1. By: Colleen Burns, Miranda Hibbs, & Amanda Holt
Community Research: College and Career Readiness of High School Students
By: Colleen Burns, Miranda Hibbs, & Amanda Holt

2. Claim
Even though some would say Kentucky’s education system has improved in recent years, not enough students qualify as college and career ready, which contributes to poverty, crime, and economic problems in Kentucky.

3. Background Information
What is college and career readiness?
To be college ready, a Kentucky high school student must meet the following benchmarks according to the Kentucky Department of Education:
ACT Reading: 20
ACT English: 18
ACT Math: 19
Additionally, the Kentucky Department of Education states that to be career ready, a Kentucky high school student must complete classes in a “career pathway” (such as business) and pass the KOSSA test for industry certification.

4. Background Information Continued
According to Kentucky education commissioner Terry Holiday in 2012, “only 47 percent of high schoolers are ready to advance” to college or a career after high school (“Most students not prepared…”) According to PLD’s school accountability data, only 22 students in the whole school met career readiness and only 407 in the whole district were career ready (“School report card…”)
The numbers above show that college and career readiness isn’t just a problem, but it is a major problem that deserves immediate action. Are these low numbers that show that over half of children aren’t prepared for life after high school what we want for Kentucky children? These numbers should scare anyone who cares about the future of Kentucky children and about the future of Kentucky in general.

5. Why Should Kentucky Worry? Reason I: Increased Poverty
Even though about 47% of available jobs in Kentucky don’t require a college degree according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average yearly earnings for jobs that require less than a college degree was only $20,350 compared to the national average of $35,080 for all occupations (“Education level and jobs…”). The federal poverty level for one person is $11,770, which means that even if a person without a college degree earns the average (which many don’t—since it’s an average, many have to earn less), they would be closer to the federal poverty level than they would be to the national average income for all occupations (“2015 Poverty Guidelines”) Kentucky is already ranked 47th out of 50 for overall poverty rate (19%) according to the Center for American progress.
- That’s almost $15,000 difference every year!
- If we don’t take steps to address the lack of college and career readiness in high schools, which prevents students from landing those higher-income jobs, our state will remain stuck in a cycle of poverty and inopportunity.

6. Why Should Kentucky Worry? Reason II: Increased Crime
According to a study reported in American Economic Review, a well-respected, peer-reviewed journal, a one-year increase in the average years of schooling can reduce violent crime by almost 30% (“Education and Public Safety”). If we look at Kentucky, we increased spending on high education in 2005, and we saw a 9% decrease in violent crime (“Education and Public Safety”). Bob Weiss, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia, said recently, “The nation needs to focus dollars and efforts on reforming school climates to keep students engaged in ways that will lead them toward college and a career and away from crime and prison” He continues by citing a study that shows that the United States spends $12,643 to educate one student for one year versus the annual cost of $28,323 to house one inmate and that crime increases as education level decreases(“Crime Rates Linked…”).
It is widely known that a lack of education can lead people to commit crimes, more than likely due to the lack of opportunities afforded to people without degrees.
But if we continue to see students not meeting college and career readiness, they will not be able to take advantage of these increased higher education opportunities, and we may not see an improvement in crime rates.
- We should take Kentucky’s current college and career readiness numbers as a warning that if something isn’t done soon to address this problem that many teens who never attained college and career readiness could turn to a life of crime, costing themselves their freedom and us taxpayer dollars.
-Of all the students I’ve known who have committed crimes, none of them have been college an career ready. I remember talking to my student M.J., who was convicted of attempted armed robbery, and when I asked him why he did it, he said, “I had my back against a wall. I was struggling and I didn’t know what else to do.” If we had focused more on his college and career readiness, maybe we could have saved him from the system.

7. Why Should Kentucky Worry? Reason III: Economic Impact
According to a study in the American Economic Review, “The U.S. economy would benefit by as much as $1.2 billion in additional annual earnings from a 5 percentage point increase in the high school male graduation rate” (“Crime Rates Linked…”). The Alliance for American Education estimated that Kentucky in particular could see a total of $87,412,144 in economic benefits if we were to improve the college and career readiness of our high school students (“Education and Public Safety”).
- Related to crime, a lack of college and career readiness in students can lead to negative economic impacts in Kentucky. Think about it—would you rather invest your money helping KY kids get college and career ready or spend it supporting prisoners locked up because they lacked opportunity?
- This number is great, but if those students graduating high school aren’t college and career ready, they will not be able to contribute as much to the economy.
- Kentucky’s economy has always struggled, and if we hope to take steps toward fixing it and making Kentucky a better place with greater opportunities, we need to focus on our lack of college and career ready students, who could contribute more to the economy if their education is improved.

8. Works Cited
“Crime Rates Linked To Educational Attainment, 2013 Alliance Report Finds.” Alliance for Excellent Education. n.p. 12 Sep. 2013, Accessed 21 Nov
“Education and Public Safety.” Justice Policy Institute. Justice Policy Institute, 30 Aug , _rep_educationandpublicsafety_ps-ac.pdf Accessed 21 Nov. 2016
“Kentucky 2015.” Talk Poverty. Center for American Progress, 2016, Accessed Nov
“Most students not prepared for college, careers.” WKYT. Gray Digital Media, 02 Nov. 2012, students-not-prepared-for-college-careers html Accessed 21 Nov
Torpey, Elke and Audrey Watson. “Education Level and Jobs: Opportunities by State.” U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. Sep , Accessed 21 Nov
“Unified Strategy for College and Career Readiness.” Kentucky Department of Education. KDE, 05 June 2010, Accessed 21 Nov. 2016
“U.S. Federal Poverty Guidelines Used to Determine Financial Eligibility for Certain Federal Programs.” Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 03 Sep. 2015, Accessed 21 Nov