Student Assessments and the MET Project

For most students, receiving a college acceptance letter symbolizes the beginning of an exciting and rewarding journey. They breathe a sigh of relief as they head into high school graduation, knowing that they have the whole summer ahead to spend time with their friends and prepare for the transition to college life.

Young people dream about what they’ll be when they grow up, but there’s a gap today between where high school ends and dreams begin. A gap fewer and fewer are able to leap. Hard work and determination are not enough. Today, a high school diploma isn’t the end of learning—it’s only the beginning. The first step to opportunity.

At the UChicago Network for College Success (NCS), we’re energized by recent data. The national public high school graduation rate has increased by 9 percentage points from 73 percent in 2006 to 82 percent in 2014 (NCES, 2016).