Study Finds Majority of Sophomores Plan to Go to College

"A baseline look at the expectations of the nation's 10th-graders in 2002, shows that most (72 percent) planned to get a bachelor's degree or higher, and most (83 percent) rated getting a good education as "very important," according to A Profile of the American High School Sophomore in 2002, released last month by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics. The majority of those sophomores also placed a premium on getting good grades, and more than half considered challenging courses instrumental in motivating them to attend school. However, the report revealed that sophomores' expectations for their future education were not completely aligned with their high school preparation. Just under two-thirds (65 percent) of whites who planned to complete a four-year degree were proficient at reading level 2 (simple inference), compared to less than a third of blacks (31 percent) and just over a third (35 percent) of Hispanics. At mathematics level 4 (intermediate concepts), only 6 percent of blacks and 12 percent of Hispanics—contrasted to 33 percent of whites—were considered proficient.
'This report shows that we as a society have done an excellent job of selling the dream of attending college,' said U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. 'But we have to make sure that we are preparing high school students to succeed once they get in the door. That's why President Bush has proposed an initiative to expand the tried and tested principles of No Child Left Behind—accountability for achievement, educational options, research-based practice and flexibility—to the nation's high schools.'"

"For a copy of the report, visit http://nces.ed.gov, or call 1-877-4ED-PUBS (1-877-433-7827) with identification number ERN3808P for the paper version, while supplies last."