Colorado Succeeds

Colorado Succeeds' goal is to ensure that all children have access to high-quality educational opportunities. We have a moral obligation and economic imperative to close the achievement gap and deliver opportunities through quality education.

We find the following facts unacceptable:

• For the first time in history, kids in America are less likely to graduate from high school than their parents.
• Over 50% of Colorado’s students DO NOT read, write, add or subtract at grade level.
• Proficiency levels are going down, not up – the longer kids stay in our K-12 public education system, the further behind they get.
• Colorado's graduation rate is only 74%, which means over 17,400 students dropped out from high school in 2009. The lost lifetime earnings in Colorado for the 2009 class of dropouts alone will amount to over $4.5 billion.
• If Colorado’s high schools graduated all of their students fully prepared for college, the state would save almost $52.1 million a year in community college remediation costs and lost earnings.
• Colorado boasts the second highest percentage of adults with college degrees, but ranks 46th in the nation for high school graduates going to college.
• Colorado has the largest achievement gap in the country for postsecondary attainment between white and Hispanic students.