Study shows graduates lack literacy abilities

Students at two- and four-year universities might be able to earn degrees, but the knowledge they gain at college is not enough to be successful in the global marketplace, according to a report issued last week by the American Institutes for Research. \nFewer than half the graduates from four-year universities are proficient in prose and document literacy (used to comprehend newspaper articles and job applications) and quantitative literacy (used when balancing checkbooks and calculating tips), according to the report. Of the two-year university counterparts, one-quarter of them were rated proficient in all three categories.\n"The surprisingly weak quantitative literacy ability of many college graduates is troubling," study director Stéphane Baldi said in a statement. "A knowledgeable work force is vital to cope with the increasing demands of the global marketplace."\nLarry Mikulecky, professor of education at IU and former director of the Center for Innovation in Assessment, said a report like AIR's is a "temperature-taking test" of "who can do what."\n"Well, we've got all these people who passed; did they learn anything?" Mikulecky asked. "That's a reasonable question to ask.\n"I think Indiana University and every other college should be asking itself, 'What can our graduates do and what can't our graduates do?' That's pretty spooky stuff because you have to start dealing with issues that most people paying for tuition and most people teaching are uncomfortable with."\nThe study, "The National Survey of America's College Students," reported that new graduates outperform previous graduates in prose and document literacy. Yet, the study found no difference between the quantitative literacy of today's graduates and previous graduates. Quantitative literacy is characterized as "meaning (graduates) are unable to estimate if their car has enough gasoline to get to the next gas station or calculate the total cost of ordering office supplies," according to the report.\nThe survey polled more than 1,800 graduates from 80 random two- and four-year public and private universities. Each student was graded on a four-part scale in each category: below basic, basic, intermediate and proficient. \nNearly 20 percent of four-year graduates had only basic skills in quantitative literacy; 5 percent had only basic skills in document literacy; and 6 percent had only basic skills in prose, according to the report.\nOne explanation Mikulecky has for the test scores is the increasing number of college students.\n"We've got a larger percentage of people going to college now than graduated from high school in World War II," he said. "I have no doubt that that plays some role."\nAnother possibility is that students can graduate from a two- or four-year university without taking very challenging courses.\n"It is possible to graduate from most institutions without taking many difficult courses," Mikulecky wrote in an e-mail. "Students who select this route, or are allowed to select it, don't do as well as those who take challenging courses."\nExecutive Associate Dean for the School of Education Peter Kloosterman said he was not familiar with AIR's report, but he said he questions whether the survey addressed actual skills taught in college.\n"When you look at calculus and you look at technology, there's not a real connection with those things," Kloosterman said. "Certainly we want to do everything we can to improve the math and language skills, but we have to be sure we know what we are measuring."\nKloosterman has been teaching at IU since 1984 and, if anything, he said he has noticed higher proficiency with his students.\n"But part of that is because you have to pass basic skills tests in order to take education courses," he said. "So the (students) that were weak in the 1980s are no longer able to take education courses." \nAIR is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization based in Washington that conducts behavioral and social science research.