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July 3, 2006

No College Student Left Behind?

Recently, the U.S. secretary of education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education released a preliminary report of its findings. The commission, formed in September 2005, was "charged with developing a comprehensive national strategy for postsecondary education that will meet the needs of America's diverse population and also address the economic and workforce needs of the country's future," according to a press release issued by the U.S. Department of Education.

Some in higher education worry that this commission will come out with a final report that would call for a No Child Left Behind-type law for higher education -- including the standardized testing that many educators are uneasy about. But many issues the panel has highlighted are cause for some alarm about how prepared students are for college and what they in turn learn at the undergraduate level.

The draft report released in June spells out four specific areas of concern in higher education: access, affordability, quality and innovation and accountability.

Some of the more intriguing findings:

  • Some 40 percent of four-year college students and 63 percent of two-year college students end up taking at least one remedial course.
  • Forty-four percent of faculty members say students aren't well-prepared for college-level writing. Only 10 percent of high school teachers say the same thing. In math, 32 percent of college professors say students are not well prepared, compared with 9 percent of high school teachers.
  • From 1993 to 2003, average tuition and fees at public and private four-year colleges and universities rose 38 percent after adjusting for inflation.
  • Between 1992 and 2003, scores for college graduates on the National Assessment of Adult Literacy dropped by 14 points and scores for graduate students decreased by 17 points.
  • Average per student spending, at $20,245, is almost twice the level of other industrialized nations in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
  • Unmet financial need among the lowest-income families (those with incomes below $34,000 annually) grew by 80 percent from 1990 to 2004, just as average aid packages for families in the top income quartile more than tripled.

What do you all think of these stats? I'm particularly interested to see whether educators -- teachers in K-12 or professors in higher ed -- would share their experiences on the preparedness issues.

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About this blog

Mug of Greg Esposito

Rhode Island native and Virginia Tech reporter Greg Esposito posts on everyday college life, trends and issues affecting the 35,000-plus students in the New River Valley and beyond.

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Mug of Tim Thornton

Tim Thornton, who is old enough to have children attending college, is still taking classes and is still fascinated by colleges, the students who populate them and the bureaucrats who operate them. His reporting beat is Radford University.

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Mug of Anna Mallory

West Virginia native Anna Mallory blogs on student life topics at Virginia Tech, Radford University, New River Valley Community College -- and beyond.

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