Education
College Readiness Report
The successful transition of students from high school into postsecondary education is an important policy issue. To examine this topic, the Arizona Community Foundation and Arizona State University tracked Maricopa County high school graduates from the classes of 2005 through 2008 who enrolled in either the Maricopa community college system or one of Arizona’s three public universities the year following graduation from high school. This research provides parents and policy makers with important information to encourage discussions at the local level about how well their schools prepare high school graduates for college.
The following tables include school-level results on the percentage of high school graduates from Maricopa County district and charter high schools who enter postsecondary education ready for college-level coursework. For the purpose of this study, college-level is defined as any course categorized by the postsecondary institutions as:
- English – Freshman English or above (courses designated as Pre-Freshman English and Other Lower Division English were not designated as college-level).
- Mathematics – College Algebra or above (courses designated as Pre-Intermediate Algebra, Intermediate Algebra and those designated as Other Lower Division Mathematics were not designated as college-level).
Approximately, 59% of Maricopa County graduates are included in the analyses. These findings tell us a great deal about Arizona’s
educational pipeline. The results do not include students who attended college outside the state of Arizona, entered a postsecondary institution
but did not enter an English or Mathematics course, or enrolled in a community college elsewhere in Arizona, outside of Maricopa County.
Data Source(s):
The underlying data were provided by the Arizona Board of Regents and the Maricopa County Community College District office in accordance with the
reporting requirement of §ARS15-1822 - Report; academic performance of high school graduates.
Please contact author for permission to cite or publish the results: Dr. David R. Garcia, Assistant Professor, The Mary Lou Fulton Institute and Graduate School of Education, ASU
