69ý

School & District Management

High School, College Standards Out of Sync, Survey Finds

By Lynn Olson — April 10, 2007 4 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print
Email Copy URL

A study released today highlights the gap between what high schools are teaching in their college-preparatory courses and what colleges want incoming students to know.

The study, by the Iowa City, Iowa-based ACT Inc., the producer of the ACT college-admissions tests, is based on a national curriculum survey of more than 6,500 middle school, high school, and postsecondary English, reading, math, and science teachers. The testing company conducts the survey every three to five years to help shape the content of its assessments.

The new survey found that college professors generally want incoming students to have a deeper understanding of a selected number of topics and skills, while high school teachers in all content areas tend to rate a far broader array of content and skills as “important” or “very important.”

and the are available from ACT.

Cynthia B. Schmeiser, the president and chief operating officer of ACT’s education division, blamed the gap largely on the state academic-content standards that high school teachers must follow. “State learning standards are often too wide and not deep enough,” she said. “They are trying to cover too much ground—more ground than colleges deem necessary—in the limited time they have with students.”

Earlier studies by the ACT have also focused on gaps in students’ college readiness by examining how high school students’ coursetaking relates to their scores on admissions exams and their grades in college. (“Views Differ on Defining College Prep,” April 26, 2006.)

The new study strikes a similar theme, but looks more closely at the actual content knowledge and skills that high school teachers say they are teaching within their courses, and how important they rate that content compared with ratings by postsecondary instructors.

Although the ACT has been conducting the National Curriculum Survey since the 1970s, Ms. Schmeiser said, until now it has largely used that information for internal purposes, to ensure its tests reflect postsecondary expectations.

“In today’s environment, when we have so many P-16 conversations going on and alignment is such a critical issue,” she said in an interview, “I think it’s really important that we bring these data and make them more available and accessible to policymakers.”

More than half the states are now working to better align high school standards, tests, and curricula with college expectations. An equally large number have created so-called “P-16” or “P-20” councils to help coordinate goals and activities across the various levels of education, from preschool through college or graduate school.

State Standards Sized Up

In general, the ACT survey found, college instructors take a dim view of their states’ academic-content standards for high schools.

Nearly two-thirds of those respondents (65 percent) said their state standards prepare students “poorly” or “very poorly” for college-level work in their respective subject areas. In contrast, a majority of high school teachers said their state standards are preparing students “well” or “very well” for college-level work.

The study also highlights significant differences between high school instruction and college expectations in specific curriculum areas. For example:

  • In writing, postsecondary instructors tended to value the basic mechanics of writing (such as sentence structure and punctuation) more highly than high school teachers did. High school English teachers rated topic and idea development as the most important set of skills.

  • In mathematics, postsecondary instructors rated being able to understand and rigorously apply fundamental skills and processes as more important than exposure to more advanced math topics. High school math teachers tended to view the latter as important. Postsecondary instructors also placed far more emphasis on being able to understand new material by reading a textbook.
  • In reading, the survey found a general lack of reading courses in high school and a decline in the teaching of targeted reading strategies after the 9th grade. In contrast, college instructors of remedial courses rated such strategies as very important and reported devoting a large percentage of time to teaching them.
  • In science, high school teachers consistently rated content as more important to student success than science process or inquiry skills, in direct contrast to both middle school and postsecondary science teachers.
  • Ms. Schmeiser suggested that state content standards for high schools focus on the most essential knowledge and skills needed for college readiness, rather than covering the waterfront. Her recommendation echoes calls from others to refocus state content standards on a smaller subset of big or powerful ideas that could guide students’ development within a content area.

    Events

    This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
    Sponsor
    Artificial Intelligence Webinar
    AI and Educational Leadership: Driving Innovation and Equity
    Discover how to leverage AI to transform teaching, leadership, and administration. Network with experts and learn practical strategies.
    Content provided by 
    This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
    Sponsor
    School Climate & Safety Webinar
    Investing in Success: Leading a Culture of Safety and Support
    Content provided by 
    Assessment K-12 Essentials Forum Making Competency-Based Learning a Reality
    Join this free virtual event to hear from educators and experts working to implement competency-based education.

    EdWeek Top School Jobs

    Teacher Jobs
    Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
    Principal Jobs
    Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
    Administrator Jobs
    Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
    Support Staff Jobs
    Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.

    Read Next

    This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
    Sponsor
    School & District Management Whitepaper
    Future-Driven Leadership: Five Goals for Dynamic School Leaders in 2024
    This guide offers practical strategies for district leaders to foster innovation, empower staff, support wellness, amplify student voices...
    Content provided by BookNook
    School & District Management What the Research Says Four Ways to Stop Teacher Turnover From Hamstringing School Improvement
    Staffing instability can unravel the social fabric of schools, experts say, unless leaders work to keep connections strong.
    6 min read
    Woman of color exiting out of a door.
    iStock/Getty Images Plus
    School & District Management Spooked by Halloween, Some 69ý Ban Costumes—But Not Without Pushback
    69ý are tweaking Halloween traditions to make them more inclusive to all students.
    4 min read
    A group of elementary school kids sitting on a curb dressed in their Halloween costumes.
    iStock/Getty
    School & District Management 69ý Take a $3 Billion Hit From the Culture Wars. Here’s How It Breaks Down
    Culturally divisive conflicts in schools have led to increased legal and security costs, as well as staff time spent on the fallout.
    4 min read
    Illustration of a businessman with his hands on his head while he watches dollars being sucked down into a dark hole.
    DigitalVision Vectors