College Readiness and Bachelor’s Completion: A Longitudinal Analysis of the High School Class of 2003

• In Event: Research Using Longitudinal Data: Latest in Longitudinal Data Systems Used, Topics Studied, and Methods Applied

Abstract

College readiness has been defined and measured in various ways in the literature. The measures are typically validated by exploring college enrollment rates, the lack of a need for remediation upon enrollment, and outcomes in courses specific to the given college readiness measure. This study provides a longitudinal description of the association between college readiness—as measured by benchmarks set by the ACT—and subsequent bachelor’s degree completion of the State’s high school class of 2003. In addition to describing how college readiness is distributed among this cohort, we also described college readiness of students within various demographic groups, namely race, gender, and parental income. Finally, we analyzed the relationships between college readiness, student characteristics and bachelor’s completion.

Authors

• Eric J. Lichtenberger, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

• Cecile Dietrich, Illinois Education Research Council