Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


High School Graduates Not Prepared for College or Career Decisions, National Survey Finds

  • By Kate Lucariello
  • 12/06/22

In a recent national survey, college and career readiness company YouScience reported that 75% of high school graduates are not ready to make college and career decisions. This is despite the fact that the National Center for Education Statistics reported that in the 2018-2019 school year, the graduation rate for high schools was 86%, the highest it had been since 2010. The “Post Graduation Readiness Report” polled more than 500 students from the 2019 through 2022 graduating classes about their sense of readiness for college and/or career opportunities. 

The 75% graduates in the YouScience survey reported they felt “moderately, slightly, or not at all prepared” for what might come next after high school. Significantly, 62% felt that high school should prepare them for future careers, but 57% reported five or fewer conversations with teachers or counselors about opportunities following graduation, and a large 80% felt they “would have been more engaged in their learning if they better understood their own aptitudes and potential career opportunities.”

Based on their survey, YouScience suggests that K–12 schools can better help prepare students for the future with aptitude and skills tests, exposure to various career options, and counseling, beginning as early as the eighth grade. “Education leaders and industry must come together to help our students better understand themselves and their opportunities beyond high school,” said Edson Barton, founder and CEO of YouScience. “If students rely on family and friends for direction, they can be limited in their dreams and fail to fulfill their potential. In large part, our talent gap is also a career exposure gap.” YouScience said it will release further data in the coming months. To obtain the report, visit this page.

YouScience currently serves over 7,000 educational and career institutions and provides an integrated college and career readiness platform that delivers aptitude-based assessments, personalized career guidance, and industry-recognized certifications, based on research and industry input. To learn more, visit the YouScience site.

About the Author

Kate Lucariello is a former newspaper editor, EAST Lab high school teacher and college English teacher.

Featured

  • CIS Sandbox Tutor Eli Blouin at Bentley University imagines a future technology learning partner that supports curiosity, critical thinking, feedback, and personalized learning.

    Student Voices: Technology as a Future Learning Partner

    A data analytics and marketing major at Bentley University and a distinguished lecturer at the university explore the future of "technology learning partners" — technologies that participate in the learning process by asking questions and giving feedback, not just information search results.

  • Abstract energetic glowing lines with particles

    Meta Steps Up Enterprise AI Ambitions with Muse Spark Launch

    Meta has announced the launch of Muse Spark 1.1, a multimodal reasoning model designed for agentic AI, alongside a new Meta Model API that gives developers access to the model for the first time.

  • Businessman using laptop analyzing data and growth graph chart

    AI Budgets in Education Show No Sign of Decline

    The vast majority of education organizations (98%) expect their AI infrastructure budgets to either increase or hold steady over the next year, according to a recent report from cloud storage provider Wasabi.

  • Dana Brunson facilitates a roundtable discussion with research and higher education IT leaders

    Internet2: Closing the Access Gap for Research Cyberinfrastructure

    Internet2's Research Engagement Team brings CIOs and other campus technology leadership together with research computing and data facilitators, forming a community that enables research cyberinfrastructure at institutions of all types and sizes.