North Dakota Score Card

North Dakota, the 48th most populous state, has fairly high educational attainment. It has the highest percentage of adults with a bachelor's degree of any state, but it also ranks fourth to last in percentage of adults with a graduate degree. The state has a low high school dropout rate. North Dakota is expected to have a 21 percent decrease in high school graduates from 2007–08 to 2017–18, the largest drop of any state in the country (second only to the District of Columbia).

North Dakota's higher education accountability system's strengths are:

• Comparing data across time and/or against peers.
• Formally linking budgetary decisions to the performance of state postsecondary institutions.

North Dakota's higher education accountability system needs work in:

• Separating data by important socioeconomic factors (race/ethnicity, gender, income, first-generation status, transfer students, etc.).
• Aligning state priorities with concrete goals for achievement.