According to data from the National Education Longitudinal Study, students who take a core academic sequence perform better than those who do not, and they are more likely to earn a postsecondary degree. We attempted to look at students' course-taking by state, how many dropped out of school, and how many enrolled in college. At the national level, we know that high school students are taking more rigorous courses now than they did in 1983, an important sign that expectations are going up. But what we discovered is that data about student course-taking at the state level are dismal. Many states cannot provide the most basic information on what proportion of their young people are taking rigorous math, science, English, and social studies courses.
States also do shoddy recordkeeping when it comes to dropout and graduation rates.
The definitions are not even comparable across states. Yet we know that those who hold a GED certificate do not fare as well economically. This kind of information is crucial if we hope to raise student achievement. Because the data on academic participation rates are so inadequate, we were unable to grade the states on this information. We know that it is controversial to compare states based on test scores because students who come from families with higher incomes, fewer children, and higher education levels typically score higher on assessments.