Today, 88 percent of 8th graders expect to attend college, but many of these students will either not qualify for admission, not be permitted to enroll in credit-bearing courses, or never complete a degree. Why are so many high school graduates unprepared for college- level work? A new report released by the Bridge Project at Stanford points the finger at the disjuncture between K-12 and postsecondary sectors of education. According to the report, students and their parents are sent conflicting and vague messages about what students need to know and be able to do to enter and succeed in college. High school assessments stress different knowledge and skills than do college entrance exams, and the coursework in high school often bears little relationship to college courses. The disconnect between K-12 and postsecondary education undermines student aspirations to attend (and succeed in) higher education, the report charges.
While the overall picture may be depressing, a number of states and organizations are making efforts to get the K-12 and higher ed systems to work together to unify the signals sent to students about what they need to learn in high school. In Texas, for instance, students who take the high school exit exam will soon be told whether their scores are high enough to indicate that they are ready to handle college level work. The Standards for Success project launched by researchers at the University of Oregon will soon release a report outlining the knowledge and skills needed by students to succeed in college, and the College Board has expressed interest in using the standards to make changes to the SAT so that it more accurately measures the skills needed for college. The American Diploma Project is bringing K-12 and postsecondary educators together with representatives from business to help states ensure that their high school graduation standards and assessments accurately reflect the knowledge and skills that higher education and business really require.
What's oddly missing are demands from higher education institutions that state K-12 systems start producing high school graduates who are ready to handle credit-bearing work in college. That's partly because as the Bridge Project report notes, high drop-out rates do not pose a problem for postsecondary systems when new students keep attending college in sufficient numbers. According to the American Diploma Project, U.S. businesses and institutions of higher education spend an estimated $16.6 billion on remedial education and training each year. Businesses may be spending their own money to provide this remedial training, but institutions of higher education are able to pass these costs along to students.
Betraying the College Dream: How Disconnected K-12 and Postsecondary Education Systems Undermine Student Aspirations, by Andrea Venezia, Michael Kirst, and Anthony Antonio, Stanford University Bridge Project, March 4, 2003
"Texas making strides toward link to public schools, college," by Linda Wertheimer, The Dallas Morning News, March 10, 2003 (registration required)
"Oregon Study Outlines Standards for College Preparedness," by Sean Cavanagh, Education Week, March 5, 2003