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Dr. Michael W. Kirst

Michael W. Kirst is Professor Emeritus of Education and Business Administration at Stanford University since 1969.
Dr. Kirst received his Ph.D. in political economy and government from Harvard. Before joining the Stanford University faculty, Dr. Kirst held several positions with the federal government, including Staff Director of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Manpower, Employment and Poverty. He was a former president of the California State Board of Education. His book From High School to College with Andrea Venezia was published by Jossey Bass in 2004.

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My blog discusses the important and complex subjects of college completion, college success, student risk factors (for failing), college readiness, and academic preparation. I will explore the pieces of the college puzzle that heavily influence, if not determine, college success rates.

Reading Scores Are Warning Signs for Lack of College Readiness

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released the grade 12 results recently. The results in Reading demonstrate a decline between 1992 and 2005. The results do not bode well for aspirations of higher academic readiness, college preparedness and college success.

The test was given between January and March of 2005 to a representative sample of 21,000 high school seniors attending 900 public and private schools. Exams in reading, math, science and writing also were administered to fourth and eighth graders.

The results found that the reading skills of 12th graders tested in 2005 were significantly worse than those of students in 1992, the first time a comparable test was given, and essentially flat since students took the exam in 2002. The share of students lacking even basic high school reading skills -- meaning they could not, for example, extract data about train fares at different times of the day from a brochure -- rose to 27 from 20 percent in 1992. The share of those proficient in reading dropped to 35 from 40 percent in 1992.

Yet, high school graduates in 2005 had studied more than their counterparts in 1990, averaging 360 more hours of classroom instruction during their high school years, the transcript study showed. Their grade point average was a third of a letter grade higher than in 1990, and more students were taking foreign language and other courses aimed at preparing them for college.

Thus, the poor reading scores of 12th graders puzzle educators. Since state tests -- known generally as STAR tests in California -- indicate that student achievement has been improving, why are high schoolers faring so poorly on the annual federal assessment, known as ``the nation's report card?''

Educators and administrators of the National Assessment of Educational Progress blamed the seemingly contradictory trends on more difficult course work and on grade inflation -- a phenomenon documented by other surveys of high school students.

The NAEP results surprised me, too, because the number of students who took 4 years of English is up from 40% in 1990 to 68% in 2005.Moreover, the average grade in English is also higher.

This is alarming because many states, including California, have been making significant gains at elementary grades, and it doesn't show up here in 12th grade. The trend line is baffling.
We should be concerned because this is another year where the nation as a whole is showing no progress in reading at 12th grade. A recent article in the San Jose Mercury News explored the surprising findings and the article included my comments or possible explanations:

(1) One possible explanation for the poor high-school showing was that test-weary 12th graders do not try hard on the national assessment.
(2) Another explanation is the fact that high schools are not teaching reading, so growth in that area tapers off.
(3) Or possibly the federal test standards, designed by an independent panel, aren't aligned with state standards. In fact, critics have called the federal assessment much tougher than most state standards, even those of California, which among the states has set the bar for proficiency comparatively high.

The bottom line is that high school students are taking harder courses and earning better grades yet reading at significantly lower levels than their peers did 13 years ago. Thus, there is an urgent need to teach reading skills across the high school curriculum and not just in English classes.

Considerable research stresses there is a difference between English literature studies in high school and technical reading in college courses like biology and economics. NAEP tests more than English literature so its broader emphasis may have exposed some reading weakness that otherwise would’ve been missed by testing with an English-lit emphasis.

In order for college readiness and college success to increase, reading instruction – in all subject areas—must improve as well as persist THROUGH all years of high school.

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My blog discusses the important and complex subjects of college completion, college success, student risk factors (for failing), college readiness, and academic preparation. I will explore the pieces of the college puzzle that heavily influence, if not determine, college success rates.

How to Prepare More College-Ready Students

It is useful to highlight some particularly good state studies and actions regarding college student risk factors and college support for struggling students. A superb report was released on February 12, 2007 by the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education through their Developmental Education Task Force. It is entitled Securing Kentucky’s Future. It has six core recommendations:

  1. Update college admissions regulations

  2. Create an integrated accountability system tied to performance funding

  3. Fund infrastructure improvement

  4. Align college readiness standards and tie to educator professional development

  5. Better link educator preparation to college readiness

  6. Develop early student interventions
Among the specifics in the report is a detailed plan on how to help students with poor college preparation once they enter college. A key passage is quoted below:

Best practice, as implemented in the Council’s admission regulation, will require that under-prepared students (a) receive developmental help in their first semester of college (or perhaps before that in summer workshops); (b) be required to stay in developmental education until they successfully complete the course(s); and (c) take the appropriate credit-bearing course(s) immediately following completion of developmental work.

Implementing these changes will require improved (and more directive) advising, revisions in course registration procedures, and additional resources to increase the availability of developmental education in the first semester for all students in need.

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My blog discusses the important and complex subjects of college completion, college success, student risk factors (for failing), college readiness, and academic preparation. I will explore the pieces of the college puzzle that heavily influence, if not determine, college success rates.

Search Engines May Hinder College Success (Part 3 in a Series)

Howard Block writes equity research on education companies for Banc of America Securities. He is one of my former PhD students. Block’s prior work under me has lent him a somewhat unique perspective on education equities. He recently wrote a lengthy report on the dangerous combination of search advertising and college admission. Its theme dovetails quite nicely with my work on K16. I have been referencing Block’s report in earlier posts. This entry references his report again.

Take, for example, what happens if one uses Google to query -- “best college for me”. The top sponsored link is Find A College. If you would click through the link, you’d be faced with a full-page advertisement for the University of Phoenix. This seems to be suggesting that the University of Phoenix is the best college for me. That is a wonderful endorsement for UOP.

Or, you may be tempted by the name of the third sponsored link - COURSE ADVISOR (“Your Source for Education and Training”). This name sounds potentially trustworthy. By the way, according to the copy in the ad, “some of the Leading Institutions You Can Reach through CourseAdvisor” are: the University of Phoenix, Capella University, Johns Hopkins University, Strayer University, University of Maryland, American InterContinental University (AIU), Liberty University, Westwood College, Colorado Technical University, and California Medical Institute.

With how many of these “leading institutions” are you familiar? And, of course, Block was not able to get CourseAdvisor to suggest Johns Hopkins, despite searching for on-ground engineering programs located near its campus.

As you select programs of interest, Course Advisor serves up schools. For example, if you select ‘Business & Management”, Course Advisor replies with “We found appropriate programs at The University of Phoenix”. Block ran a query for on-ground Science, Math, and Engineering programs for recent high school grads, using a Baltimore, MD zip code. Much to his surprise, he was told that no campuses in the area matched his interests. Instead, the site suggested the online program at ITT Technical Institute. So much for attending Johns Hopkins.

One could argue that the answers served by search engines are, at best, misleading and, at worst, unethical. A trusting, albeit naïve, consumer should not arbitrarily accept any of the schools listed above as “leading institutions”.

We agree that there are dangerous financial and social consequences of an increasing reliance on search engines to answer important questions like – should I go to college? The economic consequences for Block’s companies are understood – excessive dropout rates and significant declines in profitability.

And, the increasing use of bounty hunters promises to exacerbate the problem of dropouts. Bounty programs attract a growing number of publishers by doling out money for leads. Publishers can earn up to $100 for delivering leads to companies – such as University of Phoenix – which are in need of students.

The University of Phoenix will pay hefty premiums because of the perceived lifetime value of the customer. Of course, most of the leads prove worthless at or near inception – i.e. the lead may be spurious or during the first quarter of college when the student drops out.

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My blog discusses the important and complex subjects of college completion, college success, student risk factors (for failing), college readiness, and academic preparation. I will explore the pieces of the college puzzle that heavily influence, if not determine, college success rates.

Search Engines May Hinder College Success (Part 2 in a Series)

Howard Block writes equity research on education companies for Banc of America Securities. He is one of my former PhD students.

Block’s prior work under me has lent him a somewhat unique perspective on equities. He recently wrote a lengthy report on the dangerous combination of search advertising and college admission. Its theme dovetails quite nicely with my work on K16. I referenced Block’s report in an earlier post. This entry references that report again.

Block’s report mentioned that another even less frequently cited factor for the high dropout rates is that there are simply too many students in schools. Charles Murray touched on this in the midst of his fabulously insightful three-part series of Op-Ed pieces that ran earlier this month in the Wall Street Journal (1/1607: “Intelligence in the Classroom”, 1/17/07: “What’s Wrong With Vocational School?”, 1/18/07: “Aztecs vs. Greeks”).

One of Murray’s several, compelling assertions is that there are far too many people going to college. Murray’s basic point is that too many college students lack the ability to benefit from college and thus are wasting their time and their resources not to forget, in many cases, taxpayer and parental resources.

Murray believes that a college education makes sense for only 15%-25% of the population. However, Block’s report takes it further by arguing that one reason for too many people going to school is the ease with which those prospective students can carelessly enlist Search engines to help them make the decision of enrolling in college. Block argues that far too many students – prospective and otherwise – use search engines to answer two questions:
1. Should I go to college?
2. And where should I go to college?

And, too frequently, search engines are used indiscriminately – whether it is to answer “yes” or “no” to the first question or whether it be to select a college (the second question).

Relying on a search engine is as random and arbitrary as perhaps using the yellow pages to determine which plumber to unclog your sink. Did you pick the plumber with:
The biggest ad?
The friendliest sounding name?
The address closest to your home?
Or, did you pick the one who answered his phone first? An increasing volume of college students are taking a random walk through search engines in contrast to the paradigm of the traditional college student: A high school junior or senior who sought constructive advice through conversations and exchanges with his or her family, friends, high school counselors and trusted advisors.

The Internet makes it too easy by tempting prospective college students with what sounds like the right answer.

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