Tennessee’s primary measure ofreadiness.

A Ready Graduate earns a regular high school diploma and meets at least one of six readiness pathways: ACT 21 or higher, SAT 1060 or higher, four EPSOs, two EPSOs plus work-based learning, an industry certification, or military enlistment. It is Tennessee’s primary measure of college and career readiness.

Graduation measures who earns a diploma. Readiness measures who earns a diploma and demonstrates concrete preparation for what comes next. Tennessee graduates roughly nine in ten students but only readies about four to five in ten of them. The gap is the central policy question.

Tennessee has set a target of 75 percent Ready Graduates statewide. Reaching that would require roughly doubling the current rate, which means major expansion of CTE pathways, dual enrollment, and ACT preparation, particularly in rural and high-poverty communities.

The ACT 21 pathway. Because every Tennessee junior takes the ACT during the school day, the test gives every student a free shot at the most-used readiness pathway. Roughly 40 percent of Ready Graduates qualify through ACT alone.

Yes, and many do. A student is counted as a Ready Graduate once, regardless of how many pathways they meet. The pathway-specific rates on this dashboard show how many students earned each one independently.