Pushing Ahead With Purpose is the 2024 progress report for the South’s progress toward the 2030 Challenge to Excel Goals for Education. This report covers data and policies for the 16-state Southern region for workforce, postsecondary and high school. A few highlights:

• The share of adults with at least some postsecondary education increased 7.6 points between 2012 and 2022.
• 38% of adults still had a high school diploma or less.
• 17% of students in the class of 2023 who took the readiness assessment met all four ACT benchmarks.

For state-specific data, see the state reports below.  

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