Reprint from Education Weekly

An interesting disconnect between teachers and students about college readiness was revealed in the annual 2010 Deloitte Education Survey, released this week.

While just 31 percent of high school teachers think their graduating seniors are prepared for college, 68 percent of current college students say they were prepared for college coursework during their first year.

Still, about 28 percent of students surveyed had to take remedial classes to get up to speed. Other sources, such as the College Board, put that number as high as 40 percent.

Follow up:

What then should high schools do to get students on a solid footing for college careers? Teachers want more data to help them better measure how well their students do in college so they can adjust coursework accordingly. The survey also found:

• Some 92 percent of high school teachers feel they don't have the data they need to better understand students' college needs.
• If data were available, 83 percent of teachers said they would use the information to improve subject matter, and 78 percent would use the data to plan coursework.
• Now, 13 percent of teachers receive official information on how students fare after high school. About 87 percent learn about their performance from former students themselves, while parents also convey the information.

"We live in an information age, yet our nation's teachers are lacking the information they need to succeed as educators. This must change if we are to improve our college enrollment and graduation rates in the United States," said Barry Salzberg, chief executive officer of Deloitte LLP, in a press release. He is also chairman of College Summit, a nonprofit providing college-going support to school districts nationwide. The Deloitte Education Survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive this past summer and given to 300 college students who were not first-year students, and to 300 high school education professionals.