College getting out of reach in Washington State - the Olympian

This state’s graduating high school class of 2012 had the highest combined score on their SAT tests of any state in the country. On the surface this should be encouraging news. High performance on this key college admissions test means graduating students in this state are more prepared for college than any other state’s high school graduation class. But wait. The number of Washington’s high school grads heading straight to college is slipping over time. According to a recent report in The Seattle Times, 58 percent of the state’s high school graduates in 1992 went straight to college. That ranked 11th in the nation, well above the national average of 54 percent. Flash forward 20 years and the number of college-bound high school grads has dropped to 51 percent. At the same time, the national average is up to 63 percent, This state now ranks 46th in the nation on direct high school-to-college mobility. http://www.theolympian.com/2012/11/15/2320287/college-getting-out-of-reach.html