Vol. 18 No. 2 October 2003
Test Results Raise Questions
WHO'S RIGHT about the math skills of college-bound high school students? The SAT, which said math scores this year reached 519 out of a possible 800, a level not seen in 35 years?
Or is the ACT right? It saw no improvement in any academic area. Its students scored an average 20.6 out of a possible 36, down from five years ago.
ACT concluded that only 40 percent of its test-takers demonstrated the skills required to do college math work. SAT countered that math scores of its test-takers are up eight points in the last four years, and that more students are taking "rigorous" college prep math courses.
But only 26 percent of students are prepared for college level science, says ACT.
Who's right? Maybe both. More students are taking college preparatory math courses, but still not enough students and not enough courses. And the fact they are not ready to do college work is supported by the size of remedial math courses on college campuses.
RECORD NUMBER OF TEST-TAKERS
How then should we measure the success of a standardized test? What do tests tell really us? Even though levels of performance on this year's ACT remained fairly constant, the test set one new high mark. A record number, 1.2 million high school seniors, took the ACT. That's 40 percent of all graduating seniors, and most are probably headed for the nation's colleges and universities.
ACT is proud of that new record level. But it is even more concerned by the math and science scores those students posted. "The strength of the U.S. in national security, medicine, research and engineering is dependent upon the math skills of today's young people," warned Richard L. Ferguson, ACT's chief.
However, 67 percent of all the test-takers scored 18 or above on the ACT English test, indicating they are likely to be able to manage college work.
LACK OF PREPARATION
Once again, proper coursework completed before the tests is a major problem, and a correctable problem. Less than two-thirds of ACT test-takers took the recommended coursework for college-bound students, ACT reported. The preferred academic path includes four years of English, and three years each of mathematics, natural sciences and social sciences. Students who completed that sequence scored 21.8 on this year's ACT versus 19.3 for those who didn't.
Students who take higher-level courses beyond the core curriculum tend to earn higher ACT scores, Ferguson reported. Students who took four or more years of math, for example, posted a 23.4 composite. Those who took more science scored 22.6 composite.
Alarmingly, only 5 percent of African-American ACT test-takers scored at or above the college readiness benchmark for college biology, and just 10 percent for college algebra.
Yet only 45 percent of ACT test-takers took three or more years of science, while fewer than 39 percent took four or more years of math. Kids are simply not challenging themselves at a high enough level to get ready for higher education. And schools are not demanding they enroll in tougher courses.
"Far too few college-bound students are taking even the basic coursework necessary to prepare for college, let alone pushing themselves by taking higher level courses," Ferguson complained.
His complaint is a perennial one. Since only 50 percent of college students graduate within five years, ACT suggests this failure to prepare in high school is a key component.
SAT OPTIMISM
A week after the ACT released its test results, the College Board announced that this year 1.4 million high school students took the SAT, also a record number. And this year, SAT test-takers posted an average math score of 513, primarily because more students are taking algebra in eighth grade, and more advanced math classes afterwards, SAT said of its test-takers, in contrast to the ACT pool. "A lot of work has been done to improve math," said College Board president Gaston Caperton, who is also a former West Virginia Governor.
So overall, there appears to be some solid progress, particularly in the expanding numbers of college-bound student test-takers. But to paraphrase poet Robert Frost, U. S. students have "miles to go" before they sleep.
WRITING STILL BIG PROBLEM
Meanwhile, results from the latest NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) writing test indicate that just one fourth of all students can write a decent essay or short story. Although a few more students demonstrated basic writing skills than the last time the test was administered four years ago, the improvements were marginal. Low-income students, in particular, made some progress over the past four years. And girls are better writers at all levels than boys. But overall, about three-fourths of seniors do not have the writing skills that are required to succeed in college.
OTHER TIDBITS OF INFO
- At the same time, the College Board has announced that the essay will not appear on the new PSAT because grading the writing sample would be too costly.
- Readers and Writers. Too few aspiring writers are reading quality books, according to poet and Columbia U. professor of writing Richard Howard. Writing in this summer's Michigan Quarterly Review, Howard asserts that these young writers need to read the classics of literature and poetry or they are likely to fail in their literary ambitions.
- Hispanic Hopes. How can educators help Hispanic students ultimately succeed? Writing in a recent Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, Bryant College economist Jongsung Kim suggests that schools must help Hispanic students become fluent in English, insure that they complete high school and take more challenging courses including Advanced Placement courses, then gain postsecondary learning. Currently only 11 percent of Hispanic Americans age 25 and older hold a bachelor's degree or higher. And more than 43 percent have failed to secure a high school degree.
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 THE GREENE REPORT
Reflections on 2003
AN EARLY LABOR DAY THIS YEAR, brought (snapped) parents, students and counselors back to the realities of college admissions deadlines and demands a little earlier than some might have chosen.
Some students might have languished on beaches or labored behind a lunch counter during the summer, putting college out of their minds completely and neglecting the tasks they and others set out before them to complete prior to the start of senior year.
However, we found that most students were busy visiting college campuses and pursuing their interests in athletics, the arts, debate, the environment and academic subjects in specialized programs.
And this brings us to the first of our reflections on admissions during the past year, with some comments on what to expect this year.
1. Families are starting the process earlier than ever. We are getting more calls from parents eager to answer questions and begin planning correctly in ninth and tenth grade. We are seeing great interest in admissions planning from high school guidance counselors, principals and superintendents, who would like to put systems into place to help freshmen, sophomores and juniors understand the goals and demands of preparing for college. So, more students are ready to start visiting colleges during the summer before junior year, and are doing so in droves. Many are taking SAT II Subject Tests, such as Writing and Math IC, in the winter of junior year, or even spring of sophomore year, so as to free up time for SAT I and other SAT II content-based tests later in junior spring. Juniors are working on their essays in English classes or with advisors, or with tutors and during summer prep programs. Many students arrive at senior fall having pretty well established their college preferences, testing portfolio and applications.
Many, of course, have not, and they will need a lot of help getting things going through the fall. Our view of all this is that schools should neither pressure nor punish students who start the college admissions process early, but rather support them in meeting their goals.
The earlier that schools establish a college-bound culture, and help younger students and their parents understand the expectations and process associated with selective college admissions and general college planning, the easier time they will have communicating with families and helping students accomplish the tasks required to enter college successfully.
2. More students are seeking to assemble the best test portfolio they can. They are combining SAT I, SAT II, ACT, and Advanced Placement tests and showing a willingness to try whichever testing program might work best for them.
It is very clear that families in all economic categories are spending substantial effort and money to prepare for the various entrance tests. Schools can help by administering more of these tests on site, or referring students to local test centers that might offer desired tests. Sophomores should be encouraged to take the PSAT, not discouraged from trying it, as we have heard students relate from some schools. The ACT PLAN is also a helpful tool and alternative that is given sophomore year.
3. Costs are rising. And they will continue to soar in the next year. Families are more concerned than ever about paying for college, and need to be reassured right up front that there is money available for college, that they can pay for it, that college is worthwhile, that sometimes taking out loans to finance such an investment in their child's future is necessary and that most students are not paying the sticker price at both public and private institutions.
Families seem more willing than ever to put together a college list that might combine community colleges, public universities, need-blind private colleges and private universities that offer significant discounts through merit-based financial awards. The gap between actual costs paid at many public and private institutions seems to be closing, and, surprisingly, this can lead many families to consider private colleges farther from home in their search. This pattern is very likely to increase as public universities raise their tuition for out-of-state students to private college levels.
4. All students are using the Internet. They use it as a research and application tool to a much higher degree. Recent research seems to indicate that the so-called "digital divide" is less prevalent than we thought, especially among college-bound high school students.
Schools can help students by setting up and maintaining a good computer system with Web access in school, and by offering sessions to help introduce them to the process of researching and applying to colleges on-line. If such systems are unavailable in school, or if many students don't have access at home, then counselors can help families by connecting them to local resources, such as those at public libraries or community colleges.
5. Work demands on families leave little time. It is increasingly harder for families to deal with the educational planning and college search process. This time crunch limits their ability to communicate with schools and with one another. So, even as they are starting the admission process earlier, they are worried about their inability during the summer and senior fall to visit college campuses, to set up interviews and to follow through on applications.
They have heard that some colleges are tracking visits and interviews as a sign of interest, and are worried that a qualified student will be rejected or put on a wait-list because he or she did not make it to campus. This is becoming an even bigger problem as students apply to more colleges, farther away from home, with fewer on-campus interviewing opportunities.
6. The pie chart method is increasing. This process in college admissions, whereby selective colleges are dividing up their classes into particular specialized niches, seems more prevalent at the elite schools in particular. Recruited athletes, members of various underrepresented groups and legacies continue to fill large portions of incoming classes, making it even harder for those well-qualified but non-spectacular to stand out and know where they stand.
7. Early decision, early action. It is more confusing than ever for parents, who are (and they are probably right) convinced that committing somewhere Early Decision, or even showing interest by applying Early Action, will increase their odds at most schools that offer these options. Parents and students cannot help but feel more uncertain, and sometimes suspicious of colleges' motives.
Counselors will need to continue to monitor individual college rule announcements to help clarify the overall process and individual college requirements. Families will need reassurance and encouragement to follow the rules of each college to which they are applying, to commit ED to a college only when the student is sure it is a first choice, and to apply EA to one or more colleges of significant interest when they are ready.
8. Affirmative action is alive. And it is well after the Supreme Court's Michigan decisions. Look for more holistic admissions policies and continued attempts to attract qualified members of minority groups at public and private universities. Essays will thus become more important, and, we hope, more colleges will make more of an effort to meet with students face-to-face.
Howard and Matthew Greene can be reached at Howard Greene and Associates, the Educational Consulting Centers, Inc. in Westport, Connecticut; www.greenesguides.com.
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FINANCIAL AFFAIRS
Budgets Down, Tuition Up. At least that is the word from the American Association of Community Colleges which released its fall survey and found that tuition and fees are up over 11 percent at public community colleges this fall. The main reason? State budget cuts.
At the same time, tuition at public community colleges for the 2003-04 academic year remains the lowest of any sector in higher education, despite soaring enrollments and severe cuts in funding in most states, according to AACC. For 2003-04, AACC estimates average annual tuition and fees for a full-time student (12 semester hours per term) to be $1,560. This is an increase of about $80 per semester over the previous year or an 11.5 percent increase. Nationally, state and local funding accounted for 61.3 percent of community college funding in 2002-03, compared to 36.4 percent among four-year public institutions.
Tuition and fee increases were below 10 percent in many states. Maine and West Virginia did not raise tuition at all, though some colleges there increased fees slightly. California and Virginia had the largest percentage increases in tuition and fees. California's 108 community colleges noted the largest change but remain the least expensive place to get a community college education in the nation. The cost per credit hour in California, which is determined by the state legislature, went from $11 to $18, or approximately $450 for a full-year. In Virginia, the 42 percent increase for 2003-04 follows four years with virtually no increases. In fact, tuition and fees decreased by 19 percent between 1998-99 and 1999-2000. Averaged over the 5-year period of 1998-99 to 2003-04, that is less than 3 percent annual increase.
After adjusting for the impact of inflation, estimate of the increase in average tuition and fees charged this fall at public community colleges will be 9.2 percent Three states-Maine, West Virginia and Mississippi-did not increase tuition and fees more than inflation. Average tuition and fee increases were below twice the CPI change in 10 of the 13 responding states.
State and local funding cuts appear to be the major driving force for the increase in tuition and fees in most states. And if inflation is taken into account, tuition and fees would need to increase by 18.0 percent in order to maintain a budget equivalent to the previous year, says AACC.
Distressing Problems Face Colleges. Colleges and universities across the U. S. are facing daunting problems that will impact on future tuition rates and other issues of quality and access, according to a new survey by Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges. The most pressing problem identified by the college trustees who were surveyed is finding funds and complying with the new homeland security demands.
Next in importance are the issues of admissions and affirmative action, then the impact of federal and state budget cuts, followed by the growing educational and financial needs of diverse study bodies; rapid tuition increases; reauthorization of the Higher Education Act; debates over federal tax policy; new and proposed accountability measures; and scientific research and ethical cloning questions. At the bottom of the list, but still pressing, was financing and equity in college athletics.
The trustees warn that colleges and the public must stay involved in the debates over higher education policy since so much is at stake in terms of costs and quality of life.
Tuition Tabs. Meanwhile, this fall, the State University of New York raised tuition for in-state students by 26 percent. The City University of New York raised its rates for in-state students by 25 percent at senior colleges and 12 percent at community colleges. In Arizona this fall, tuition jumped by 39 percent at the University of Arizona.
Debt Affects Grad Study. Students who leave college with significant debts from student loans are less likely to enroll in graduate or professional school, according to a study by University of Michigan researcher Catherine M. Millett. Low-income students are particularly affected by this trend. And these debt levels may have a relationship to the high percentages of foreign students who dominate some graduate programs, ultimately weakening the U.S. in these competitive areas.
P.S. Pell Grants Not Cut. Writing recently in the Chicago Tribune, Congressman John Boehner (R-Ohio), argued that it is inaccurate to say the Bush Administration has cut back on Pell Grants. He noted that Pell Grants have increased every year President Bush has been in office. The President initially sought a $1.9 billion Pell increase for next year.
The budget just passed by Congress provides $12.3 billion for the grants next year, the most in history. The most recent redefinition of Pell Grant guidelines that grabbed headlines was required by Congress in 1992, Boehner noted, to insure that the money goes to the most needy students. Other students will benefit from the realignment, he pointed out. Of course, that doesn't help those who will no longer receive the same levels of Pell assistance, an estimated one million students.
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NEWS YOU CAN USE
YES. A Young Epidemiology Scholarship competition is being sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the College Board to encourage high school juniors and seniors to learn more about epidemiology, the basic science of public health. "We want to attract the best and brightest students to the YES competition," said J. Michael McGinnis, M.D., RWJF senior vice president. "We hope YES will awaken them to the power and principles of epidemiology, and enhance their ability to evaluate complex problems. We also hope the scholars will go on to make valuable contributions to our nation's health."
The YES student competition seeks outstanding original research projects in which students apply the principles of epidemiology to a health-related area. The competition is open to high school juniors and seniors and will award up to 120 scholarships to regional and national winners. Two national winners each will receive a $50,000 scholarship. The deadline for entries is February 6, 2004. For more info see http://www.collegeboard.com/yes/fs/
Athletic Graduation Rates Climb. After a decade of scrutiny and reforms, the National Collegiate Athletic Association reports that 62 percent of Division I athletes who were freshmen in 1996-97 have graduated, an improvement of 2 percent and the highest rate in the organization's history.
Now Division I college athletes are more likely to graduate than non-athletes, according to the NCAA's federally-mandated report on graduation rates.
However, the number of white male basketball players who graduate (52 percent) and white football players (61 percent) both declined by 1 percent. Black basketball players made the most progress, increasing their numbers of graduates from 28 to 38 percent.
The overall African American graduation rate of 52 percent is 4 percent higher than a year ago, and the first time "this sub-group of student athletes exceeded 50 percent," according to the report. To view the entire report, go to: www.ncaa.org/grad_rates/2003/(.)
Where the Jobs Are (Or Will Be). According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the fastest growing occupations for 2000-10 will be in the service and professional occupations. Health, business, education, and engineering and management services will account for almost 50 percent of new jobs.
The top 10 fastest growing: computer software engineers, applications; computer support specialists; computer software engineers, systems software; network and computer systems administrators; network systems and data communications analysts; desktop publishers, database administrators; personal and home-care aids; computer systems analysts; medical assistants.
"Undocumented" Students. While the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that the children of illegal immigrants were entitled to a public education, students often found that ended at the end of high school. Now states are individually deciding to allow undocumented students to enroll as in-state residents. Utah, Texas, California and New York are among them. Others states are studying the proposal. An estimated 50,000 to 70,000 undocumented students graduate from U.S. high schools each year.
Comings and Goings. Benedictine University and Springfield College, 200 miles apart in Illinois, announced they will merge with 2,809 and 300 students respectively. Springfield will retain its name but offer bachelor's and master's degrees now offered at Benedictine, based in Lisle.
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ADMISSIONS WATCH
Michigan Retools Its Application. To comply with the recent Supreme Court decision on affirmative action, the U. of Michigan reports that it has replaced its old point-system with an essay-driven admissions process. Applicants now will submit one 500-word essay and two 250-word essays.
One of the shorter essays will ask students to comment on the ideas that: "At the University of Michigan, we are committed to building an academically superb and widely diverse educational community. What would you as an individual bring to our campus community?" A second essay probes the educational and income level of the students, their parents, and grandparents.
To help evaluate the 25,000 applicants that are typically submitted each year, the UM admission office has hired 16 part-time essay readers. Michigan will incur an additional one to two million dollars to do the new work.
UVA's Class of 2007. University of Virgnia students must apply to one of four undergraduates schools for the 2004-05 class. The essay questions for the College of Arts and Sciences: "What work of art, music, science, mathematics or literature has surprised or unsettled or challenged you, and in what way?"
A record 3,100 first-year students were enrolling at the University of Virginia this fall, out of 14,700 applicants, the largest freshman class in the university's history, 30 percent more than projected. "The class is bigger than we thought it would be," said John A. Blackburn, UVA's dean of admission. Average test scores among applicants were higher-653 verbal, 670 math. About 85 percent ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class. Two-thirds were from Virginia, followed by New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey. South Korea contributed the most international students. Legacy students represented about 13 percent of the students.
Hot Schools List. Grinnell College tops the list of "Hot Schools" for 2004, according to Kaplan Inc. and Newsweek. The others on the list: St. John's College; Rose-Hulman Institute and Carnegie Mellon; Reed; Bentley; Carleton; Occidental and LSU; Goucher and Rhodes C.
Who's Collegiate Chic? According to the editors at Women's Wear Daily, who pay attention to who is wearing exclusive brand names on campus, New York University in the heart of bohemian Greenwich Village with its Gucci and "too cool for school" attitude leads the way, followed by Howard U., Southern Methodist U., U. of Pennsylvania, Wesleyan, U. of Arkansas at Fayetteville and the U. of California at Berkeley, all of which exhibit their own regional styles well.
Yielding on Yield. U.S. News & World Report will no longer calculate the "yield" of a college or university into its annual ratings. "Yield" is the percentage of admitted students who actually enroll. Schools with large early admissions programs tend to have higher yields because they get a smaller pool of very interested students who have been accepted early. Critics complained that unfairly counted against colleges that still accept most students through traditional deadlines.
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COLLEGE BOUND's Publisher/Editor: R. Craig Sautter, DePaul University; Chief Operating Officer: Sally Reed; Contributor: Marc Davis; Circulation: Irma Gonzalez-Hider; Illustration: Louis Coronel; Board of Advisors: Rosita Fernandez-Rojo, Choate-Rosemary Hall; Claire D. Friedlander, Bedford (N.Y.) Central School District; Howard Greene, author, The Greenes' Guides to Educational Planning Series; Frank C. Leana, Ph.D., educational counselor; Virginia Vogel, Educational Guidance Services; M. Fredric Volkmann, Washington University in St. Louis, Mary Ann Willis, Bayside Academy (Daphne, Ala.).
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