In May, a new organization called Learning Heroes released a survey with a startling finding: 90 percent of parents believe that their children are performing at “grade level” or higher in their schoolwork. Setting aside the debate over what “grade level” even means, by any reasonable definition many of these parents, if they are being frank with the pollsters and themselves, are sorely misinformed. In fact, only about a third of U.S. teenagers leave high school ready for credit-bearing college courses.
Michael Petrilli reflects on this fact in a recent blog post:
Providing a more honest assessment of student performance was one of the goals of the Common Core initiative and the new tests created and adopted by states meant to align to the new, higher standards. Those tests are much tougher than they used to be, with failure rates in many states approaching those reported on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Yet on the heels of their first administration in most states in the spring of 2015, and the reporting of results in the months following, parents seem to be as ill-informed as ever. (The 2016 Education Next poll indicates that lower proficiency rates haven’t shaken parents’ view that their schools deserve As and Bs, either.) Why might that be? And what could policymakers or entrepreneurs do to change that?
Clearer, more courageous language would be a step in the right direction. But so would making it real. Surveys show that almost all American kids aspire to attend college. Why not say explicitly whether they are on track to achieve that goal?
Several states already provide “predictive analytics” to teachers and school leaders regarding students’ likelihood of future success. In Ohio, for instance, educators can see a prediction for the eventual ACT scores of their 6th-grade pupils, based on their annual standardized test results. (Of course, “college readiness” entails much more than standardized test scores, but they are key components.) Why not include such predictions on the score reports themselves, and list the kinds of colleges the student is (or is not) on track to attend? Another idea for entrepreneurs: build a web site where students or their parents can enter their test scores themselves, and provide a prediction for the types of colleges where they are likely to gain acceptance. If enough families see that their child’s likely future includes remedial education, then maybe they will start pushing their K-12 schools to do more to help prepare their kids for success at the postsecondary level.
Right now, we have higher standards and tougher tests in most states. Shouldn’t we at least try to use them for one of their intended purposes: to close the gap between college aspirations and college readiness? It just seems like common sense.
For more, see Michael Petrilli’s post in Fordham’s Flypaper:
