Indicators of High School Graduates’ Postsecondary Performance

In this report, Achieve looked at postsecondary indicators: high school graduates’ enrollment, persistence, and remediation rates at two- and four-year colleges. We found that states report on their graduates’ postsecondary outcomes at very different levels of comprehensiveness. For example, states' reporting differs in whether they include students pursuing postsecondary education at two- and four-year institutions, whether they follow both in-state and out-of-state attendees, whether data includes both public and private institutions, and whether their reporting is limited to graduates from high schools in their state or includes anyone enrolled in their state institutions. Further, states vary in how they define enrollment, remediation, and persistence. As such, comparisons across states are challenging — but worth understanding.