A new report from an education advocacy group is warning that fewer than half of the state’s high school students are choosing to go on to college or advanced certificate programs.
The report said that could hurt the future of the economy.
Rich Nickel is the president and CEO of Education Forward Arizona.
“Just having that high school diploma is not enough, and we must have more than 47.3% of our Arizona high school graduates coming out of our public school system and our charter schools going on to some type of post-secondary education," Nickel said.
Achieve60AZ, introduced in 2016 by EFA, set a goal for the state: that 60% of Arizona adults attain a postsecondary degree or credential by 2030, according to the group’s website.
“We need 70% of our students moving immediately after high school to be able to fill this tremendous opportunity of workforce and labor that’s needed to fill these great jobs,” he said.
Nickel added that since the new pipeline of students won’t be able to fill jobs, the state will have to depend on people coming from out-of-state.
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