most all of the categories, with the exception of affordability, in which the trend lines for all but two states (NY and TN) are declining. For example down trend arrows appear in the Completion and Participation categories for only two and seven states, respectively. The results are still positive over all in Preparation; however, 16 states received down arrows. [Note: All 50 states received "Incompletes" for the learning category due to a lack of data on the state level to allow comparison.]
Each state receives its own report card with weighted-composite grades for five of the key areas, with the addition of trend arrows indicating progress since the Measuring Up 2006 report two years ago, and brief comments. Graphs accompany each state's report card to present trends and comparisons with the national average and the median of the best five states. Measuring Up 2008 is available at: http://measuringup2008.highereducation.org/.