State Reports: (Connecticut, 2006)

• Strengths &
  Weaknesses
• Preparation
   
• Participation
   
• Affordability
   
• Completion
   
• Benefits
   
• Learning
   
• International
  Comparisons
• State Facts
   

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

Connecticut performs well in preparing students for and enrolling them in college. However, the state’s strong performance in higher education could be undermined by large disparities in opportunity based on ethnicity and income. The state is falling behind in the proportion of 9th graders graduating from high school in four years. And as the well-educated baby boomer generation begins to retire, the young population that will replace it does not appear prepared educationally to maintain the state’s edge in a global economy. Since the early 1990s, colleges and universities in Connecticut have become less affordable for students and their families. If these trends are not addressed, they could limit the state’s access to a competitive workforce and weaken its economy over time.

2006 REPORT CARD Preparation Participation Affordability Completion Benefits Learning

CHANGE IN CONNECTICUT SINCE 1992

Preparation	Participation	Affordability	Completion	Benefits	Learning

What do the arrows mean?

	The state has improved on more than half of the indicators in the category.
	The state has improved on some, but no more than half, of the indicators in the category.
	The state has declined on most or all indicators.

STRENGTHS

Preparation

• Eighth graders consistently perform very well on national assessments in math and writing.
• Eighth graders perform well on the national assessment in reading, but state performance on this measure has dropped over the past seven years, showing one of the steepest declines in the nation.
• Connecticut is among the leading states in the proportions of 11th and 12th graders taking and scoring well on Advanced Placement tests and college entrance exams.
• Seventy percent of secondary school students are taught by teachers with an undergraduate or graduate major in the subject they are teaching, which compares well with top-performing states.

Participation

• The chance that a 9th grader will enroll in college within four years is high. Over the past decade, however, the percentage of high school students graduating within four years has declined.
• Among 18- to 24-year-olds, a substantial gap remains between whites and non-whites in college participation, even though Connecticut has narrowed this gap over the past 12 years.

Completion

• Connecticut has consistently seen a very high percentage of freshmen at four-year colleges and universities return for their sophomore year.
• A substantial gap remains between whites and Hispanics in the proportion of students completing certificates and degrees relative to the number enrolled, despite improvement on this measure over the past decade.

Benefits

• Over the past 12 years, Connecticut has consistently performed very well on the percentage of residents who have a bachelor’s degree, and this substantially strengthens the state economy.
• A gap remains between whites and non-whites in the percentage who have a bachelor’s degree, despite improvement on this measure over the past 12 years.

WEAKNESSES

Preparation

• Low-income 8th graders perform very poorly on national assessments in math.

Participation

• The percentage of working-age adults who are enrolled part-time in college-level education or training has declined by 22%, compared with a nationwide decline of 12%.
• Young adults (ages 18-24) from high-income families are more than three times as likely as those from low-income families to attend college. This gap is among the widest in the nation.

Affordability

• Net college costs for low- and middle-income students to attend community colleges represent 37% of their annual family income. (Net college costs equal tuition, room, and board after financial aid.) For these students at public four-year institutions, net college costs represent almost one-half of their annual family income. These two sectors enroll two out of every three students in the state.
• Connecticut’s investment in need-based financial aid is very low when compared with top-performing states, and it has declined since 1992.

Completion

• The percentage of first-year community college students returning for their second year has declined substantially over the past 15 years—more than the nationwide decline on this measure.
• Connecticut performs poorly on international comparisons of enrolled students who complete certificate and degree programs.