Common Data Project – 2022 Report
Executive Summary
The six New England states have shared comparable data through the NESSC Common Data Project that demonstrate evidence of progress in secondary school outcomes. This report presents data trends across the region, as well as by state. The report also includes data disaggregated by student characteristics across six indicators, which allow us to examine educational equity in New England secondary school outcomes by economic disadvantage (ED), English learner status (EL), disability status, gender, and race/ethnicity.
Over the last twelve years, the region has seen some noteworthy gains. For example, high school graduation rates across New England have been continuously trending up, and four-year graduation rates for multiple student groups have reached the NESSC target of 90%. Another positive trend is a reduction in the graduation rate gap between economically disadvantaged students and their non-economically disadvantaged peers. However, the data also reveal persistent achievement gaps that disproportionately impact historically disadvantaged students. The greatest variations are seen when comparing data for college enrollment and for college completion. We examine achievement gaps for the region, as well as variations across states, in greater detail throughout the report.
Furthermore, as this report reflects the first full school year of learning since the COVID-19 pandemic began in Spring 2020, these data also shed light on how recovery and student attainment measures are disproportionately impacting students.
Regionally, student achievement approaches, but has not yet met, targets for all high school and college outcomes.
Averages Across New England (2021)
Note: The NESSC sets targets for each of the student achievement outcomes and monitors progress toward these targets annually
Gains and Remaining Gaps
On average, NESSC states have not yet met the targets set by the Consortium for high school graduation (4-year), however, the graduating class of 2021 represents the closest the region has been to the target since data were first collected. College enrollment and persistence rates, too, have not yet met targets set by the NESSC. Similarly, college completion rates for most student groups, as well as for the NESSC region as a whole, fall well below the 80% target.
Many student groups are approaching the NESSC targets for high school outcomes, but achievement gaps persist. Since 2009, notable gains have been made in improving high school graduation rates and reducing high school dropout rates. Despite these gains, some groups of students complete high school at rates far below the average.
Economically disadvantaged students, English learners, students with disabilities, male students, and Black, Hispanic, Native American, and multiracial students across the region graduate high school at far lower rates as compared to their counterparts.
When disaggregating data by student characteristics, high school outcomes vary substantially:
- English Learners and students with disabilities both have a four-year high school graduation rate near 73%, whereas some groups are nearing the 90% target, with 86% of males, 87% of multiracial students, and 85% of Native American students graduating from high school.
- Non-economically disadvantaged students, non-English Learner students, students without disabilities, and students who are female, Asian or White, have met or exceeded the 90% high school graduation rate target.
- The regional dropout rate for economically disadvantaged students, while in decline over the last decade, stands at 8% in 2021, while the dropout rate for non-economically disadvantaged students has hovered around 2% since 2014.
Students with disabilities gain the most through the support of up to two extra years to graduate from high school, and economically disadvantaged, male, Black, multiracial, and Native American students all achieve extended graduation (6-year) rates above 80%.
English Learners experienced a sharp decline in the extended graduation (6-year) rate in 2021, bringing their rate to 69%, 11 percentage points below the target, and the lowest it has been since NESSC began collecting these data.
While trends in high school outcomes remained relatively steady, college enrollment and persistent rates continued to fall below pre-COVID rates across the region. Despite increasing rates prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, college enrollment rates have yet to recover. In the fall of 2021, the enrollment rate held at 59% for the region, 7 percentage points lower than it was before the pandemic and the lowest enrollment rate since these data were collected. Although college persistence for the region showed a positive trend from the previous year and is now back to meeting the 80% target, it continues to lag nearly 5 percentage points behind where it was before COVID.
No student subgroups have met the NESSC targets for college enrollment and few met the target for college persistence; outcomes also vary widely across subgroups.
While college enrollment rates for students historically underrepresented in postsecondary education – which includes economically disadvantaged students, English Learners, students with disabilities, and Black, Hispanic, and Native American students – have risen in recent years, enrollment and completion gaps persist. College enrollment rates and college completion rates experience some of the greatest disparities observed in this report. For example:
- Between 2020 and 2021, the enrollment rate for English Learners decreased slightly to 29%, whereas non-English Learners’ enrollment increased slightly to 62%. For English Learners, this represents a 13 percentage point drop from the year prior to COVID-19, yet a 6 percentage point drop for non-English Learners.
- Economically disadvantaged students, English Learners, and students with disabilities all have enrollment rates below 45% and enroll in college at a rate at least 26 percentage points behind their counterparts.
- Persistence rates, after a sharp decline last year, began to recover in 2021 yet continue to lag nearly 5 percentage points behind where the rate was prior to COVID. Disaggregating college outcomes data also reveals that persistence rates for all subgroups of students now fall below the NESSC target, with the exception of Asian/Pacific Islander students.
- Although persistence rates have still not recovered to pre-COVID rates, persistence among economically disadvantaged students, English Learners, and students with disabilities all increased by at least 2 percentage points in the past year.
Although college completion rates appeared steady last year, 2021 saw the first decline in three years.Overall, college completion rates for the region dropped to 67% in 2021.
As with enrollment and persistence, however, college completion rates vary across student subgroups and include some of the most sizable gaps between student cohorts. For example:
- College completion rates for economically disadvantaged students trail that of their non-economically disadvantaged peers by about 30 percentage points.
- Female students graduate from college at a higher rate as compared to male students, with 71% of female students and 62% of male students who entered college in 2015 completing a college degree by 2021.
Many other comparisons are possible, and we encourage you to continue exploring the data. We hope this report will inform efforts to close persistent achievement gaps and promote greater educational equity and opportunity for all students.
Outcomes by Student Group (2021)
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