Giving Compass' Take:

• A research and advocacy organization called TNTP released a study that found that even though students are completing assignments, they might not be meeting learning standards that will help prepare them for college. 

• How can teachers go about addressing this issue? How does both student and teacher motivation play a role in this?

• Read about programs intended to help prepare students for college.

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 Tuesday by 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. 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.

In the TNTP report, the authors say four components are necessary for students to benefit from their classroom experiences — consistent opportunities to complete grade-appropriate assignments, strong instruction that puts the responsibility for most of the thinking on the students, a feeling of being deeply engaged in the lesson and teachers with high expectations. But on average, only 16% of the lessons observed in core subject areas met these criteria, amounting to 29 hours per subject (out of a possible 180) over the course of the school year.

During the research, they viewed classrooms with these questions in mind: Were students doing the work they were assigned, were they being assigned grade-level content, and were teachers allowing students to do what is sometimes described as the “heavy lifting?”

The TNTP report includes survey results showing that while 82% of teachers support their state's standards, 44% say they expect that their students can reach those standards.

Read the full article about student preparedness for college by Linda Jacobson at Education Dive