>I have a particular interest in this subject. Has anyone seen the exit
exam that students took to assess college readiness? Is anyone using a
college readiness assessment tool to identify students who are at risk
but already on campus?
Thanks,
Carolyn Rubin
Yeshiva University
Learning Specialist
Office of Academic Support
116 Laurel Hill Terrace
646-685-0109
[log in to unmask]
<http://space.sparklist.com/t/3685506/6589586/26130/0/> Most Students Not
> College-Ready, ACT Scores Reveal
> Only 23% of U.S. high school graduates are expected to earn at least a "C"
> or better in first-year (core) college courses-a 1% increase over last
> year,
> according to new data. ACT's annual report on college readiness, which
> analyzed the entrance-exam test scores of 2009 high school graduates,
> revealed that over three-quarters of students will have to take remedial
> courses in ACT's tested subjects-English, reading, math, and science.
> Among
> them, the students proved least prepared for science, where only 28% are
> ready for college-level biology. Additionally, 42% are considered
> adequately
> prepared for college algebra. Wall Street Journal, 8/19/09
>
> * The Wall Street Journal
>
> *
> <http://online.wsj.com/public/page/news-career-education-college.html>
> EDUCATION
> * AUGUST 19, 2009
>
> College-Entrance Test Scores Flagging
>
>
>
> .
> <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125065253283242295.html#articleTabs=article
>> Article
>
> .
> <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125065253283242295.html#articleTabs_comment
> s> Comments (46)
>
> more in
> <http://online.wsj.com/public/page/news-career-education-college.html>
> Education >
>
> By
> <http://online.wsj.com/search/search_center.html?KEYWORDS=ROBERT+TOMSHO&ARTI
> CLESEARCHQUERY_PARSER=bylineAND> ROBERT TOMSHO
>
> (See Correction & Amplification
> <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125065253283242295.html#CX> below.)
>
> Only about a quarter of the 2009 high school graduates taking the ACT
> admissions test have the skills to succeed in college, according to a
> report
> on the exam that shows little improvement over results from the 2008
> graduating class.
>
> The Iowa City, Iowa-based ACT said 23% of this year's high school
> graduates
> had scores that indicated they were ready for college in all four ACT
> subject areas, or had at least a 75% chance of earning a grade of C or
> better in entry-level courses. Last year, a similar ACT analysis found
> that
> 22% of the class of 2008 was college-ready.
>
> [keeping in step]
>
> "We're not making the progress we need to be making," said Bob Wise,
> president of the Alliance for Excellent Education, an advocacy group
> focused
> on boosting high-school graduation rates. "The only way you improve these
> numbers and get them higher is by improving your secondary schools."
>
> About 1.48 million of the 3.3 million members of the high school class of
> 2009 took the ACT, typically in their junior year. ACT said its report was
> based on comparing students' ACT test scores in English, reading, math and
> science with the grades they earned in related courses during their first
> year in college.
>
> The report comes as budget concerns are forcing many state universities to
> cut back on slots for new students and raise admission standards. Many are
> also eliminating remedial courses, making it tougher for unprepared
> students
> to stay in school.
>
> Observers said the report is likely to intensify calls for Congress to
> stress high-school improvement when it debates reauthorization of the
> federal No Child Left Behind law, perhaps as early as this year. Passed in
> 2001, the law's primary emphasis so far has been on boosting achievement
> in
> the lower grades.
>
> Among single subject areas, the level of preparedness was worst in
> science,
> where only 28% of students were ready for college-level biology. Another
> problem was math, where 42% were deemed prepared for college algebra.
>
> Some education experts said that even a slight improvement in combined
> college readiness rate, to 23%, is a good sign, given that five states now
> require all students -- not just those planning to attend college -- to
> take
> the ACT.
>
> <http://www.wsj.com/community> Journal Community
>
> . <http://www.wsj.com/community> Vote: How would you grade the
> U.S.
> secondary education system?
>
> "It's an achievement," said Jack Jennings, president of the Center on
> Education Policy, a Washington-based nonpartisan research group focused on
> No Child Left Behind, the federal government's primary law covering public
> schools. "They are including many more lower-achieving students than ever
> before."
>
> "I think we are moving in the right direction," said Cyndie Schmeiser,
> president of ACT's education division, who noted that 70% of 2009
> graduates
> took a college-prep curriculum in high school, up from 56% in 2005.
>
> High school students from Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and
> Wyoming
> are all required to take the ACT, previously a test generally limited to
> college aspirants. Combined, they accounted for a little less than 25% of
> the 2009 graduates who took the test.
>
> Recent studies have shown that while younger students have made some
> progress in recent years, boosting results at the high school level has
> been
> difficult. A Department of Education report in April on the results from
> the
> National Assessment of Education Progress -- a key federal test -- found
> that U.S. high school students haven't made any significant progress in
> reading or math for nearly four decades.
>
> Looking Back at Student Preparedness
>
> Journal coverage of past debates over student preparedness:
>
> .
> <http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/WSJ-ACT-09091959.pdf>
> College-Bound Students Face Tougher Entrance Tests as Applicants Increase
> (Sept. 9, 1959)
>
> .
> <http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/WSJ-ACT-03061964.pdf>
> Entrance Tests Stir Debate as Applicants for College Increase (March 6,
> 1964)
>
> .
> <http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/WSJ-ACT-09051972.pdf>
> College Entrance Test: Biased and Burdensome or a Real Opportunity? (Sept.
> 5, 1972)
>
> .
> <http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/WSJ-ACT-02281978.pdf>
> Biggest Testing Service Faces Critical Scrutiny as Its Influence Grows
> (Feb.
> 28, 1978)
>
> The troubles are also reflected in results from the 2009 ACT, which is
> graded on a 1-to-36 point scale. Students averaged 21.1 points this year,
> flat compared with 2008 and only 0.2 points higher than in 2005.
>
> ACT said about 40% of 2009 test-takers were unable to use the correct
> adverb
> or adjective to form a sentence, or couldn't use the correct preposition
> in
> a phrase. The same proportion couldn't solve multi-step math problems
> involving percentages and fractions.
>
> Bob Schaeffer of FairTest, an antitesting advocacy group, said the class
> of
> '09 was in the 5th grade when the NCLB law passed. "No Child promised to
> improve college readiness," he said. "The data show, in fact, that scores
> have been stagnant that achievement gaps are essentially unchanged."
>
> In a bid to improve college and high school graduation rates, President
> Barack Obama is offering states, public schools and colleges additional
> federal funds to launch new initiatives.
>
> Write to Robert Tomsho at <mailto:[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask]
>
> Corrections & Amplifications
> The president of the Alliance for Excellent Education is Bob Wise. A
> previous version of this article incorrectly identified him as Bob White.
>
> Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A3
>
> Sources:
>
> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125065253283242295.html#printMode
>
>
>
> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125065253283242295.html
>
>
>
>
>
>
> <http://space.sparklist.com/t/3685506/6589586/26131/0/>
> http://www.principals.org/s_nassp/docs/images/collegeknowledgeREV.jpg
> <http://space.sparklist.com/t/3685506/6589586/26131/0/> What Does it Mean
> to
> Be College-Ready?
> Noting the clear difference between being college-eligible and
> college-ready, the author of College Knowledge: What It Really Takes for
> Students to Succeed and What We Can Do to Get Them Ready lays out the
> problems with preparing high school students for the academic demands of
> college as well as how the problems can be remedied. The book offers a
> detailed, subject-specific checklist to demonstrate the level of challenge
> that college-bound students can expect. Look for it in the NASSP store.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Dan Kern
>
> AD21, Reading
>
> East Central College
>
> 1964 Prairie Dell Road
>
> Union, MO 63084-4344
>
> Phone: (636) 583-5195
>
> Extension: 2426
>
> Fax: (636) 584-0513
>
> Email: [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
> http://www.studentveterans.org/
>
>
>
> Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question,
> 'Is
> it politic?' Vanity asks the question, 'Is it popular?' But, conscience
> asks
> the question, 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when one must take a
> position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take
> it
> because one's conscience tells one that it is right. (Martin Luther King,
> Jr.)
>
> Instruction begins when you, the teacher, learn from the learner. Put
>
> yourself in his place so that you may understand what he learns and
>
> the way he understands it. (Kierkegaard)
>
>
>
> To freely bloom - that is my definition of success. -Gerry Spence, lawyer
> (b. 1929) [Benjamin would be proud, I think.]
>
>
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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> http://www.lists.ufl.edu/archives/lrnasst-l.html
>
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>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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