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California teachers say critical thinking skills, not scores on standardized tests, are the best way to assess whether students are prepared for success in college and the workplace, according to an online survey by EdSource in partnership with the California Teachers Association.
Teachers said they have received much more training on how to prepare students for college – and far less on preparing them for non-college options.
They also said college and career readiness has not been fully integrated into the professional development training they have received to implement the Common Core State Standards.
Preparing students to graduate from high school prepared for college and careers is now a principal goal of all major education reforms being implemented in California, including the Common Core standards and the Local Control Funding Formula, which was approved by the state Legislature in June 2013. This represents a major shift from the goal of the No Child Left Behind reforms of the past 15 years, which was to promote proficiency on standardized tests.
The survey of 1,000 teachers randomly selected from among a list of CTA’s more than 300,000 members was conducted last spring. Carried out by the polling firm GBA Strategies, it is the first of its kind to probe teacher attitudes regarding college and career readiness. The survey was partially underwritten by The James Irvine Foundation.
Defining what exactly “college and career readiness” means – and what it will take to ensure that students reach that goal by the time they graduate from high school – is currently a major concern of educators and policy makers around the state, and the teachers’ role in making that happen will be critical.
Teachers overwhelmingly supported the goal of preparing students for college and careers. When asked to rank the most important indicators of college and career readiness, 78 percent of teachers ranked developing critical thinking skills among the three most important indicators. Eight percent of teachers ranked proficiency on the Smarter Balanced test, which more than 3 million students took for the first time last spring, among the three most important indicators.
“I think most college professors would agree that students’ ability to think critically and analyze texts, and to integrate information is much more important than what they did on a test,” said David Plank, executive director of Policy Analysis for California Education, or PACE, a joint policy and research institute of UC Berkeley, Stanford University and the University of Southern California. “The disagreement would come from admissions officers who find tests very efficient in deciding who is eligible for admission or not.”
David Conley, professor of education policy at the University of Oregon, and president of EdImagine, a strategic consulting firm that is working on college and career readiness issues with school districts in California and the California Department of Education, welcomed teachers’ emphasis on critical thinking skills, but he said that the high school curriculum has largely not reflected that emphasis. “The arrows are all pointing toward greater alignment of high school and college, but the challenge will be course redesign at the high school level in particular, and training (of teachers) in new instructional methods,” he said.
Just under one third (30 percent) of teachers said their districts have clearly defined standards for what constitutes college and career readiness. Thirty-five percent say that their districts have standards, but that they are not clearly defined. Eight percent say their districts have no standards at all.
Conley, who authored “Getting Ready for College, Careers and the Common Core,” said that it is essential that districts adopt a specific definition of college and career readiness that goes beyond just requiring students to meet the A-G course requirements for admission to UC and CSU. He said what will be needed “is a definition that you can put into operation through professional development (of teachers) and curriculum development. A vague definition doesn’t do you any good.”
At a time when teachers are being asked to take on a number of new reforms, nearly three-fourths of teachers say they are either “very satisfied” or “fairly satisfied” with their jobs. Thirty-one percent of teachers support the Common Core standards, and nearly half support the standards with some reservations. Twelve percent say they are opposed to the standards altogether.
The survey also provides some guideposts for what additional resources teachers feel they need to adequately prepare students for college and careers. At the top of their list are programs that link the high school curriculum to the workplace with a specific career pathway along with more high school career-technical courses.
“High schools have historically done a better job preparing students to graduate ready for college,” said Jon Snyder, executive director of the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education. “They have not done as good a job in our schools preparing students for careers.”
Snyder said it was important to “break down the false dichotomy between college and career.” “We used to say college or career, and you had these two tracks,” he said. “It is important to say ‘both and,’ not ‘either or.'”
Key Findings Include:
Support for college and career readiness as a goal
Lack of clearly defined standards
Little professional development or training for non-college options
College and career readiness training often not integrated with Common Core training
Resources teachers need
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Comments (8)
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Peg Maddocks 9 years ago9 years ago
It's refreshing that a majority of teachers are clear and in agreement on what the most important skills are for students to be successful in the real world. Providing internships, mentors, authentic projects, and community resources enriches students' capacity to be ready and to launch themselves, whether they go to college or careers or both. Critical thinking in the classroom means letting kids be at the center with the responsibility and freedom to analyze problems, … Read More
It’s refreshing that a majority of teachers are clear and in agreement on what the most important skills are for students to be successful in the real world. Providing internships, mentors, authentic projects, and community resources enriches students’ capacity to be ready and to launch themselves, whether they go to college or careers or both. Critical thinking in the classroom means letting kids be at the center with the responsibility and freedom to analyze problems, collaborate on ideas, and communicate unique solutions. I hope the CCSS is eventually seen as one way to measure these abilities.
Jim 9 years ago9 years ago
The idea that everybody has the cognitive level needed to complete college is simply nuts. Most people with IQ’s above 110 could probably get through college and perhaps it might be possible for individuals with IQ’s of say 105. But the idea that someone with an IQ of say 90 could do college level work is beyond crazy. About 25% of the US population has an IQ below 90.
Ellen Moir 9 years ago9 years ago
Most teachers seem excited about the possibilities new standards represent, and hopeful they will receive the professional learning and support they need to make sure their students are successful. The challenge ahead is to build a profession of teachers who are trusted; who are constantly learning; who know they can take risks to reach every student; who persevere in solving complex issues; who are open to feedback that helps them grow professionally; and, ultimately, who … Read More
Most teachers seem excited about the possibilities new standards represent, and hopeful they will receive the professional learning and support they need to make sure their students are successful. The challenge ahead is to build a profession of teachers who are trusted; who are constantly learning; who know they can take risks to reach every student; who persevere in solving complex issues; who are open to feedback that helps them grow professionally; and, ultimately, who believe all students can learn and meet higher standards.
We can get there by giving teachers on-the-job coaching that meets their specific needs while helping them make a difference for students.
zane de arakal 9 years ago9 years ago
Dropping the term Vocational Educational affected current curricular planning.
Gary Ravani 9 years ago9 years ago
This survey's results align nicely with my experience over the course of several years in discussing CCSS with teachers from up and down the state. That puts about 8 in 10 in support, to varying degrees of the CCSS, and 2 in 10 adamantly against. As is typically the case in controversial issues the "against" folks are really, really adamant while the pro folks are much more moderate in their support. This also points out … Read More
This survey’s results align nicely with my experience over the course of several years in discussing CCSS with teachers from up and down the state. That puts about 8 in 10 in support, to varying degrees of the CCSS, and 2 in 10 adamantly against. As is typically the case in controversial issues the “against” folks are really, really adamant while the pro folks are much more moderate in their support.
This also points out that implementation of CCSS, as well as SBAC, is a complex, time driven, resources driven project. Time is scarce in the schools with US teachers having little time to collaborate compared to international peers, and teachers in CA are particularly burdened by high number of students in classrooms and a lack of resources. The latter issues are both inextricably linked to CA’s poor fiscal support for the schools.
CA is currently blessed with policy leadership, both at CDE and the SBE, who understand the level of difficulty schools will have in implementing CCSS and are attempting to mitigate the situation by building some flexibility into the time component of the process. For this they receive a lot of criticism from those who understand the difficulties facing the schools, but want to use the difficulties as levers to drive an anti-public school, anti-teacher agenda. Policy leadership often seem reluctant to address the resources component likely to avoid getting on the wrong side of the notoriously “frugal” governor.
Joy Dugan 9 years ago9 years ago
The skills mentioned int he article are essential. I work as an educator in a vocational field, Consumer & Family Sciences, and developed and taught at the Middle School & High School level coursework exploring careers and career clusters. This type of course has been helpful to students as it brings more relevance to their coursework. It also assists them in choosing outside of class activities to gain experience.
Jason May 9 years ago9 years ago
I don't see any indication that this survey ever defined what "critical thinking skills" means. So a bunch of teachers said that an undefined and unmeasurable factor might be more important than "hard" test scores? That's not surprising at all. Standardized test scores are clearly not the best way to assess much of anything. But I've heard no clear proposal for an alternative, and this survey doesn't offer anything new. Read More
I don’t see any indication that this survey ever defined what “critical thinking skills” means. So a bunch of teachers said that an undefined and unmeasurable factor might be more important than “hard” test scores? That’s not surprising at all.
Standardized test scores are clearly not the best way to assess much of anything. But I’ve heard no clear proposal for an alternative, and this survey doesn’t offer anything new.
Replies
Gary Ravani 9 years ago9 years ago
Jason:
There is a considerable body of professional literature on the skills in the category of “critical thinking.” It is far too extensive to be covered here. You will need to do some research and a lot of reading.