Teachers, parents and students believe it’s important for kids to be ready for college and/or career when they leave high school, according to a new survey; but not all believe it’s our educational system’s the top priority.
The 27th Annual MetLife Survey of the American Teacher examined the attitudes of 1,000 public school teachers in grades sixth-12th; 2,002 students in grades sixth-12th and 580 parents, along with 301 executives from Fortune 1,000 companies. The first part of the survey was released early this March.
While the groups agreed that preparing students for the world beyond high school was a critical goal of education, not everyone agreed with how critical it was. Nearly three of every four parents said that college and career readiness “must be accomplished as one of the highest priorities in education,” and it was even a higher priority with students. Meanwhile, only 54 percent of teachers and 48 percent of executives believed readiness ranked that high.
The study also examined attitudes related to educational strategies in general, particularly those linked to the No Child Left Behind Act. While large majorities of parents (75 percent) and executives (83 percent) believed it was critical for schools to have the ability to fire underperforming teachers, the teachers themselves were more inclined to be concerned with program funding—particularly funding to help prepare diverse learners for the wider world ahead.
The survey also found that:
* Getting an education beyond high school is a career necessity, according to 84 percent of students and 77 percent of company executives.
* No surprise, then, that three out of every four students say they’ll likely go to college. That rate drastically has increased in the past two decades. In 1997, just 67 percent of students said they’d probably go to college, and in 1988 just 57 percent said they would.
* When it comes to whether students will be ready for college, teachers have a slightly more pessimistic outlook. Teachers say, on average only 63 percent of their students will be ready for higher education, and they predict that just slightly more than half will graduate from college.
* More students are more concerned about affording college (57 percent) than about being able to get into college (31 percent) or to succeed once there (33 percent).
* Teachers believe it’s critical that students leave high school with the ability to write clearly and persuasively. Far fewer believe it’s very important for every student to leave with a good understanding of higher-level math such as trigonometry and calculus. Executives largely agree.
While many corporations have tried to encourage schools to boost focus on math and science, just 31 percent of execs say science is critical knowledge of every student, while 40 percent say the same about upper-level math education. The vast majority of these executives believe critical thinking, problem solving and writing skills are essential for success.
