Our Work

The Consortium’s work is guided by the belief that individual students and entire school communities can perform at high levels if they are given a clear and compelling goal to work toward over time and the incentives and supports to achieve it. For Minnesota’s students and schools in the 21st century, college readiness must be that goal.

WHY COLLEGE READINESS?

A new movement to prepare all students for success in some form of post-secondary education is gaining momentum, driven by two related trends. The first is the growing connection between higher education and economic success. With few exceptions, today the only path to a middle class income and quality of life leads through the completion of a postsecondary credential or degree. According to the Minnesota Department of Economic Development, 61% of all new job openings in Minnesota between 2006 and 2016 will require education beyond high school. National studies have suggested that in the coming years more than 80% of each age cohort will need to complete some form of postsecondary education.

The growing connecting between learning and earning also has big implications for entire states and nations.  It is one reason why over the past two decades, countries across the globe have rocketed ahead of the United States in the percentage of their citizens who earn postsecondary degrees. The United States is one of the few developed nations in which younger adults are actually less likely to have postsecondary degrees than preceding generations.

The second trend that is driving the new national movement for college readiness is the rapid demographic change that is taking place in Minnesota and nearly every other U.S. state.  The percentage of students from backgrounds that have long been underrepresented in higher education – specifically students of color and low-income students – is rising rapidly in Minnesota’s elementary and secondary schools, while the number of white and middle and upper-income students is on the decline. 

We know from research and experience that unless we work in partnership with preK-12 schools and systems to change the educational trajectories of those underrepresented students, too many will not graduate from high school with the knowledge, skills and habits for success at the University of Minnesota and other postsecondary institutions.

THE UNIVERSITY'S COMMITMENT AND STRATEGY

The University of Minnesota's College Readiness Consortium was founded in the summer of 2006 to increase the number and diversity of students who graduate from high school truly ready for postsecondary education. The Consortium engages educators, school districts, state education organizations, and the business community to improve student success in the preK-12 system as it exists today, and to change the preK-12 system itself--transitioning from an Industrial Age model where few students were prepared for postsecondary education to one in which all students are expected and supported to go beyond a high school diploma.

"In a global economy where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, a good education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity--it is a pre-requisite...And so tonight, I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training." "

- President Barack Obama
Speech to Congress
February 24, 2009