College professors are disappointed by high school graduates’ preparation.

College instructors are unhappy with the level of knowledge that high school graduates have when they arrive — and they spend too much of their time reviewing skills that should have been learned in high school.

• College professors do not think students are ready to tackle college-level work:
• 48 percent of college professors are dissatisfied with the job that American public high schools are doing in preparing students for college. (Achieve)
• Only 18 percent of college professors feel that most of their students come to college extremely or very well prepared, with just 3 percent saying they are extremely well prepared. (Achieve)
• A quarter of college professors say that students are not well prepared at all. (Achieve)
• 84 percent of professors say that high school graduates are unprepared or only somewhat prepared for college. (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
• Only 7 percent of college instructors at two-year institutions say that most of their students come to college extremely or very well prepared. (Achieve)
• Instructors at two-year colleges estimate that nearly half (49 percent) of students are inadequately prepared, while instructors at four-year colleges say that 39 percent of students are not adequately prepared. (Achieve)
• If high school expectations were raised, students would have worked harder to better prepare themselves for college:
• Roughly 50 percent of college professors believe that students who pass the Advanced Placement tests have indicated they can do college-level work. (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
• 42 percent of high school graduates are not adequately prepared by their high school education for the expectations of college classes and are struggling or have to take remedial courses to catch up. (Achieve)
• 70 percent of instructors spend at least some or a significant amount of time reviewing material and addressing skills that they think should have been taught in high school. (Achieve)
• Students do not have the skills necessary to do college-level work, particularly in math and writing:
• College instructors estimate that 50 percent of the students at their school are not adequately prepared to do college-level math or writing. (Achieve)
• Instructors are dissatisfied with students’ writing quality (62 percent), reading comprehension (70 percent), ability to think analytically (66 percent), work and study habits (65 percent), and ability to do research (59 percent). (Achieve)
• Half of the college professors interviewed say students don’t have the research skills they need. (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
• 60 percent of math, science or engineering instructors are dissatisfied with the student preparation in math. (Achieve)
• Nearly 70 percent of humanities and social science professors are dissatisfied with the quality of students’ writing. (Achieve)
• The two areas that instructors most wish high schools would do a better job of preparing students for are writing and mathematics. (Achieve)
• Only 4 percent of professors say students are very well prepared in math. (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
• Only 6 percent of professors say students are very well prepared in writing. (The Chronicle of Higher Education)