cac.ophony.org

In its March 10, 2006 issue The Chronicle of Higher Education published a survey of nearly 2000 high-school teachers and college faculty members on their perceptions of students’ preparedness for college.  A major finding is that there is a large gap between what teachers and faculty think about students’ academic skills. Eighty four percent of faculty as opposed to 65% of teachers said that high-school graduates are not adequately prepared for college education.   The gap is especially apparent in writing and math skills.  Only 6% of professors as opposed to 36% of teachers think that students are very well prepared in writing (similar figures are reported for perceptions of math skills).  The Chronicle devoted that issue to the role of colleges and universities in improving high-school education. The suggestion is that higher education institutions could cooperate with high-schools and take part in the education-reform efforts instead of spending billions of dollars on remedial work for unprepared students.  Several states have established programs to this end, such as the Early College Initiative in Georgia or the K-16 Partnership for Teaching and Learning in Maryland,  that bring together colleges and schools around the table.  I don’t know if similar programs exist in New York or not.  In any case, do you think there is a role for the Bernard L. Schwartz Institute, or similar institutions, in bringing City schools and colleges together to have a discussion about colleges’ expectations for first-year students and how these expectations could be met in high-schools?