Articles

Behind the headlines: Panel considers standardized tests for colleges

Public Agenda Alert
Feb. 9, 2006

The Commission on the Future of Higher Education is considering whether to recommend some form of standardized testing for colleges, according to The New York Times. Public Agenda research has consistently found concerns about the basic skills of U.S. students. Nearly half of Americans say there are too many students in college who don't belong there. But generally speaking, the public gives better grades to higher education than to K-12 education and seems more concerned about access to college than quality.

Another significant difference is that when it comes to higher education, surveys find strong majorities of the public say it's mostly the student's responsibility to keep up with their studies. That doesn't mean the public absolves the college entirely. But when asked to set priorities for college administrators, the public
ranks cutting dropout rates and providing extra tutoring much lower than controlling costs or finding the best faculty.

Find out more Behind the Headlines:
http://www.publicagenda.org/
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