The ACT National Curriculum Survey 2005?2006 of over 30,000 respondants has just been released, and it found a wide gap between state instructional standards and real preparation for college. The press release is careful to say the problem is with the standards, not teachers, but the report on policy implications is still sobering:
High school teachers believe state standards are preparing students well for college-level work; however, roughly 65 percent of postsecondary instructors responded that the state’s standards prepared students poorly or very poorly for college-level work in English/writing, reading, and science.
In fact, one chart in the latter report (figure 2) shows perceptions never got closer than 35 percentage points of each other.
It raises the perennial question of who, exactly, should gauge the results of the educational institution, but if the “product” is students ready for college – Governor Easley’s goal, I think – there appears to be a national disconnect with the “customer”, which would be the college instructors that receive them next.
