Fewer AZ students advancing past high school education

Fewer students in Arizona are advancing their education after high school. That’s according to recent Arizona Education Progress Meter data released by Education Forward Arizona and Center for the Future of Arizona.

We found out more about this from Rich Nickel, President & CEO of Education Forward Arizona and Amanda Burke, the Executive Vice President of the Center for the Future of Arizona.

“We saw a decade of pretty good progress and the reason we saw that progress was people understand, regardless of the type of education you might want to get after high school, wether it’s some training program, community college, or university that is still the key to going out and getting that great job especially being part of this new 21st century economy,” Nickel said.

The latest data reveals that in 2021, only 47.3% of Arizona high school graduates enrolled in post-secondary programs. That compares to 46.8% in 2020.

The data is even more startling for students from racially and ethnically diverse populations. Education Forward Arizona has ideas on how to fix this decrease and ensure students have a fair chance at attending college.