1. www.civicyouth.org The Civic Opportunity Gap

2. www.civicyouth.org A Generation of High Achievers? These are some winning words from the National Spelling Bee, by year: 1932: knack 1940: therapy 1973: vouchsafe 1975: incisor 2001: succedaneum 2004: autochthonous (Strauss and Howe, Millennials Rising.)

3. www.civicyouth.org But National Scores are Flat It’s the “long tail” of the achievement curve that is performing well.

4. www.civicyouth.org Half of Young Adults Have No College Experience Source: Census Current Population Supplement, tabulated by Abby Kiesa and Karlo Barrios Marcelo, "Youth Demographics--Youth with no College Experience," CIRCLE Fact Sheet, January 2009 College Attendance is also Flat

5. www.civicyouth.org People born 1980-84. National Longitudinal Study of Youth, Source: Analyzed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/nlsyth.pdf As they move from age 18 through age 21, no more than 45 percent of each recent cohort is ever enrolled in college

6. www.civicyouth.org Low mobility: Only 7 percent of students from the bottom quarter of the income distribution will obtain a bachelors degree by the age of 26, compared to 60 percent of those from the top quarter (Susan M. Dynarski & Judith E. Scott-Clayton, Brookings, 2007)

7. www.civicyouth.org Half of Those Who Do not Attend College are People of Color Source: Census Current Population Supplement, tabulated by Abby Kiesa and Karlo Barrios Marcelo, "Youth Demographics--Youth with no College Experience," CIRCLE Fact Sheet, January 2009 (http://www.civicyouth.org/PopUps/FactSheets/FS08_YthDe mo_CollExp.pdf)

8. www.civicyouth.org Young Adults with no College Experience are Most Vulnerable to Unemployment in Recessions Source: Census Current Population Supplement, tabulated by Abby Kiesa and Karlo Barrios Marcelo, "Youth Demographics-- Youth with no College Experience," CIRCLE Fact Sheet, January 2009 (http://www.civicyouth.org/PopUps/FactSheets/FS08_YthDemo_C ollExp.pdf)

9. www.civicyouth.org Census data, analyzed by CIRCLE Voter Turnout Depends on Educational Level

10. www.civicyouth.org Volunteering is Also More Common for College Youth Source: Census Current Population Supplement data tabulated by Karlo Barrios Marcelo, Kei Kawashima- Ginsberg, and Emily Hoban Kirby for “Volunteering and College Experience,” CIRCLE Fact Sheet

11. www.civicyouth.org For College-Educated Youth, Civic Engagement has Declined Since the 1970s Source: General Social Survey data, tabulated in Flanagan, Levine, and Settersten, Civic Engagement and the Changing Transition to Adulthood (CIRCLE, 2009)

12. www.civicyouth.org There Have Also been Declines in Civic Engagement for Young Adults with No College Experience Source: General Social Survey data, tabulated in Flanagan, Levine, and Settersten, Civic Engagement and the Changing Transition to Adulthood (CIRCLE, 2009)

13. www.civicyouth.org The Result is a Dramatic Gap Today Source: General Social Survey data, tabulated in Flanagan, Levine, and Settersten, Civic Engagement and the Changing Transition to Adulthood (CIRCLE, 2009)