Seventy-five percent of high school graduates are now enrolling in some form of postsecondary education within two years of graduating. How prepared are they to achieve at high levels in their college studies? Several recent studies reveal some benchmarks in how we are doing in preparing a nation to go to college.

The following is a collection of findings from various benchmarking efforts.

• Enrollment in advanced math and science is on the rise in American high schools. For example, 7.3 percent of high school graduates took Chemistry II or Physics II in 1998 compared to 4.8 percent in 1982. Nearly 12 percent of students were enrolled in Mathematics, Level III in 1998 compared to 5.9 percent in 1982.

• Between 1982 and 1998, the percentage of high school graduates who completed advanced coursework in mathematics, science, English, and foreign languages increased. In math, the percentage of high school students who completed advanced academic level courses increased from 26 percent to 41 percent; in foreign languages, the percentage increased from 15 percent to 30 percent. These completions were the most consistent in the Asian/Pacific Islander groups and in private school students.
  

• A 2001 benchmarking report released by Trends in Mathematics and Science Achievement Around the World (TIMSS) had the U.S. states and school districts---as if nations unto themselves---compete in an international arena. Results showed the majority of states bunched around the "lackluster" U.S. national average (compared to 38 other nations). Poor, urban U.S. school districts ranked among the lowest in the world. Not surprisingly, more affluent U.S. school districts hovered around the world's elite.

• According to the Condition of Education 2000 by the National Center for Education Statistics, children from lower-income families are less likely to attend college, not only because of financial prohibitions, but because they are less prepared academically. Eighty-six percent of 1992 high school graduates from families with high incomes ($75,000 per year or more) were at least minimally academically qualified for admission to a 4-year college, compared to 68 percent from middle-income ($25,000 to $74,999), and 53 percent from low income (less than $25,000) families.
  

• In a study done of 1992 high school graduates, a large discrepancy is evident between what a student needs in order to graduate from high school and what they need to get into college. Sixty-four percent of high school graduates were qualified for admission to 4-year institutions. Of these, 72.7 percent of Asian/Pacific Islander high school graduates were qualified; 68.2 percent of whites; 53 percent of Hispanics; 46.9 percent of Blacks and 44.8 percent of American Indian/Alaskan Native.

DID YOU KNOW?

• High school graduates from high-income families were almost twice as likely as those from middle-income families to be "very highly" qualified for college admission.

• From 1980-1993, only 47 percent of students who attended four-year colleges required no remedial courses at all.

• From 1983-1993, only 15.1 percent of college students required no remedial reading courses at college, while 29.3 percent required four or more remedial reading courses.

• In March 1999, the total percentage of 25 to 29-year-old high school graduates with a bachelor's degree or higher was 32.1 percent, up from 22 percent in 1971.