Recently, industry experts have begun noticing disturbing trends throughout American high schools. Students, it seems, are graduating with less general knowledge and even more unprepared for college level academics than they have previously. This is especially surprising in light of new legislation requiring higher standards for graduation requirements. Schools should be churning out more qualified graduates, not less.



Tracking

While this enigma may seem puzzlingly, those familiar with the inner workings of education have seen this pattern emerging for years. In the past, as much as America, the land of equal opportunity, hates to admit it, students were tracked. Tracking meant that certain students were recognized as having the ability to excel in academics and were placed in classes designed to meet their needs and challenge these intelligent students on a regular basis.

Students whose intelligence was below average or who simply chose not to perform at their ability level were given opportunities where they could succeed in their own right. Courses designed for apprentice level work or skill building such as machine shops and work-study programs offered a chance to streamline the educational process to meet the needs of these students without the pressures of coursework that frustrates and often bores them.

Equal Opportunities

Over time, these career-based programs have faded away and been replaced with remedial core content classes designed to prepare students for the standardized tests required for graduation. The monetary rewards tied to high performance on standardized tests by the government have caused many schools and teachers to shift focus from the high-achieving students onto the low-performing students in hopes of bring up that set of scores.

While this is admirable, it is important to realize the standardized tests students are working so hard to pass indicate college readiness. If students can pass the test, they are ready for college level work – at least according to the state agencies creating the tests. This is fundamentally flawed for various reasons:

Test Timing

One of the basic problems with the standardized tests and college readiness is that the test does not assess all high school learning. Many graduation level standardized tests are taken in the beginning or middle of a student's junior year of high school. Even if the student passes, there is at least another year of high school unaccounted for. The tests are given early, by the way, to ensure students have up to six or seven attempts to pass –the problem with college readiness this presents does not require further clarification.

Test Content

While the many of the tests are designed to assess student's higher level thinking skills, the tests fall dismally short of the mark. Current standardized tests are remedial at best. Each year the states lower the standards to ensure a certain percentage of students are passing, and some tests require less than 60% to pass. If a student gets slightly more than half of the questions correct, they are apparently ready for college.

Test Rationale

The most fundamental of all problems with the state assessments is the rationale behind them. If all students must take and pass the test to graduate, and the test indicates college readiness, then all passing students should be ready for college. While this is a fantastic principle, the truth is less than a third of graduating seniors are even interested in college. And only two-thirds (if that) of the students who start even finish work at the University level.

While there is nothing fundamentally wrong with standardized testing, and everyone agrees that no child should be left behind or refused a chance to excel, the system that has evolved in education today does bear further examination. Should the bulk of teacher energy go toward teaching students test passing strategies instead of training these students in fields of interest or use? And what of those bright students who should be setting the standard?

Unfair For All

The current system, despite its intention of equality is unfair for all students. The low students are not able to focus on useful, practical educational directives. The man-power and energy of teachers that should be focused on actually preparing college-bound students is almost exclusively being directed at preparing students for a test that serves them no practical purpose.

Even worse, in many states, bright students are thrown back into classrooms with low and average learners in hopes that these gifted students will inspire and assist the lower and middle children into becoming model students. They spend much of their academic careers preparing for a test that is not even remotely challenging for them. It is obvious that this is completely unjust and essentially ensures that no students, not even the brightest, are truly prepared for college.

American Boarding Schools

Few avenues are left for parents pursuing the best educational opportunities for their gifted students, and the best of these are American boarding schools. The programs at many American boarding schools are designed exclusively for helping hard-working, bright students reach the highest possible achievement levels. American boarding schools have documented success with preparing students not only to succeed at the university level, but also to excel at level far beyond the capabilities of their peers - graduates of traditional education programs.