Some of today's high school students are ill-prepared for college and\or life. Let's investigate this concept and what can\can't be done to reverse it.

Ready or Not? Students’ Preparedness for Future Academics

Tristan Andrews is a freelance author who writes about education for http://www.tutoring.college.edu.pe

Some of today’s high school students are ill-prepared for college andor life. Let’s investigate this concept and what cancan’t be done to reverse it.

A. ‘Our Nation at Risk’

In 1981, Secretary of Education T. H. Bell created the National Commission on Excellence in Education as a means of monitoring the quality level of education in the United States.

Under the commission, within 18 months of the commission’s formation, there was to be a second report addressing the widespread public perception that something was seriously amiss within the educational system.

In 1983, the report was issued. Entitled, ‘Our Nation at Risk’, the commission relayed that society and associated educational institutions appeared to “have lost sight of the basic purposes of schooling, and of the high expectations and disciplined effort needed to attain them.”

The goal of the report was to help redefine the educational system in key fundamental ways and renew the Nation’s commitment to high quality education, both in public and private sectors.

President at the time, Ronald Reagan, remarked upon the importance of education stating, “Certainly there are few areas of American life as important to our society, to our people, and to our families as our schools and colleges.”

“Our Nation at Risk’ outlined the major measurement areas indicating students’ downward educational trajectory performance in the US.

Included among the major measurement areas were the following:

- International comparisons of students placed Americans at best in third place, but never first or second.
- A high percentage of 17-year-olds could be classified as functionally illiterate.
- Gifted students failed to match their potential.
- Students’ scores on standardized testing showed a steady decline.
- The number of remedial mathematics courses increased throughout the country.

‘Our Nation at Risk’ presented the sentiment that, not only wearisome at a national level, the devaluation of education was also frustrating on a personal and communal level.

‘Our Nation at Risk’: 20 Years Later

Some two decades later, the question being asked is, “How far have we come from the original release of the ‘Our Nation at Risk’ report?

While some may feel the report was overly critical of the educational system, others feel it greatly benefited the nation’s schools and universities as it made students, as opposed to teachers or parents, accountable for their own work.

The closing line of the report’s text said, “When you give only the minimum to learning, you get only the minimum in return.” This line was intended to let the student know that it was up to himher to do the work.
Twenty years following the release of the report, the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. convened a panel of education scholars and advocates to discuss the progress made.

As a result, the panel praised the report on account of its ability to lead to the subsequent passing of such education-based legislation as the ‘No Child Left Behind Act’. Plus, they also acknowledged the commission’s part in helping expand the role the federal government played in education, calling it an especially critical development.

Yet, along with the positives, the panel also commented upon several educational areas that could still benefit from improvements. These include the alignment of standardized testing with school curriculums; the alignment of high school graduation requirements with the skills needed to enter college or the workplace; and the transformation of schools to keep pace with changing times, e.g., globalization and technology.

B. Student Preparedness Environment

To assess the student preparedness environment, a survey – released in 2005 by Achieve, Inc. relayed the following findings:

- College instructors estimate that on average two out of five (42 percent) college students’ high school education did not adequately prepare them for college.

- An estimated 39 percent of recent high school graduates enrolled in college stated having sizable gaps in their college prep work.

- Close to 39 percent of employers who have hired recent high school graduates found them to be unprepared for the requirements of entry-level jobs.

- Only 2/3 of students believe their high school equipped with the proper tools for college andor the workforce.

Because of the notable disparity between a students’ academic aspiration and their attainment of goals, there appears to be a pressing need for additional support.

To decipher the best course of action or proper form of support, the student’s current level of education will help act as a guide. For instance, should the student already be a junior in high school then a focus on studying for standardized test taking may be the best tactic.

Yet, if a student is a year or two younger, it may prove more beneficial to work on their weaker subject areas, e.g., algebra or essay writing.

The issue, in question, is whether traditional schools are covering all of the lessons students need to a) do well on their standardized tests and b) do well once accepted to a college or hired at an entry-level job.
Of the 1.2 million students who graduated from high school in June of 2007 and took the ACT college admissions test, only 26 percent showed they were capable of doing college-level work in all for of the core areas while 19% were not adequately prepared in any of the areas.

Note: The ACT forecasts students’ likelihoods of scoring a ‘C’ or better in introductory college courses.

In order to overcome this ‘gap’ or ‘inconsistency’, government officials are stepping up measures to enforce accountability on the part of the schools and compliance with ‘industry-wide standards.’
In the meantime, however, students are the ones left out in the cold. Even those who get into good colleges are reported as having difficulty keeping up with their freshman studies.

C. Conclusions

In the general sense, the revelations that came out of the ‘Our Nation at Risk’ report and subsequent follow-up studies all convey a similar message: our nation’s schools are not always able to provide students with 100% of the education they need.

Yet, rather than depriving students of a complete education and, thus, leaving them ill-prepared to face college or life’s future challenges, it may be a good idea to explore supplemental education measures the likes of tutors andor educational centers.

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