Giving Compass' Take:

• Linda Jacobson reports that only a portion of students in school are regularly given grade-appropriate assignments to complete. That number is even smaller for low-income students, students of color, and students with disabilities.

• What can educators do to improve equity in schools? One important takeaway here is to make sure that those in the sector are always listening to students and meeting their needs.

• Learn how grade inflation and low expectations are hurting students' outcomes.

Successfully completing class assignments doesn’t mean students are meeting grade-level standards that will put them in a strong position for college-level work, according to a new report released recently by The New Teacher Project (TNTP), a research and advocacy organization that usually focuses on teacher policy and equity issues.

Specifically, “The Opportunity Myth” finds that almost three-fourths of the time — 71% — students are doing the work that teachers give them, but less than a fifth of those assignments meet standards for college-readiness. That’s why there’s a myth, the authors say. Students who predominantly plan to go to college, and might even be told they are doing rigorous work, are often “being woefully underprepared to meet their ambitious goals,” the report says.

TNTP conducted observations and surveys for the project in four school districts and one charter network that was fairly representative of the demographics of U.S. students, Daniel Weisberg, CEO of TNTP, said in a conference call with reporters. The research team followed 250 teachers, watched close to 1,000 lessons in progress, reviewed nearly 5,000 assignments, analyzed thousands of work samples, and collected real-time surveys from 4,000 students to get “a better grasp” on how students perceive the work that they’re doing in class.

"Students actually are the best experts we have on the quality of education we are providing," Weisberg said on the call. He said while the research team saw students "working really hard," many were not getting a chance to "succeed at the highest level."

Read the full article about grade-appropriate assignments by Linda Jacobson at Education Dive.