New Study Sheds Light on Gap Between High School Preparation and College Expectations

January 20, 2010

IOWA CITY, Iowa–High schools should focus on providing in-depth instruction of fundamental knowledge and essential skills, rather than covering a larger number of skills in less depth, to better prepare students for college and career. That is one conclusion of the latest ACT National Curriculum Survey^® findings, released today by ACT, Inc.

The research, in which thousands of secondary teachers and postsecondary instructors across the U.S. were surveyed, sheds light on the gap between high school preparation and college expectations. It also details the specific subject-area knowledge and skills that are most important for students to learn to be ready for college-level coursework.

The findings suggest that current U.S. high school learning standards are still not sufficiently aligned with postsecondary expectations. The skills and knowledge that college instructors expect entering students to have are more focused and specific than what high school teachers view as important.

The results also suggest that high school reading instruction needs to be improved, that content-area knowledge remains more important than “21st century student outcomes” and that students headed more immediately to the workforce may not be receiving instruction to the same level as their college-bound peers, even though teachers agree that the knowledge and skills they need to master are fundamentally the same.

ACT’s report calls for changes in state learning standards to help close the gap between high school practice and college expectations. Teachers are often required to cover a large number of state learning standards—so many that they don’t have time to teach all of them adequately. As a result, many students may graduate from high school without having mastered the fundamental knowledge and skills that college instructors say students need to succeed in credit-bearing, first-year courses.

“ACT has long advocated for fewer but deeper state standards that focus on what is essential for college and career success,” said Cynthia B. Schmeiser, president and chief operating officer of ACT’s Education Division. “Our new survey findings reinforce this conclusion and are also very consistent with the approach taken by the Common Core State Standards Initiative.”

The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a state-led effort to develop and adopt a common set of state standards. This initiative is being coordinated by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, with ACT as an active lead partner. Preliminary drafts have been released for public review and comment. Additional details can be found at www.corestandards.org.

“Closing the gap between what high schools teach and what colleges expect has become a priority among national and state policymakers over the past few years,” said Schmeiser. “Our data suggest states that adopt the Common Core State Standards will be taking an important step toward eliminating that gap.”

The ACT National Curriculum Survey, conducted every three to five years, collects data about what entering college students should know and be able to do to be ready for college-level coursework in English/writing, math, reading and science. The results are used to help inform ACT’s curriculum-based assessments (including EXPLORE^®, PLAN^® and the ACT^®) to ensure that they meet the needs of college and career readiness. The results are also used to inform instructional policy and ongoing efforts to develop, refine and update common academic standards such as the Common Core State Standards.

One of the new findings of the research is that not enough is being done to prepare students for the demands of college-level reading. High school teachers are substantially more likely than college instructors to believe that high school students are graduating with the reading skills required for success in college courses; approximately two thirds of high school teachers reported that the majority of their students are ready to read at the level needed for college work in their content area, but only around a third of college instructors said the same of their incoming students. The report calls for targeted instruction in reading strategies across all content areas, including math and science, in high school and college.

In addition, the large majority of both high school and college instructors believe that readiness for college and readiness for workforce training programs require a comparable level of knowledge and skills. Contrary to that belief, however, virtually all high school teachers (94 percent) in the study said that secondary teachers lower expectations for students who aren’t college bound. More than four in ten reported that academic expectations are reduced either “completely” or “a great deal” for students teachers perceive are not headed for college. The report urges high schools to promote the common expectation of college and career readiness for all students.

The report also suggests that “21st century student outcomes” such as financial or media literacy, while worthwhile for students to possess, are not critical for success in postsecondary education. Much more important for student success are traditional content-area knowledge and skills in English/writing, mathematics, reading and science.

The ACT National Curriculum Survey 2009 results are based on a national sample of 7,680 participants, including middle school/junior high teachers, high school teachers and college instructors in English, writing, math, reading and science. The full research report and its companion policy report, “Focusing on the Essentials for College and Career Readiness,” may be viewed or downloaded for free on ACT’s website.