Students want to be challenged

Recent high school graduates, employers support raising
the bar

Although the concerted focus in recent years to raise academic standards has helped improve student achievement, employers and college instructors—even students themselves—say that more needs to be done to raise standards in high schools nationwide. That’s the central finding of a new survey from the bipartisan nonprofit group Achieve Inc.

While past surveys have found that employers and professors deem many students’ academic preparation lacking, students haven’t always agreed with those opinions. In the survey conducted for Achieve by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, however, well over half of college students say that high school left them unprepared for the work and study habits expected of them in college. They rank oral communication, science and math as the top areas in which they feel inadequately prepared. The self-assessments of high school graduates who didn’t go to college were almost identical to those of the college students.

Interestingly, based on what they discovered when they entered higher education or the workforce, a majority of recent high school graduates (65 percent of those in college and 77 percent of those who aren’t) say they would have worked harder and applied themselves more in high school—even if it meant having to give up other nonacademic activities. Among college students, 62 percent say they would have taken at least one harder course, while the figure was 72 percent for the students who did not go to college.

What’s more, the students say they would have been able to reach the higher standards. About 80 percent of both groups say they would have worked harder if their high schools had been more demanding. “To those who would expect students to resist changes that would force them to work harder,” the report notes, “these recent high school graduates say just the opposite. Like their college instructors and employers, these recent high school graduates say higher expectations in high school and tougher course requirements and tests prior to graduation would leave them better prepared for the real challenges they are now facing in college and the work world.”

The survey does point out that not all high school students progressed through school without being adequately challenged. As you might expect, the students who report that they faced high academic expectations in high school were also more likely to feel well prepared for the expectations of college and the workplace. These students also are twice as likely to earn A’s in college as those who said they faced low expectations, and they are much less likely to take remedial classes in college.

Recent graduates, college instructors and employers all strongly support measures to raise the bar for high school students, the survey shows. Those measures include providing more opportunities to take advanced courses, such as honors, Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate; making coursework more relevant to the world outside school; requiring students to pass high school graduation exams; and mandating four years each of math and science for graduation.

“The students are telling us that they need to be challenged with higher expectations and tougher academic standards to help them build the foundation they need to be successful in college and work,” says Intel CEO Craig Barrett, an Achieve board member, “and we need to listen.”

“Rising to the Challenge: Are High School Graduates Prepared for College and Work?” is available at www.achieve.org.