Center for Community College Student Engagement

A report by CCCSE, a research group at the University of Texas at Austin, finds that 68 percent of community college students require at least one remedial class–that includes 40 percent of students who said they were A students in high school.  At the same time, 86 percent of students believe they are ready for college-level work. The disconnect between high school graduation requirements and college readiness is real. The report includes a number of proposed policy changes. Expectations meet Reality Report released February 2016.

 

 

Pacific Research Institute

The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a non-partisan think tank based in California, has conducted a series of five studies analyzing the performance of students in predominantly middle-class and low-poverty public schools in five states. The analyses — called “Not As Good As You Think: Why Middle-Class Parents Should Be Concerned about Their Local Public Schools”–found that these schools are generally underperforming based on key metrics, especially around college-readiness. The five states include New Jersey, Colorado, Michigan, Texas and Illinois.

 

Not As Good As You Think: New Jersey

Among the 114 predominantly non-low-income high schools in New Jersey, which met the state target of 80 percent or more of the seniors taking the SAT, 28 percent, or nearly 3 in 10, had half or more of their SAT-takers fail to score at or above the college readiness benchmark score of 1550.  The study used 2014 SAT testing data. Report released February 2016

See summary here.

See full report here.

 

Not As Good As You Think: Colorado

Among the 103 predominantly non-low income high schools in Colorado, 77 or 75 percent, had at least one grade-level math or reading exam where 50 percent or more of these students failed to reach proficiency. Report released September 2015

See summary here.

See full report here.

 

Not As Good As You Think: Michigan 

Among the 677 regular public schools that have less than 33 percent of their students coming from low-income households, 316 or nearly 47 percent have 50 percent or more of their students in at least one grade level that fail to achieve proficiency on the Michigan Education Assessment Program (MEAP) and the Michigan Merit Exam (MME) – mostly in the math exams. Report released March 2015.

Reach press release here.

Read report here.

 

Not As Good As You Think: Texas 

Texas parents may be alarmed to discover that in a significant number of public schools located in middle class and affluent areas throughout the state — more than half of the students are not proficient in English or math in at least one grade level. Report released October 2014.

Read summary here.

Read full report here.

 

Not As Good As You Think: Illinois

Illinois parents may be alarmed to discover that in a significant number of public schools located in middle class and affluent areas throughout the state — more than half of the students are not proficient in English or math in at least one grade level. Report released May 2014.

Read summary here: 

Read full report here.