The 13th annual High School Benchmarks report by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center offers a glimpse into postsecondary progression and outcomes for young people after graduating from high school.
The report includes data on first-fall enrollment for the high school Class of 2024 (students who immediately pursued higher education), the persistence of the Class of 2022 and completion rates for those who graduated high school in 2018. It considers high schools that are part of the National Student Clearinghouse’s StudentTracker.
In 2024, 51 percent of students from high-poverty schools were enrolled at a college immediately after graduating compared to 74 percent of peers from low-poverty schools.
Similarly, those who graduated from low-income high schools were less likely to enroll in college immediately compared to students from high-income schools (52 percent versus 64 percent, respectively).
Fifty-five percent of students from high-minority high schools (defined as schools where 40 percent or more of the population is Black or Hispanic) immediately enrolled in college in 2024 compared to 63 percent of students from low-minority schools.
Sixty percent of urban high schoolers enrolled in college immediately post-grad, compared to 63 percent of those from suburban schools and 53 percent of those from rural schools.
These trends were consistent with the prior year (only changing 2 percentage points or less).
Data on enrollment in an institution of higher education within one and two years of exiting the K-12 system is also included in the report. “Enrollment within one year of high school graduation increased by more than 1 percentage point for low-income, high-poverty and high-minority high schools between the high school graduating classes of 2022 and 2023,” the report states.
Achievement
For the Class of 2022, 74 percent of those from high-poverty high schools persisted from their first year of college to year two, compared to 90 percent of those from low-poverty schools.
Those from higher-income high schools transitioned from year one to year two of college at a rate of 87 percent while their low-income counterparts had a rate of 78 percent. For those from high-minority schools the rate was 55 percent compared to 63 percent for low-minority schools. For those from urban high schools the rate was 83 percent, for those from a suburban background it was 87 percent and for rural schools it was 82 percent.
Among the Class of 2018, those from suburban schools were most likely to graduate college in six years (with an associate degree or higher) at a rate of 46 percent compared to 39 percent for students from a rural background and 37 percent for urban school students.
Those from low-minority schools were more likely to achieve the same goal in the six-year span than their peers from high-minority schools (48 percent versus 31 percent) as were those from higher-income schools compared to low-income schools (49 percent versus 29 percent).
Those from low-poverty high schools had the highest chance of six-year degree completion at 59 percent compared to 25 percent for those from high-poverty schools.
“Graduates of low-poverty and higher-income high schools were more likely to complete STEM degrees within six years (22.4 percent and 17.5 percent, respectively) than their counterparts at high-poverty (8.1 percent) and low-income (9.1 percent) high schools,” according to the report.
The report states that, “Secondary education practitioners can use these benchmarks to evaluate and monitor progress in assisting students to make the transition from high school to college.”
