2014 ACT State Organization Educational and Workforce Issues Survey K–12 Sector Results

Introduction For ACT to identify and conduct research on the pressing K–12 educational issues facing our country today, it is imperative to understand the issues that stakeholders face. This year, ACT’s State Organization Educational and Workforce Issues Survey asked more than 12,342 of our current and past State Organization members to identify what they consider to be their state’s most significant policy issues in education and workforce development. Realizing that the K–12, postsecondary and workforce sectors all face unique issues, ACT has presented results of the survey for each of the sectors. More than 2,000 current or past members responded to the survey, with 1,864 of the 2,211 respondents (84%) in the K–12 sector. Results Respondents were first asked to identify and rank the top five educational issues in their state. In aggregate, college and career readiness assessments (38% of respondents), assessments in general (36%), college readiness (33%), accountability (32%), and student achievement (27%) were the top five issues chosen most frequently by respondents working in the area of K–12 education. These issues are discussed in detail, and illustrated by selected quotations from survey respondents, in the following sections. College and career readiness assessments/Assessments Respondents in the K–12 area stated that assessments, including college and career readiness assessments and state assessments, were a major policy issue. In order to have teacher and student accountability, states are putting a great amount of emphasis on assessment performance. Respondents report that assessments need to be aligned with curriculum, state standards, and college and career readiness (CCR) standards.

“Our assessment plan does not align with our goals for college and career readiness. Instead of using assessments already available, or ones specifically created to meet the standards, we are allowing politics to get in the way of good education by using untested and unverified tests.”

College readiness The survey findings show that college or career/work readiness was a consistent policy issue across all sectors of the continuum from kindergarten through career. Respondents stated that they feel pressure from state legislators to implement college and career readiness programs, and explained how they need state tests and policies to accurately reflect the skills and knowledge students will need after graduation. Respondents also stated that implementation of CCR and Common Core standards needs to focus on teacher support and a smooth transition. Clear communication of policy changes, current mission, and future goals to all educators and administrators needs to be a top priority for policymakers and leadership.

“Related to CCR, the implementation of a state assessment that measured CCR and common core ELA and math was delayed 1 year by state legislature, which left Tennessee in a holding pattern between previous assessments and new ones. The assessment delay impacts instruction, technology planning and the accountability system.”

“If [The] ACT is the standard by which we measure college & career readiness, it is incumbent upon ACT to provide the tools needed to ensure that all educational stakeholders understand the process to accomplish the standards that being imposed (The cure requires medicine and ACT should provide the medicine).”

Respondents in all three areas stated that career/work readiness needs to be emphasized more in the classroom and in education policy. Postgraduate preparations begin long before graduation, but students need to have access to resources for both college and career paths. Guidance counselors should be able to use ACT products to advise students through research and admissions of certification/technical programs, as well as traditional university admissions.

“There are skilled trade positions that provide a living wage going unfilled. Students and family members are taking on debt to obtain degrees for fields that are not in demand. More students should consider starting their degrees (2 or 4 year) at their local community college to avoid the costs of room and board and save money on tuition. The change in the state funding model should assist with retention and persistence. Some short term certificates provide enough training for a living wage. Students should be assessed and, if appropriate, tracked into career pathways that match their skills and abilities. A 4 year degree is not the only path to success.”

Accountability Respondents repeatedly mentioned the focus on accountability systems and how everything seems to revolve around state testing and showing gains in achievement. The issue of accountability has focused on teacher accountability, school accountability, and the systems that have been put in place at the state level. Recurring themes were the amount of time and resources used to demonstrate and measure accountability and the singular focus of states in chasing numbers and being punitive in nature. Respondents were also critical of the ways in which accountability is used with student performance to measure teacher effectiveness. Respondents felt there is a lack of adequate technology infrastructure to administer tests and provide the needed professional development for teachers. Teachers are adjusting to the changing standards, whether that be the Common Core or CCR standards, without always being provided the support and curriculum needed to make improvements with students.

“Accountability has become the issue since NCLB was adopted. Our state had been on the lead with the adoption of common core and then dropped it to adopt ‘college and career ready standards’ due to political pressure. We are now at the juncture of having to deal with new standards, and NCLB Waiver, and a new assessment with no way to show growth.”

“Accountability involves all school staff to be on board with the goal of college readiness; the leadership must be informed and consider all students in the plan for improvement and implement strategies for staff to be trained and ‘in the know.’ ”

“Everything is focused on accountability and how students are performing on various assessments to indicate academic achievement and college & career readiness.”

“Like most states accountability and the criteria used to demonstrate and measure accountability occupy much time and resources. In addition, the concern whether students are college/career ready is also very important.”

“An enormous amount of focus has been placed on testing, teacher accountability, and overall school accountability. The state has every school chasing numbers instead of educating.”

“Accountability is fine, but the punitive nature for districts is significantly interfering with sound educational decisionmaking.”

“Finally, the accountability inherent in the new teacher evaluation systems seem to have everyone scrambling for time to engage teachers in meaningful conversations about their practice and their students.”

Student achievement An overwhelming response was that student achievement was the ultimate goal and issue facing states. It was stressed as the primary focus and purpose of the work being done.

“Student Achievement-this is what we are about every single day.” “Student achievement is a huge initiative in our state with the school report card and our

change from WKCE to ACT's Aspire suite.” “Regardless of the arguments going on at the state level, student achievement should be

the number one focus. Students completing high school and being prepared for life after that are also extremely important or our society won't continue to function the way we are used to.”

Even in cases where other issues were identified as being more important, respondents consistently made a point of mentioning that those issues all led back to student achievement.

“It seems that all we ever hear about is accountability by everyone. While this is a valuable thing, student achievement and growth is far more important. We don't have a good system in place to measure these at this point and it's frustrating.”

“All that we do must center around student achievement. There is only one goal...student achievement. All others support the goal of student achievement.”

Other issues As the table below shows, in addition to the top five issues discussed above, a number of other issues were identified as important by more than 20 percent of respondents.

Of the following policy issues, which five are the most important in your state? (Respondents were asked to rank at least 2 but no more than 5 issues. Total N of respondents = 1,461)

K–12 Education

Rank (1=most important)

1 2 3 4 5 All Ranks

N Pct N Pct N Pct N Pct N Pct N Pct

College and Career Readiness (e.g., Common Core) Assessments 165 11% 163 11% 96 7% 60 4% 67 5% 551 38%

Assessment 191 13% 159 11% 80 5% 46 3% 44 3% 520 36%

College Readiness 134 9% 126 9% 114 8% 74 5% 39 3% 487 33%

Accountability 194 13% 106 7% 69 5% 45 3% 48 3% 462 32%

Student Achievement 131 9% 72 5% 66 5% 65 4% 60 4% 394 27%

Common Core Implementation 84 6% 99 7% 81 6% 71 5% 33 2% 368 25%

Teacher Evaluation Systems 42 3% 70 5% 83 6% 72 5% 94 6% 361 25%

High School Completion 66 5% 74 5% 82 6% 65 4% 55 4% 342 23%

Career/Work Readiness 63 4% 87 6% 68 5% 64 4% 48 3% 330 23%

At-Risk Students 74 5% 47 3% 69 5% 56 4% 47 3% 293 20%

Respondents were also asked, from the issues they had chosen as the most important, how important it was for ACT to play a key role in conducting research on each issue. In aggregate, college readiness (2.82)1, college and career readiness (2.71), educational research (2.63), career/work readiness (2.63), and student achievement (2.60) were rated the most important issues on which ACT should conduct research.

How important do you think it is for ACT to play a key role in conducting research on each of the following issues? (Only the 2–5 issues that a respondent indicated in the previous question as being

important in his/her state were displayed in this question.)

K–12 Education

Very Important

(3)

Moderately Important

(2)

Slightly Important

(1)

Not Important At

All (0)

Don't Know

Viewed item

but did not respond

N Pct N Pct N Pct N Pct N Pct N Pct Mean SD N for mean

College Readiness 403 83% 59 12% 8 2% 3 1% 3 1% 11 2% 2.82 0.47 473

College and Career Readiness (e.g., Common Core) Assessments

403 73% 106 19% 16 3% 5 1% 9 2% 12 2% 2.71 0.57 530

Educational Research 5 63% 3 38% 0% 0% 0% 0 0% 2.63 0.52 8

Career/Work Readiness 213 65% 85 26% 16 5% 1 0% 6 2% 9 3% 2.62 0.60 315

Student Achievement 254 64% 103 26% 17 4% 5 1% 7 2% 8 2% 2.60 0.64 379

Assessment 344 66% 113 22% 29 6% 10 2% 13 3% 11 2% 2.59 0.69 496

Counseling/Guidance 92 55% 48 29% 13 8% 5 3% 6 4% 3 2% 2.44 0.78 158

Minority/Diversity Issues 30 57% 13 25% 5 9% 2 4% 3 6% 0 0% 2.42 0.84 50

Data-Driven Improvements 152 53% 84 29% 24 8% 12 4% 13 4% 4 1% 2.38 0.82 272

Curriculum 71 44% 56 35% 10 6% 9 6% 9 6% 6 4% 2.29 0.85 146

1 Score is a mean value of responses. “Very Important” was given a value of 3, “Moderately Important” a value of 2, “Slightly Important” a value of 1, and “Not Important At All” a value of 0.

The figure below illustrates relationships between respondents’ perceptions of the importance of particular issues in their respective states and their perceptions of the importance of ACT conducting research on those issues. For example, College and Career Readiness Assessments is shown in the upper right quadrant of this figure, denoting that this issue received relatively high importance rankings/ratings for its importance both in states and in its importance for ACT research.

The categories of “High” and “Medium” reflect broad groupings of respondents’ importance rankings and ratings. In general, rankings/ratings categorized as high pertain to issues in roughly the top third of the issues in each of the previous tables, whereas medium rankings/ratings pertain to issues in roughly the middle third of the tables. The figure is intended to highlight a few issues, rather than to categorize all issues. Therefore, the lower left quadrant of the figure is intentionally left blank.

2014 ACT State Organization Educational and Workforce Issues Survey Postsecondary Sector Results

Introduction For ACT to identify and conduct research on the pressing K–12 educational issues facing our country today, it is imperative to understand the issues that stakeholders face. This year, ACT’s State Organization Educational and Workforce Issues Survey asked more than 12,342 of our current and past State Organization members to identify what they consider to be their state’s most significant policy issues in education and workforce development. Realizing that the K–12, postsecondary and workforce sectors all face unique issues, ACT has presented results of the survey for each of the sectors. More than 2,000 current or past members responded to the survey, with 324 of the 2,211 respondents (15%) in the Postsecondary sector. Results Respondents were first asked to identify and rank the top five educational issues in their state. In aggregate, college readiness (59% of respondents), degree completion (44%), affordability and financial aid (41%), retention/persistence (38%), and state appropriations/funding (32%) were the five issues chosen most frequently by respondents working in the area of postsecondary education. These issues are discussed in detail, and illustrated by selected quotations from survey respondents, in the following sections. College readiness The survey findings show that college readiness was a consistent policy issue across all sectors of the continuum from kindergarten through career. Postsecondary respondents stated that college and career readiness standards and assessments are necessities so that first-year college students begin their studies appropriately prepared and able to succeed without remediation. A recurring theme with respondents was that students are not prepared for college. Respondents also highlighted the fact that college readiness impacts other areas of importance such as degree completion and even financial aid.

“Students come to college not prepared for the personal responsibility or the reality of the workload expected of them.”

“Although there is a lot of policy talk about workforce development- the number 1 issue is college readiness. We have severe remedial education issues in our state.”

“Degree completion is being tied to some funding and yet we are still experiencing large groups of student not prepared for college level work and whose families have not done any financial aid planning.”

Degree Completion The survey findings show that degree completion was a consistent policy issue that was influenced by many factors. Many respondents stated that students come to college poorly prepared for the workload and expectations that will lead to successful degree completion. Along with academic preparation, many students do not come ready for the financial costs associated with a

postsecondary education. All of these factors made for degree completion being a high priority among respondents and a major concern moving forward.

“As I work at a community college I see too many high school graduates who are not college ready. Therefore, if they are not college ready it's hard for them to complete/graduate from college.”

“We have made a great deal of progress addressing issues related to developmental education/remediation, but we still have problems. This all leads to unacceptable levels of degree completion.”

Affordability and financial aid Respondents repeatedly mentioned how affordability and financial aid are significant factors in student success at the postsecondary level. Respondents brought up the fact that costs and financial aid have become hindrances to students trying to attend a postsecondary institution. Going along with this point, respondents also brought up the fact that families are not informed of the financial costs and responsibilities associated with a postsecondary education. Finally, respondents were concerned about how students’ debt would affect their futures.

“Higher education costs and financial aid availability continues to work against students

as they work towards their educational and career goals.” “Affordability and funding are essential. Our institution has worked to find every efficiency

we can, to work with students to keep them enrolled, but we need additional funding. Tuition increases due to decreased funding increases the pressures on our students and all too frequently they drop out or stop just shy of their degree goals.”

“There appears to be a huge increase in families who expect college to paid for and have not planned for any expenses. Hundreds of students are being admitted and registering for classes but are being deleted for non-payment. This is not a financial aid issue since many of these families don't qualify for need based aid and simply have failed to plan to pay for college.”

“As the cost of education continues to rise, a decreasing percentage of those who are financially challenged are attending college. This begs the question, where will these people be gainfully employed. Thus the need for nontraditional career pathways. This same issue of affordability plagues the middle class student and leaves him with a need to reduce the exorbitant costs of college.”

Retention/persistence Retention and persistence was another issue of concern among many respondents that was intertwined with the other top issues mentioned. Respondents consistently mentioned that retention rates were too low and that developmental courses needed to improve to make sure retention rates improved. There was a clear-cut need for new ways to deal with low and failing retention and persistence rates.

“Three are interconnected HS students may not be prepared, and are placed in developmental courses. Students placed into developmental course have poorer persistence.”

“The retention and graduation rates in our state are below the national average. We need to find ways to increase these rates.”

“Unfortunately, although we've seen an increase in online opportunities, we've witnessed a concomitant reduction in both retention and graduation rates. This must be dealt with.”

“We need to figure out how to use aid/other tools to increase retention/completion, and how to get more working adults to return to college for credentials or degrees.”

“Too many students arrive at college needing remediation which has a negative impact on retention and persistence. Almost 75% of adults haven't completed college.”

Other issues As the table below shows, in addition to the top five issues discussed above, a number of other issues were identified as important by more than 15 percent of respondents.

Of the following policy issues, which five are the most important in your state?

(Respondents were asked to rank at least 2, but no more than 5 issues. Total N of respondents = 266)

Postsecondary Education

Rank (1=most important)

1 2 3 4 5 All ranks

N Pct N Pct N Pct N Pct N Pct N Pct

College Readiness 56 21% 43 16% 31 12% 17 6% 11 4% 158 59%

Degree Completion 19 7% 36 14% 28 11% 18 7% 16 6% 117 44%

Affordability and Financial Aid 36 14% 36 14% 14 5% 12 5% 12 5% 110 41%

Retention/Persistence 22 8% 19 7% 23 9% 27 10% 10 4% 101 38%

State Appropriations/Funding 28 11% 16 6% 16 6% 12 5% 14 5% 86 32%

Career/Work Readiness 10 4% 13 5% 12 5% 9 3% 10 4% 54 20%

Access/Outreach 8 3% 6 2% 14 5% 10 4% 8 3% 46 17%

Economic/Workforce Development 6 2% 12 5% 7 3% 10 4% 10 4% 45 17%

Respondents were also asked, from the issues they had chosen as the most important, how important it was for ACT to play a key role in conducting research on each issue. In aggregate, college readiness (2.90)2, admissions (2.76), community/technical colleges (2.74), equity/underserved populations (2.73), and developmental education (2.62) were rated the most important issues on which ACT should conduct research.

2 Score is a mean value of responses. “Very Important” was given a value of 3, “Moderately Important” a value of 2, “Slightly Important” a value of 1, and “Not Important At All” a value of 0.

How important do you think it is for ACT to play a key role in conducting research on each of the following issues?

(Only the 2-5 issues that a respondent indicated in the previous question as being important in his/her state were displayed in this question.)

Postsecondary Education

Very Important

(3)

Moderately Important

(2)

Slightly Important

(1)

Not Important

At All (0)

Don't know

Viewed item but

did not respond

N Pct N Pct N Pct N Pct N Pct N Pct Mean* SD N for mean

College Readiness 142 90% 10 6% 1 1% 1 1% 0% 4 3% 2.90 0.38 154

Admissions 19 68% 6 21% 0% 0% 1 4% 2 7% 2.76 0.44 25

Community/Technical Colleges

19 79% 2 8% 2 8% 0% 0% 1 4% 2.74 0.62 23

Equity/Underserved Populations

22 71% 8 26% 0% 0% 0% 1 3% 2.73 0.45 30

Developmental Education 21 62% 6 18% 1 3% 1 3% 3 9% 2 6% 2.62 0.73 29

Student Learning 24 63% 7 18% 4 11% 0% 2 5% 1 3% 2.57 0.70 35

Retention/Persistence 60 59% 30 30% 7 7% 0% 1 1% 3 3% 2.55 0.63 97

Career/Work Readiness 33 61% 12 22% 4 7% 1 2% 2 4% 2 4% 2.54 0.73 50

STEM 16 52% 11 35% 1 3% 0% 2 6% 1 3% 2.54 0.58 28

Disabilities/Special Needs 4 44% 4 44% 0% 0% 1 11% 0 0% 2.50 0.53 8

The figure below illustrates relationships between respondents’ perceptions of the importance of particular issues in their respective states and their perceptions of the importance of ACT conducting research on those issues. For example, College Readiness Assessments is shown in the upper right quadrant of this figure, denoting that this issue received relatively high importance rankings/ratings for its importance both in states and for ACT research.

The categories of “High” and “Medium” reflect broad groupings of respondents’ importance rankings and ratings. In general, rankings/ratings categorized as high pertain to issues in roughly the top third of the issues in each of the previous tables, whereas medium rankings/ratings pertain to issues in roughly the middle third of the tables. The figure is intended to highlight a few issues, rather than to categorize all issues. Therefore, the lower left quadrant of the figure is intentionally left blank.

2014 ACT State Organization Educational and Workforce Issues Survey Workforce Sector Results

Introduction For ACT to identify and conduct research on the pressing workforce issues facing our country today, it is imperative to understand the issues that stakeholders face. This year, ACT’s State Organization Educational and Workforce Issues Survey asked more than 12,342 of our current and past State Organization members to identify what they consider to be their state’s most significant policy issues in education and workforce development. Realizing that the K–12, postsecondary and workforce sectors all face unique issues, ACT has presented results of the survey for each of the sectors. More than 2,000 current or past members responded to the survey, with 23 of the 2,211 respondents (1%) in the Workforce sector. Results Respondents were first asked to identify and rank the top five educational issues in their state. In aggregate, career/work readiness (70% of respondents), state appropriations/funding (40%), economic/workforce development (35%), industry-recognized credentials (35%), and targeted workforce training (35%) were the five issues chosen most frequently by respondents working in the workforce sector. These issues are discussed in detail, and illustrated by selected quotations from survey respondents, in the following sections. Career/work readiness The survey findings show that career and work readiness was a consistent policy issue across the workforce sector. Workforce respondents stated that there is a lack of qualified applicants for jobs in their states.

“Career/ Work Readiness and Community/Technical College because a large number of middle age adults are returning to school to retraining for a new career.”

“Employers in our low unemployment state complain of the lack of qualified applicants. It is important for students to complete their education to be more career ready. The SLDS can provide information to all users on improving the quality of education in the state.”

“Our largest sector is advanced manufacturing. We need qualified employees to move into this sector. They don't require four year degrees.”

State appropriations/funding The survey findings show that funding for career programs was another major concern of workforce respondents. This was a concern not only for workforce programs but for education in general.

“State and local budgets. / Data systems and tracking that talk to one another, and non-burdensome to the end user, and easy to understand. Admin/Leadership: huge turnover and baby boom retirement, with limited resources to do anything. Focus on budget.”

The State has a serious problem with Educational funding methods. The Retirement Fund is in trouble and the Legislature still needs to make some hard decisions on Teacher Pensions and school district funding.

Economic/workforce development Respondents mentioned how the economic climate and makeup of states affects the need to create an economically diverse job market. Respondents also mentioned that it is important not only to fill seats in classes but also to make courses relevant and useful once students leave school for the job market. This will lead to economic retention and development.

“Our state has high employment tied to military spending. Closures and sequestration

could have major impacts and these will be felt across the state. Job creation and economic diversification are critical.”

“One must understand the difference between education -fill the seats and workforce actual skills to gain employment

“Competitive purposes related to economic development/retention.” Industry-recognized credentials Industry-recognized credentials were another issue of concern among many respondents that was intertwined with the other top issues mentioned. Respondents consistently mentioned that there needed to be alignment through credentials. Respondents felt that industry-recognized credentials were imperative for creating consistency and providing alignment.

“The need to align the workforce through certifications and industry credentials is critical to economic development as we demonstration capacity and work readiness.”

“We do not have a consolidated community college system in Michigan. In order for training programs to become aligned and consistent, we need industry-recognized credentials to become the standard

Targeted workforce training Respondents stated that the critical shortfall in workers in states has created the need for targeted workforce training programs that will bring the necessary skills needed for the market.

“Our state has a critical shortage of qualified workforce. Students are not graduating with the academics or skills necessary to be successful. There is a huge campaign to make sure that all students have accessibility to postsecondary and to the careers available in our state.”

As the table below shows, in addition to the top five issues discussed above, a number of other issues were identified as important by more than 25 percent of respondents.

Of the following policy issues, which five are the most important in your state?

(Respondents were asked to rank at least 2, but no more than 5 issues. Total N of respondents = 20)

Workforce

Rank (1=most important)

1 2 3 4 5 All Ranks

N Pct N Pct N Pct N Pct N Pct N Pct

Career/Work Readiness 8 40% 0% 2 10% 3 15% 1 5% 14 70%

State Appropriations/Funding 4 20% 1 5% 1 5% 1 5% 1 5% 8 40%

Economic/Workforce Development 1 5% 0% 4 20% 2 10% 0% 7 35%

Industry-Recognized Credentials 0% 3 15% 0% 2 10% 2 10% 7 35%

Targeted Workforce Training 0% 1 5% 4 20% 0% 2 10% 7 35%

College Readiness 1 5% 2 10% 0% 1 5% 2 10% 6 30%

Affordability and Financial Aid 1 5% 1 5% 1 5% 1 5% 1 5% 5 25%

Respondents were also asked, of the issues they had chosen as the most important, how important it was for ACT to play a key role in conducting research on each issue. In aggregate, college readiness (2.90)3, admissions (2.76), community/technical colleges (2.74), equity/underserved populations (2.73), and developmental education (2.62) were rated the most important issues on which ACT should conduct research. How important do you think it is for ACT to play a key role in conducting research on each of the

following issues? (Only those 2-5 issues that a respondent indicated in the previous question as being important in his/her state were displayed in this question.)

Workforce

Very Important

(3)

Moderately Important

(2)

Slightly Important

(1)

Not Important

At All (0)

Don't Know

Viewed item but did not

respond All

N N N N N N N

Career/Work Readiness 12 2 14

Economic/Workforce Development 5 1 1 7

Targeted Workforce Training 5 2 7

Industry-Recognized Credentials 4 3 7

State Appropriations/Funding 2 3 2 1 7

College Readiness 6 6

3 Score is a mean value of responses. “Very Important” was given a value of 3, “Moderately Important” a value of 2, “Slightly Important” a value of 1, and “Not Important At All” a value of 0.