Why schools fail: a view from a college professor

Declining Minnesota ACT scores may be a problem. But even disregarding test numbers, there is a problem in how well our schools are preparing students for college.

This is what I see as a college professor.

ACT is a standardized test taken by high school students and it is used by colleges along with grades as admission criteria. ACT scores have declined nationally in recent years. This newspaper also reported how the most recent scores for the Minnesota class of 2022 are the lowest in at least a decade. The low scores seem not to be the product simply of the pandemic. They began falling dramatically in 2016 and continue to slide.

There are reasons to dismiss the ACT slide. The ACT and its SAT competitor are poor predictors of college performance, at best only telling us a small fraction of what factors affect student success. They are also racially and class biased, with numerous studies pointing to how they discriminate against people of color and the poor. They are partially coachable; families that can pay for a college prep class can improve their children's test scores and access more elite schools.

Tests such as the ACT are part of a self-perpetrating cycle of elitism that stratifies American education along racial and class divisions. For these reasons and others many colleges are abandoning the ACT.

Nonetheless, declining ACT scores portend problems regarding what we teach and do in K-12 and the college-readiness of many of our students.

I write from the perspective of a 30-year-plus college professor who has taught thousands of undergraduate students at four-year public and private schools and also at the community college level. At one time I wanted to be a high school teacher. I regularly visit and teach at public and private high schools across the metro region at the request of teachers. Often the students involved are in advanced placement classes. I see students in the postsecondary enrollment options program (PSEO), and I do teacher training for high school teachers.

What I see and hear is not good.

When I talk to high school teachers they often ask me what I am looking for in college students and what can they do to prepare them to succeed in college. When I tell them what I want they agree that what they are doing is not what the students need.

It is not because the high school teachers are bad — I often work with the best — or that the unions protect bad teachers as conservatives charge, or that public schools are inherently bad. It is because schools and politicians do not let teachers teach.

Schools and curriculum are so standardized-test driven that teachers do not have the opportunity to work with students to develop critical thinking, problem solving, other substantive skills or bodies of knowledge, or to talk about things that won't be tested.

The problem started perhaps with No Child Left Behind under the Bush administration and it has only turned worse. This factory model of education constipates learning and education.

In my first teacher's education class my professor drew a triangle on the board, labeling the three corners school, home and community. He said it took all three to properly educate children.

Students are only in school a few hours for less than 180 days per year. Alone, schools cannot educate. Society ignores the importance of stable and healthy families and integrated and safe neighborhoods in supporting education. In a state with horrible race and class disparities it is no surprise so many fail in school.

But failing the poor and people of color is only part of the problem.

I see a persistent decline in basic skills and knowledge. To be educated is about what you know and how you know it. It is not simply rote memorization for a standardized test. Too many students lack college skills. Many do not know how to outline. Many do not know how to take notes in class. Few know what a literature review is. They are not taught how to read a book and analyze plot and characters.

Many students do not know how to study. They are spending less time on homework now than a few years ago. Many lack the grit to work through assignments. Many enter college unprepared.

The culture war students' parents and the political parties are fighting corrupts learning. This was happening well before the recent hysteria and backlash over critical race theory. Education is not about reinforcing but about challenging preconceived biases and beliefs. From both the right and the left I see a refusal to confront ugly facts challenging their biases.

I also see, more now than a few years ago, intolerance for disagreement and a lack of empathy for intellectual diversity.

We live in a state that is a national educational leader. We have open enrollment, charter schools, magnet schools. There are also repeated calls for vouchers. There is minimal evidence these gimmicks have made much difference in terms of college preparation.

When I tell my high school teachers what students need to succeed they concur. For them, the failure is not junior high or elementary school, it is the entire way we educate.

David Schultz is a Distinguished University Professor of Political Science and Legal Studies at Hamline University.