In urban schools where more than half the children are poor, only 23 percent scored at or above the basic level. Just 19 percent of urban teachers surveyed for the report by Public Agenda, a nonprofit research organization, believe their students have the skills needed to do well in college, compared with 47 percent of teachers elsewhere. And nearly 40 percent say a high school diploma is no guarantee their students know the basics. The report, Quality Counts , is available on the web. Closing the chasm between school and work Educators can help improve the sagging skills and productivity of American workers by fostering national standards and tests, voucher systems, and charter schools, a new report from the business sector concludes.
School choice is one means of fixing the situation, according to the report.
The growing wave of charter schools and public schools of choice is proving the value of competition in strengthening school performance and student learning. Another tactic advocated in the report is developing national standards and tests, such as the highly controversial tests proposed by President Bill Clinton. The voluntary national tests, which would yield individual student test scores in reading and math beginning in 2001, were narrowly approved by Congress last year. In other recommendations, the report calls for coordination at the federal level of a host of job-training programs, for employers to devote 3 percent of payroll costs to educating and training employees, and for businesses to emphasize the importance of academic achievement by using high school transcripts for job recruitment and placement. Copies of the report are free to educators and nonprofit groups.