Hunching over her notebook at Borough of Manhattan Community College, Sharasha Croslen struggled to figure out what do with the algebra problem in front of her: x(SQUARED) + 2x - 8 (EQUAL) 0. It was a question every ninth grader is expected to be able to answer. But even though Croslen managed to complete three years of math and graduate from high school, she did not know how to solve for x. In most school systems, what happens to students like Croslen after they obtain their diplomas is of little concern. But the New York City Department of Education acknowledges that despite rising graduation rates, many graduates lack basic skills, and it is trying to do something about it. This year, for the first time, it has sent detailed reports to each high school, telling them just how many of their students who arrived at the city's public colleges needed remedial courses, as well as how many stayed enrolled after their first semester. The reports go beyond the basic measure of a school's success -- the percentage of students who earn a diploma -- to let educators know whether they have been preparing those students for college or whether they have simply been churning them out. The city's analysis, which it intends to reproduce every year, comes as policymakers nationwide have been calling for higher standards for schools. Most states have committed to adopting a 'common core' of what each student should learn in each grade, and in New York, state education officials recalibrated their scoring of standardized tests this year, saying that the bar for passing had fallen too low. Illinois began tracking how its high school graduates fared in college several years ago, after dismaying reports about freshmen floundering at state schools. Officials in Denver and Philadelphia are now following suit. As in other cities, New York has made a considerable effort to improve its high school graduation rate -- now 59 percent, up from 47 percent in 2005 -- and push more of its students to enroll in college. But many of those students are stumbling in basic math and writing: 46 percent of New York City public school graduates who enrolled in one of the City University of New York two-year or four-year colleges in 2007 needed at least one remedial course, and 40 percent of them dropped out within two years. At a third of the city's 250 high schools, at least 70 percent of the graduates who went on to CUNY needed remedial help. 'You're always very excited with the kids who are crying on graduation day, assuming they are going on to bigger and better things,' said Josh Thomases, who oversees academic programs for the city's education department. 'But heretofore that assumption has been largely untested.' 