New Study of the Literacy of College Students Finds Some are Graduating with Only Basic Skills

American Institute for Research (AIR) ^ | January 19, 2006 | Larry McQuillan

[MadDoctorD]

REPORT BY AMERICAN INSTITUTES FOR RESEARCH FINDS AT LEAST 20 PERCENT OF COLLEGE GRADS UNABLE TO DO FUNDAMENTAL COMPUTATIONS

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Twenty percent of U.S. college students completing 4-year degrees – and 30 percent of students earning 2-year degrees – have only basic quantitative literacy skills, meaning they are unable to estimate if their car has enough gasoline to get to the next gas station or calculate the total cost of ordering office supplies, according to a new national survey by the American Institutes for Research (AIR). The study was funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

The AIR study found there is no difference between the quantitative literacy of today’s graduates compared with previous generations, and that current graduates generally are superior to previous graduates when it comes to other forms of literacy needed to comprehend documents and prose.

The complete study is available on the AIR Web site, www.air.org.

The new study, “The National Survey of America’s College Students,” (NSACS) is based on a sample of 1,827 graduating students from 80 randomly selected 2-year and 4-year public and private colleges and universities across the United States. By targeting students nearing the end of their degree programs, the study provides a broader and more comprehensive picture of fundamental college literacy skills than ever before.

“The surprisingly weak quantitative literacy ability of many college graduates is troubling,” says Dr. Stéphane Baldi, who directed the AIR study. “A knowledgeable workforce is vital to cope with the increasing demands of the global marketplace.”

Study findings include:

* More than 75 percent of students at 2-year colleges and more than 50 percent of students at 4-year colleges do not score at the proficient level of literacy. This means that they lack the skills to perform complex literacy tasks, such as comparing credit card offers with different interest rates or summarizing the arguments of newspaper editorials.

* Students in 2- and 4-year colleges have the greatest difficulty with quantitative literacy: approximately 30 percent of students in 2-year institutions and nearly 20 percent of students in 4-year institutions have only Basic quantitative literacy. Basic skills are those necessary to compare ticket prices or calculate the cost of a sandwich and a salad from a menu.

* Students about to graduate from college have higher prose and document literacy than previous graduates with similar levels of education; for quantitative literacy, differences between current and former college graduates are not significant.

* There are no significant differences in the literacy of students graduating from public and private institutions. Additionally, in assessing literacy levels, there are no differences between part-time and full-time students. No overall relationship exists between literacy and the length of time it takes to earn a degree, or between literacy and an academic major.

* There are no significant differences between men and women in college in their average prose, document, and quantitative literacy – indicating that women may be bridging a divide that has long existed between the sexes.

* The average prose and quantitative literacy of Whites in 4-year institutions is higher than for any other racial/ethnic group, mirroring trends in the general population. The fact that white students also have the highest prose and document literacy among students in 2-year colleges provides further evidence that the literacy gap between minority and non-minority students persists.

* The literacy skills of college students are directly related to the education of their parents: children whose parents graduated college or attended graduate school have higher literacy than students whose parents did not graduate high school or stopped after receiving a high school diploma or GED.

* Despite variations in income, most differences in the literacy of students across income groups are not significant. The most significant disparity exists between students in 4-year institutions with the lowest and highest income backgrounds. Students in the highest income group (either their personal income or the income of their parents) have higher prose and document literacy than students in the lowest income group.

* Literacy level is significantly higher among students who say their coursework places a strong emphasis on applying theories or concepts to practical problems, in comparison to students who say their coursework rarely touch on these skills.

The results of the study are intended to help college and university administrators identify specific academic areas where students have literacy gaps that should be addressed, as well as provide information on how prepared students are to join the labor force.

The report includes comparisons with data contained in the U.S. Department of Education’s “National Assessment of Adult Literacy” (NAAL), the first nationwide assessment of the literacy skills of U.S. adults aged 16 and older in more than a decade. The first NAAL report, which was released in December, was written by AIR authors.

“Despite the lackluster performance of many graduates on quantitative literacy, we should nevertheless be encouraged that current college graduates are not falling behind in terms of literacy when compared to graduates from earlier generations,” says Emerson Elliott, a former Commissioner of Education Statistics at the U.S. Department of Education.

“Higher education institutions should take careful note of the important benefits derived from emphasizing analytic and critical thinking, and the application of theories in preparing students,” says Peter Ewell, vice president of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems.

Elliott and Ewell are members of the National Advisory Panel that guided the direction of the study. Other panel members include: Joni Finney, vice president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education; George Kuh, director of the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University; Margaret Miller, director of the Center for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Virginia; and Nichole Rowles, Planning and Evaluation Officer for The Pew Charitable Trusts.

[MadDoctorD]

This is disturbing.

In all honesty, one would hope that the best and the brightest are those who actually go to college and learn something. Apparently these "some" which should actually be classified as "most" are nothing more than the same bumbling morons going in as going out.

This is the education from the best and the brightest. This is the new American. Welcome to what SHOULD BE Premium Education.

Then again, these are the products of the drunk, marajuana-burning, trash-bags called "University Professors".

[Just mythoughts]

Education has become a product produced by government UNIONS. No surprise education is on the same path as the auto and steel industry.

[CarrotAndStick]

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/CareerManagement/story?id=2582776&page=1

 

 

'Cover Letters from Hell' Expose Poor Quality of College Grads

A Chicago Adverstising Agency Highlights a Shocking Number of Errors in Job Seekers' Cover Letters

Oct. 19, 2006 —

 

If recent college graduates apply for a job at Killian Advertising in Chicago, they'd better mind their grammar, spelling and punctuation -- not to mention their sentence structure, syntax and diction -- lest they end up in the company's "Cover Letters From Hell" that it posts on its Web site.

Six years ago, Bob Killian, owner and founder of the agency, began posting anonymous excerpts from poorly written cover letters he received from those asking for employment.

The mistakes ranged from unfortunate omissions ("I am seeking a new position as i have recently been laid" and "I also have a degree English which serves me well in editing text for poor grammer or typos") to nonsense sentences and topics ("It is through the innovational process, as well as media, that the features of an image can be highlighted and brought to the forefront for the consumer viewing" or "The colors red, blue, and lavender are those that I identify with the most. I feel they accurately describe my personality. I choose red because I turn red when I get embarrassed ...").

Some candidates even try their hand at poetry -- one girl rewrote "'T'was the Night Before Christmas," editing herself and the advertising company into the story and substituting presents for a job.

The goal of putting the letters online, Killian said, is to show job seekers that, "Hello! This is not a recognizable form of communication!"

 

Ridicule Not the Point

Recently, Killian went through 100 letters that arrived at his agency from applicants requesting jobs and interviews. Of the 100, not one was without some kind of spelling, grammar or syntax error.

At first, Killian thought that a personal approach was best. When one of the letters came from a senior graduating from a fairly prestigious college and did not contain a single sentence without an error, Killian drafted a "gentle note," advising the student to get some help with his writing.

What Killian got in response was an angry four-page reply.

"That really set him off," Killian recalls. "We haven't done it since. We don't want to have to change the locks on the building."

Unfortunately, in the 19 years of the company's existence, the problem seems to be getting worse, which Killian attributes to changes in technology and everyday communication.

"There are a whole lot of people that can't speak in an authentic voice," Killian said. "We're not a generation that writes a lot. Colleges don't seem to be very demanding.

"Texting is making it worse. We're getting printed letters with the letter 'U' standing for 'you.' And this kid wants to be hired in a communications position!"

While the site started off as just a joke within the company, its popularity has helped Killian find business clients and literary agents find him. A small book is currently being compiled with "Cover Letters from Hell" excerpts the company has collected over the years.

Though the site's commentary pokes fun at applicants, Killian insists that ridicule is not really the point of the compilation.

"Quite a few [potential applicants] are intimidated from applying, or sending a cover letter at all, but all that they should do is exercise some care," Killian said.

"I think if people just absorb what's in there, they'll at least be able to write clearly and express themselves in a meaningful way."

 

Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures

[Disciplinemisanthropy]

¿que?

[umgud]

Sounds like too many liberal arts degrees.

[SeafoodGumbo]

"There are a whole lot of people that can't speak in an authentic voice," Killian said.

Hehe. For someone who is supposedly an English grammar perfectionist, you would think he'd know that the above sentence should read:

"There are a whole lot of people who can't speak in an authentic voice," Killian said.

[billybudd]

Duh, he was talking about *robotic* people, like cylons, which are things.

[Jeff Chandler]

For someone who is supposedly an English grammar perfectionist

I don't think he is presenting himself as a .400 hitter, or expecting the applicants to be. He just thinks that they should know which end of the bat to hold.

[Bobalu]

[matthew fuller]

"Education has become a product produced by government UNIONS. No surprise education is on the same path as the auto and steel industry. "

BINGO!

[SeafoodGumbo]

I don't think he is presenting himself as a .400 hitter, or expecting the applicants to be. He just thinks that they should know which end of the bat to hold.

Yeah, I know. It's still bad form to castigate others for making mistakes while you're making one in the process.

I do agree with him, though. I'm amazed at how so many people can't figure out the difference between "they're," "their," and "there."

[Sunny Poipu]

They should of studied more and may be they would be alot smarter then they our.

[matthew fuller]

"“Despite the lackluster performance of many graduates on quantitative literacy, we should nevertheless be encouraged that current college graduates are not falling behind in terms of literacy when compared to graduates from earlier generations,” says Emerson Elliott, a former Commissioner of Education Statistics at the U.S. Department of Education. "

Yeah, right, we got to the moon with graduate engineers that couldn't read or drive a slide rule.

[Jeff Chandler]

I'm amazed at how so many people can't figure out the difference between "they're," "their," and "there."

That's because there stupid.

[Tired of Taxes]

This problem is not new. :-( Almost 20 years ago, my boss and I had to sort through roughly 200 resumes to find someone to fill a position. He would laugh hysterically at some of the cover letters, many from people with an Ivy League education. No one writes perfectly all the time, but here’s one line I’ll always remember from one letter in particular:

“I’m a team player. To me, 1 + 1 = 1.”

I still remember my boss quipping, “He can’t add.”

[It's me]

.

[camerakid400]

I transferred out of a far-left liberal university in Boston. Most of the students there were smart, but they were partying, drunk, or on drugs so much that these results aren’t that surprising.

[SeafoodGumbo]

That's because there stupid.

Hehe. Go easy on them, they din't eat enuff Wheatees.

[irv]

current graduates generally are superior to previous graduates when it comes to other forms of literacy needed to comprehend documents and prose.

If this is true then previous graduates must have been completely illiterate.

I've been attending college part-time for several years and have been continuously amazed at how many of my fellow students produce absolute gibberish in even the most basic written work.

Consider the one who concluded a critique of some of my work with the sentence, "you should listening to me because I get all A's and know what I talk about this and am a very good writer."

She was in her last semester.

[Tenniel2]

You should reign in you’re elittist trendencys. You’re remarks is verry insluting, and patternizing and your probalby thinking your better then everyone else.

(singed) Prof. Dr. Ed U. Kashin, PHD (Ed)