Executive Summary

As the nation struggles to close its graduation gap, Diplomas Count 2008 examines states' efforts to forge stronger connections between precollegiate and postsecondary education.

Young people on the road from high school to college face conflicting signals and too many offramps. While high schools require one set of courses and tests to graduate, for instance, colleges may have different expectations for what it takes to do college-level work.

In recent years, 38 states have formed what are typically known as “P-16” or “P-20” councils to bridge the divide between precollegiate and higher education.

Those groups bring together people from the various levels of education, from preschool (hence the “P”) to college or beyond (years 16 to 20), and often include representatives from state government,...