Some Data to Ponder on the Labor Day Weekend

Below are data from a table from the recently-released "The Digest of Educational Statistics 2009" published by the National Center for Educational Statistics. It shows the estimated rate of 2005-06 high school graduates attending degree-granting institutions, by state, in 2006. Note that California - despite all of the talk we hear about preparing the workforce of the future - is not particularly highly ranked.

The full table is available at http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d09/tables/dt09_203.asp

United States............. 62.0%

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Mississippi .............. 75.4

New York ................. 75.0

Massachusetts ............ 72.6

South Dakota ............. 72.1

North Dakota ............. 71.9

New Mexico ............... 71.1

New Jersey ............... 70.2

South Carolina ........... 69.5

Georgia .................. 68.6

Virginia ................. 68.3

Minnesota ................ 67.8

Delaware ................. 66.3

Maryland ................. 66.3

North Carolina ........... 65.7

Kansas ................... 65.6

New Hampshire ............ 64.6

Michigan ................. 64.5

Nebraska ................. 64.3

Tennessee ................ 64.2

Indiana................... 63.9

Louisiana ................ 63.9

Colorado ................. 63.6

Connecticut .............. 62.9

Pennsylvania ............. 61.6

Alabama .................. 61.5

Kentucky ................. 61.5

Maine .................... 61.1

Wisconsin ................ 61.0

Iowa ..................... 60.9

Illinois ................. 60.4

Florida .................. 60.2

Oklahoma ................. 59.6

Ohio ..................... 59.5

Wyoming .................. 58.0

West Virginia............. 57.9

Missouri.................. 57.7

Arkansas ................. 56.7

Montana .................. 56.4

District of Columbia ..... 56.3

California ............... 56.1

Texas .................... 55.4

Hawaii ................... 55.1

Rhode Island ............. 54.7

Vermont .................. 54.5

Nevada ................... 52.2

Washington ............... 48.7

Oregon ................... 47.7

Utah ..................... 46.3

Alaska ................... 45.8

Idaho .................... 45.8

Arizona .................. 45.0