Getting Prepared 2022: Developmental Education Course-Taking of High School Graduates

Post-secondary education enrollment and completion disparities exist for Minnesota's Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Color (BIPOC) and lower-income students. One outcome measure demonstrating the impact of system-fed disparities in K-12 education is a student's level of readiness for college-level courses following high school graduation. Given that academic preparation is a significant predictor of persistence and completion in college, developmental education serves as a bridge between the academic readiness of students enrolling in a postsecondary education and the academic skills needed to succeed in college level work. This paper examines Minnesota public high school graduates from the classes of 2014-2021 who enrolled in postsecondary education and subsequently enrolled in developmental education courses. This report uses student-level data within the Minnesota Statewide Longitudinal Education Data System (SLEDS) on Minnesota public high school graduates from the Minnesota Department of Education and college enrollment data from the Minnesota Office of Higher Education and the National Student Clearinghouse and provides one measure of academic readiness of Minnesota's public high school graduates.