Southeast Texas P-16 Council

A new report from MetLife shows that two-thirds of teachers (63%), parents (63%) and Fortune 1000 executives (65%) think that knowledge of other cultures and international issues is absolutely essential or very important to be ready for college and a career.

The MetLife Survey of the American Teacher: Preparing Students for College and Careers examines the priority  that  all students graduate from high school prepared for college and  careers, what being college- and career-ready entails, and the implications of this goal for teaching.

Among other findings

• More students worry a lot about having enough money to pay for college (57%) than about being able to get into college (31%) or to succeed in college (33%).
• Hispanic and AfricanAmerican students are more likely than white students to worry about being able to succeed in college (48% vs. 34% vs. 27%).
• Parents say schools are not doing enough to tell  them how students can get into and pay for college. About half of parents rate their child’s school as fair or poor at providing information to parents on the requirements to get into college (46%) or about the availability of financial aid for college and how to get it (52%).
• Middle school students and parents in particular express a need for information.  Half or more of middle school students (53%) and parents (60%) rate their schools fair or poor in providing information to students about what the requirements are to get into college.
• Students have high expectations for college, and these expectations have increased over the past two decades. In 1988, 57% of middle and high school students said it was very likely they would go to college. By 1997, this level had increased to 67%. Today, 75% say it is very likely they will go to college.
• On average, teachers predict that 63% of their students will graduate high school ready for college without the need for remedial coursework, and that 51% of their students will graduate from college.

The results are based on a national survey of 1,000 public school teachers (grades 6-12), 2,002 public school students (grades 6-12), 580 parents of public school students (grades 6-12), and 301 business executives from Fortune 1000 companies conducted in  fall 2010.  In addition, education thought leaders and teacher leaders participated in a related online strategy session.

We’ve added a new page to the website under the Resources page (see top menu) — a page for Hispanic Parents. We are putting up pages in Spanish translated by our student teams.

Here is a sampling of a couple of links on the page:

• Folletos de Información de el TAKS™ Revisados
• Lista de Verificación para Aplicar a la Universidad

The purpose of the page is give Hispanic Parents who do not communicate well in English, tools they need to help their students do well in school and prepare for college.

We will be adding more links to the Hispanic Parents Resource Page in the next few weeks.