Washington Student Achievement Council announcement.
Over the past decade, Washington’s high school graduation rate has steadily increased, but the proportion of the state’s graduates who enroll directly in college has not. The direct enrollment rate that once hovered around 60 percent dropped to 50 percent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Declines in the direct enrollment rate varied by race, which could further exacerbate existing racial inequities in postsecondary enrollment.
Washington’s direct enrollment rate is lower than the national average, and the decline in direct enrollment was more significant than the national trend. In 2020, the national direct enrollment rate fell by 3 percentage points (from 66 percent in 2019 to 63 percent in 2020), compared to a decline of 8 percentage points in Washington (from 59 percent to 51 percent).
Other nearby states also experienced enrollment decline during the pandemic. California’s direct enrollment rate fell by about 2 percentage points in 2020 (from 65 percent in 2019 to 63 percent in 2020) and Idaho’s direct enrollment rate fell by 7 percentage points (from 46 percent to 39 percent). (Note: national data and state data for California and Idaho define “direct enrollment” as occurring by the fall following high school graduation. Washington’s direct enrollment rate includes enrollment within one year of high school graduation.)
A new Research Spotlight from the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) describes how the pandemic took a significant toll on direct enrollment in the state. Key findings include:
- Washington’s direct enrollment rate dropped 9 percentage points between 2019 and 2021, a sharp departure from the previous decade of stagnant direct postsecondary enrollment in the state.
- Direct enrollment in two-year institutions declined more than direct enrollment in four-year institutions.
- Hispanic or Latino students experienced the largest decline in direct enrollment, from 54 percent in 2019 to 40 percent in 2021.
The full Research Spotlight can be found on the WSAC website.
When Bill Gates walks back on his Common Core curriculum but the state OSPI doubles down on it, results speak for themselves.
If a return on investment is not realized, the investment will fail.
Perhaps the cost benefit ratio between college costs and success after graduation has something to do with it. Why go deep into debt, especially with esoteric majors, that leave you still unprepared to do anything more that be an assistant manager at a burger joint? Perhaps too many are being pushed into a college pathway that have not business being there: where are the vocational pathways? This could be the result of a college degreed educational industry that thinks every student to be worth anything in life requires a college degree just like them.
To be expected as the quality of a graduation diploma has less and less meaning with regards to academic achievement. This is not only unfair to those graduating who have not achieved proficiency in ELA, math, science and other subjects but also those who have excelled in those subject areas. Under achievers are not prepared for life after graduation while those excelling are painted with the same brush at graduation and lose opportunities, such as college recruitment, that excellence should have garnered. A cheapening of diploma worthiness affects all underachievers and over achievers and everything in the middle. This is what woke “equity” does: equality of outcomes and everyone suffers equally….but in different ways. A self inflicted wound by an education industry steeped in EDI instead of academics.
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