High School Benchmarks

September 12, 2024

This twelfth annual report provides the most current data on high school graduates’ postsecondary enrollment, persistence, and completion outcomes. These data are the most relevant benchmarks for monitoring and evaluating progress in assisting students to make the high school to college transition and earn a credential in a timely manner.

The current report examines first-fall (immediate) college enrollment for the high school graduating class of 2023, persistence for the class of 2021, and completion for the class of 2017. Outcomes are disaggregated across high school income, minority, and locale-centric characterizations.

The High School Benchmarks report is presented as a data dashboard-only publication. Data contributing to these analyses are available for download.

About this report

The High School Benchmarks report series is designed for secondary education practitioners and policymakers to be able to benchmark key postsecondary outcomes of their high school graduates as measured by enrollment, first-year persistence, and eventual completion of a postsecondary credential. Secondary education practitioners can use these benchmarks to evaluate and monitor progress in assisting students to make the transition from high school to college. The student outcomes are disaggregated by high school characteristics based on income level, minority enrollment, and locale to ensure that the postsecondary outcomes provided can be relevant to the specific needs and characteristics of different types of high schools.

National Highlights

There was little change in the immediate fall enrollment rate across most high school characteristics for 2023 high school graduates compared to the previous year.
Persistence rates from the first to second year of college increased for 2021 high school graduates by at least a percentage point across all high school characteristics.
The rate of 2017 high school graduates completing a postsecondary degree in six years remained stagnant or fell across nearly all high school characteristics compared to 2016 graduates.