Career Pathways: Graduation is No Longer the Endgame - Jessica Giffin, InformED Blog

More American students than ever are graduating from high school and going on to college or some other postsecondary education. Two-thirds of our high school graduates enroll in two- or four-year programs in the fall after graduation. Although colleges award several million bachelor’s and associate degrees, only 59 percent of students attending four-year colleges will earn their degrees within six years. And just 29 percent of those attending community colleges will finish within three years. A 2015 Achieve survey on college and career preparedness found that more than three-quarters of employers reported gaps in recent high school graduates’ preparation for typical jobs in their companies. Educators, employers, and policy makers see the problem: the old either/or model of college-prep or vocational education is simply out of sync with the needs of 21st-century America. http://educationpolicy.air.org/blog/career-pathways-graduation-no-longer-endgame