New Career and College Readiness Report Not Encouraging

Hammond: Numbers show there is much room for improvement

The college and career ready watchdog group Achieve has published a new report showing we have a long way to go to meet the college and career standards that employers need to meet workforce needs.

“Of the students who took the ACT (41 percent participation rate), 27 percent met career or college ready standards.  Of the students who took the SAT (64 percent participation rate), 32 percent met career or college ready standards,” said TAB CEO Bill Hammond.

“Based on these numbers, we believe around 25 percent of all of our graduates are career or college ready, which should be the core mission of our schools.”

Also, the report shows that we are far from meeting the college graduation requirements needed for our workforce.  The report shows that 47 percent of jobs demand a bachelor’s degree, but we are meeting only 19 percent of that demand.  In Texas, we aren’t even meeting the demand for associate’s degrees, with a seven percent supply of associate’s degree holders, but a 10 percent demand.

“These numbers show we have a long way to go to meet our education goals in Texas, especially in light of the 60x30TX plan to have 60 percent of people age 25-34 hold a post-secondary degree or certificate by the year 2030,” said Hammond.

To see the full Texas report CLICK HERE.