Identifying Indicators That Predict Postsecondary Readiness and Success in Arkansas

The Arkansas Department of Education has established the goal that all students will graduate from high school prepared for college, career, and community engagement. Arkansas faces several challenges as it seeks to achieve this ambitious goal.

The Regional Educational Laboratory Southwest (REL Southwest), operated by AIR, has supported the Department in several areas, including developing and refining college and career readiness indicators, improving and using data systems and data visualization techniques, gaining a better understanding of the progress of their students as they prepare for college and careers, and identifying where unequal postsecondary education and employment opportunities exist for students.

Specifically, in collaboration with the Southwest College and Career Readiness Research Partnership, REL Southwest conducted a study that examined the extent to which Arkansas’s middle school and high school indicators of postsecondary readiness predict a student postsecondary readiness outcome and success outcomes. The study estimated the accuracy and strength of the middle school and high school indicators for predicting the outcomes.