College Ready Blog

A recent study of DC public schools finds that for every 100 high school freshman, only 9 go on to complete a college degree within five years of enrolling in college. DC already spends nearly $12,500 per student, the highest in the nation. The result - a district of 65,000 students only produces 400 college grads per year. That’s not even enough college grads to staff the vacancies each year in the public schools.

Another way to think about this. With an $811 million budget, DC Public Schools spends roughly $2 million per college grad each year. While less money is clearly not the answer, this is blood-in-the-water for fiscal conservatives who want to defund public schools and a cautionary tale for “throw-money-at-the-problem” Democrats.

DC is not alone here. Recent reports from Chicago show an 8% college completion rate. Our own research shows similar numbers out of Los Angeles, and there is no reason to expect other large districts are faring any better.

This is a civil rights crisis of epic proportions. It’s become trendy to say high schools are the top priority thanks to Bill and Oprah. And districts are slowly getting into the action by hiring Assistant Superintendents of Secondary Education, breaking up comprehensive high schools into small schools, creating freshmen academies, etc. But it’s hard to justify incremental change against a problem of this magnitude. Seriously. Has anyone seen Jesse?