About Measuring Up
Measuring Up 2006 consists of the national report card for higher education and fifty state report cards. Its purpose is to provide the general public and policymakers with information they can use to assess and improve postsecondary education in each state. Measuring Up 2006 is the fourth in a series of biennial report cards.
Measuring Up 2006 evaluates states on their performance in higher education because it is the states that are primarily responsible for educational access and quality in the United States. In this report card, “higher education” refers to all education and training beyond high school, including all public and private, two- and four-year, for-profit and nonprofit institutions.
The report card grades states in six overall performance categories:
- Preparation: How adequately does the state prepare students for education and training beyond high school?
- Participation: Do state residents have sufficient opportunities to enroll in education and training beyond high school?
- Affordability: How affordable is higher education for students and their families?
- Completion: Do students make progress toward and complete their certificates or degrees in a timely manner?
- Benefits: What benefits does the state receive from having a highly educated population?
- Learning: What is known about student learning as a result of education and training beyond high school?
Each state receives a letter grade in each performance category. Each grade is based on the state’s performance on several indicators, or quantitative measures, in that category.
Measuring Up 2006 is the first edition that includes data in the Learning category for all 50 states on the extent to which colleges and universities prepare students to contribute to the workforce.
As in Measuring Up 2004, most states in 2006 receive an “Incomplete” in Learning due to the lack of reported information. This year, however, nine states (Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, and South Carolina) receive a “Plus.” For more information on the Learning category, see “Grading Learning: Progress and Prospects”, by Peter T. Ewell.
In four of the performance categories—Preparation, Participation, Completion, and Benefits—grades are calculated by comparing each state’s current performance to that of the best-performing states. This comparison provides a basis for evaluating each state’s performance within a national context and encourages each state to “measure up” to the highest-performing states.
In the Affordability category, however, the United States as a whole is “measuring down.” That is, even in the best-performing states, higher education has become less rather than more affordable when the costs of attending college are considered relative to family income. As a result, state grades in the Affordability category are calculated by comparing each state’s current performance with the performance of the best states in the early 1990s. This comparison allows policymakers to examine their state’s results relative to other states, while also encouraging improved performance over time. The Affordability category is the only one in which no state receives an A—the highest grade is a C–.
Measuring Up 2006 also compares each state’s current performance with its own performance in the early 1990s. Although this historical comparison is not graded, it is offered so that states can examine their trends in performance—both improvements and declines—over time. All data are drawn from reliable national sources. (For more information please see the Technical Guide for Measuring Up 2006.)
Measuring Up 2006 is the first edition that offers international comparisons that provide essential information on how well the United States and each of the 50 states are preparing residents with the knowledge and skills necessary to compete effectively in a global economy. Every state is compared with nations associated with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).