The reason more and more kids are enrolling in 2-year colleges is that more and more kids are enrolling in college...period. The reasons that more kids are enrolling are a. Hard-working guidance counselors and b. 2-year colleges seem to accept everybody.

I know this is just anecdotal, but many of my former students (I teach grades 11 and 12 in the city) who attended 2-year colleges were not even HIGH SCHOOL ready. Most of them read at about a 6th grade level.

I am shocked every year at how many of my students are actually accepted into 2-year colleges (is anybody NOT accepted?) because surviving high school is all many of them have accomplished.

I hate that the article seemed to point a finger at guidance counselors - the hard-working guidance counselors are the main reason so many of these kids get accepted in the first place! My students were constantly in touch with their guidance counselors (whether my students liked it or not)!

I know that many of my students are academically lagging, but I also know that many of my college-bound students are bright kids who have ZERO work ethic. That's what really drives me crazy - students who scorn effort, but are rewarded with diplomas and college-acceptance anyway. It should come as no surprise that these students fail to complete 2-year programs.

I have kept up with my students throughout the years (Facebook!), and I have found that no factor determines future college success better than work ethic. I have had kids who can best be described as "mentally dull" who have achieved more in college than other kids who aced every state test, simply because the simple-minded ones were willing to work their butts off.

The city absolutely does not lack a "college-going culture." The reason for the increased number of 2-year college students (and subsequent dropouts) is that so many are accepted. The city has plenty of college-going students who have absolutely no business there.

If there ever was a topic that should have this blog cooking it should be this one, right? Come on, people! Forget the finger-pointing. Let's talk instead about this report. Does it ring true to your experiences with kids and with schools? For instance, I know I've seen far too many 7th graders -- and their teachers -- who actually don't know that sometimes 1/2 can be smaller than 1/4. Is that student going to be ready to manage college math in five years? Should a teacher who doesn't own deep understanding of content be entrusted with classroom leadership? Does the report reveal a civic crisis or not? If so, what should we do about it? COME ON!! Comment!!!!!

There is little in this report that would surprise any high school teacher in the city. College, for most graduates, is an extension of high school and they will tell you so. College admissions to 2-year schools is based upon completion of a high school diploma and not really on much of anything else. Guidance counselors know this and do work to get students to look at all of their options. However, students in BCPSS do NOT understand the amount of work it takes to be successful in college. Anyone who knows a graduate knows that to be true. City Teacher is quite correct about how graduates need to take remedial classes wherever they go. Not because they haven't been taught but because they don't understand the amount of knowledge they have thrown away by not studying or reading on their own. We lack a college-finishing culture. And until there is a major shift in how students, parents and others see the value of education, we will never have one.

Research shows that graduation rates are largely a function of who attends the college. If you have good SAT scores you have a strong chance of graduating from any kind of college. So it's alarmist to imply that students who choose community colleges automatically reduce their chances of getting a degree.

@City Teacher: It is my understanding that community colleges accept all students regardless of gpa and skills. As long as a student can pay tuition, they are welcome. They may need to take certain prerequisite classes (writing classes etc.)

There is an historical context to this report that is not touched by this story. It is very important to understand the reform efforts of the time that may have lead to the trends outlined in this report. The since discarded Gates and Abell funded, Russo written "Blueprint" took affect in about 2001-2002 and it could easily be assume that was the start of this troubling trend.

It would have also been interesting if the College Bound Foundation would have been investigated for its part in this effort. BCPSS outsourced college counseling and some of the advice given to the students are reflected in these enrollment trends.

Regardless of the data, far too many kids are going to college. IF they graduate, it is because colleges have had to follow the trend to dummy down coursework at all levels. We have done a great injustice to kids telling them that the only pathway to success is a college degree. The state of our economy and quality of our workforce are a testimony to this fact. College is a business and part of the circular flow of tax dollars from hard working people, federal grant programs, to student loans, to inflated tuition ...on and on. It sounds great to continue to use words like AVID, College Prep ...etc. The fact is, kids are graduating from high schools that have somehow squeaked through having gain bery little skills or knowledge. If they were truly held accountable for learning, our high school graduation rates would be abysmal. Our HSA's are already dummied down and kids still have the safety net of bridge projects. I have an 8th grader who passed the Alg 1 HSA last May and believe me she is no math wiz. We have seniors who graduate who can't pass it after 4 tries! Time to really discuss root causes!!

Hallelujah! Comments, and most even contain at least one argument with support. Signs of true discourse... yeah!

@vetern - I agree with your assessment about the lack of a college-finishing culture, but why are teachers not on the list of those bearing responsibility for that? Regardless of the age group we teach, aren't we charged with teaching each kid who walks through the doors of our classrooms? If an 8th grader spends a year in my class and never figures out that 30 cm. is a different length than 30 inches, or that it's and its are NOT interchangeable words, I'm not at all to blame? And is it any wonder that that kid gets to college and faces one semester or more of remediation? Sure, those elementary teachers fell down on the job, but middle and high school teachers who pass that kid on through the system are just as accountable.

@Rico - the BERC report is not sounding an alarm, it is reporting and analyzing serious statistics about which WE should be sounding the alarm, whether or not we are raising or teaching kids.

@Brandon: aren't the "pre-requisite" classes you suggest actually happening, only we call them college-level remediation?

@Over: I'd take your argument more seriously if you supported it with some evidence. Also, I again detect some "everyone else is guilty except me" going on, too. Maybe not, but I gotta be honest - that's how it sounds without clear examples that support your statements.

Hallelujah! Comments, and most even contain at least one argument with support. Signs of true discourse... yeah!

@vetern - I agree with your assessment about the lack of a college-finishing culture, but why are teachers not on the list of those bearing responsibility for that? Regardless of the age group we teach, aren't we charged with teaching each kid who walks through the doors of our classrooms? If an 8th grader spends a year in my class and never figures out that 30 cm. is a different length than 30 inches, or that it's and its are NOT interchangeable words, I'm not at all to blame? And is it any wonder that that kid gets to college and faces one semester or more of remediation? Sure, those elementary teachers fell down on the job, but middle and high school teachers who pass that kid on through the system are just as accountable.

@Rico - the BERC report is not sounding an alarm, it is reporting and analyzing serious statistics about which WE should be sounding the alarm, whether or not we are raising or teaching kids.

@Brandon: aren't the "pre-requisite" classes you suggest actually happening, only we call them college-level remediation?

@Over: I'd take your argument more seriously if you supported it with some evidence. Also, I again detect some "everyone else is guilty except me" going on, too. Maybe not, but I gotta be honest - that's how it sounds without clear examples that support your statements.

@ cookin - What I was trying to point out was that the period of this study was right after the Russo Blue Print for High School was implemented. In that most education reform methods take a year or two to show results, it can logically be assumed that this trend was a result of that action, it is also in evidence that the Gates Foundation abandoned its small high school push just as questions were starting to surface.

The report started with a list that includes five neighborhood high schools that had low graduation and college acceptance rates and over the period of the study picked up some of the "new" & "smaller" schools that replaced them. The goals of these schools were to boost graduation and college acceptance. It appears that in the first years it may have done just the opposite.

The College Bound Foundation was funded by BCPSS to target certain school and help with the college application process. Having attended several of their workshop, I know that they stressed applying to what this report lists as the less selective in state schools. The majority of the training was about how low income families can find money for their children to attend college not a critical evaluation of IF that child should attend college or more importantly IF that child wanted to attend college.
I try not to play the blame game too often but if we must it goes a lot higher than students, parents or teachers.

OK, @cookin, I'm happy to have some discourse.

I’ve been looking at comments, on this website and others, on this story and the SAT score story over the last couple of days. Here is a list of some of the legitimate factors that people have said are part of the problem:

The “social passing” problem, indifferent parents, busybody parents, the school culture, the peer culture, some unspecified number of inadequate teachers, inadequate or nonexistent college counseling, vague or nonexistent standards for college entry, a lack of rigor in the K-12 curriculum, overemphasis on high-stakes testing, inflexible unions, entrenched bureaucracy, grandstanding school board politicians, overreaching state and federal governments, nonprofit foundations with suspicious agendas, greed.

I think that all of these problems, to a greater or lesser degree, do contribute to the problems in preparing students for college. And I think that’s what makes it so hard to work with the problems. There are just too many contributors, too many places to start. And if anyone says, okay, let’s just pick one contributing factor and work there, then you have to expect to get pummeled by people saying “hey, that’s not the only problem.”

Real change is going to happen when someone of vision says, okay, we need to do two things at once: put in higher standards and also modify some elements of the union contract, or roll back high-stakes testing but also set clearer, enforceable standards for teacher performance. Something like this would have the advantage of focusing attention on just a few problems, but also give political cover to the problem of picking on just one group.

OK, @cookin, I'm happy to have some discourse.

I’ve been looking at comments, on this website and others, on this story and the SAT score story over the last couple of days. Here is a list of some of the legitimate factors that people have said are part of the problem:

The “social passing” problem, indifferent parents, busybody parents, the school culture, the peer culture, some unspecified number of inadequate teachers, inadequate or nonexistent college counseling, vague or nonexistent standards for college entry, a lack of rigor in the K-12 curriculum, overemphasis on high-stakes testing, inflexible unions, entrenched bureaucracy, grandstanding school board politicians, overreaching state and federal governments, nonprofit foundations with suspicious agendas, greed.

I think that all of these problems, to a greater or lesser degree, do contribute to the problems in preparing students for college. And I think that’s what makes it so hard to work with the problems. There are just too many contributors, too many places to start. And if anyone says, okay, let’s just pick one contributing factor and work there, then you have to expect to get pummeled by people saying “hey, that’s not the only problem.”

Real change is going to happen when someone of vision says, okay, we need to do two things at once: put in higher standards and also modify some elements of the union contract, or roll back high-stakes testing but also set clearer, enforceable standards for teacher performance. Something like this would have the advantage of focusing attention on just a few problems, but also give political cover to the problem of picking on just one group.

one thing that the 'lets hold teachers accountable' people are not taking into account here is that often teachers don't have control over which students pass their classes and which don't. Very often we are heavily pressured into passing students even when they don't have any business passing. This trend gets compounded as students get older because they enter class farther and farther behind. A ninth grader who starts ninth grade reading at a 3rd grade level, can work his tail off, and if he can read at a 5th grade level by June, his teacher thinks he's done a great job. It would be cruel to fail him. But is he on track to be ready for college by the end of 12th grade? Most probably not.

Do we therefore blame his teacher? I sure hope not.

It looks like I'm not the only one having trouble with double-posts. Liz and/or Erica, what's up? I click on "post" and it takes more than five minutes to load? I thought it was just on my end at home but have noticed the same issue at work. Now I see @Rico ran into the double-post problem, too.

Speaking of @Rico: after reading your words, I had to ponder before posting again. This hasn’t happened on this blog for awhile. So thank you.

You definitely nail the long list of problems, though I think I would add one more that over-rides all the others: lack of passion and action at the city leadership level for a true up-ending of the status quo where kids’ futures are concerned. Throughout this past primary season, candidates all spoke – convincingly, even! -- with passion about what needs to happen for kids in Baltimore. But not one, including our incumbent and including the candidate I ultimately supported with a vote, made me BELIEVE that the spine for taking action on that passion was there. I even expressed to some friends one night, “Where is Baltimore’s Rahm Emanuel? He would find the fix for our schools … I want RAHM to run for mayor!”

We need joint leadership of the city AND the school system that has both vision AND the ability to act without concern for political consequence. Face it: strong action linked with a powerful vision can eventually result in positive political consequences, if you have the cojones to steer in the storm, even if that storm lasts for months and possibly years.

We have a Rahm-ish leader running the schools now – brash, little care for what people think of him, almost frightening in his focus on accountability at every level of the system. But he’s following your prescription, Rico – taking his vision and zeroing in on the most important actions needed: transforming teaching to benefit kids’ learning. With a similar laser-like focus on WHAT BALTIMORE’S KIDS NEED emanating out of City Hall, informing public policy at the local and state level, driving budget-building, and infusing public discourse, I believe we could begin to chip away, diminish and maybe even conquer most of the problems on your list. But until then, I fear for our future.

It seems silly to me that we’re (myself included) making such a big deal about this report. Here is a simplified version of what’s going on: Alonso is hired and needs to show he’s a tough guy. He fires BCPSS employees at will, essentially daring anybody to oppose HIS will. Baltimore City graduation numbers go up because the principals are scared to death - they frantically graduate kids who didn’t even bother to show up for most of the year (I’ve seen this firsthand). Guidance counselors are pressured to get as many students accepted into college as they possibly can - so they do. So now the number of college-bound students (and high school graduates) is way up, but suddenly we’re shocked at the percentage of students enrolling in 2-year colleges and (gasp!) FAILING!

@cookin - I disagree with your premise that city leaders aren't doing enough.

Baltimore City leaders such as Alonso are action stars. They bully and they manipulate. They sacrifice collaboration and community for ego. They ignore the research by those who know - such as Diane Ravitch, Anthony Cody, and a cadre of America’s most experienced teachers.

The most knowledgeable and experienced educators know that the schools are merely a convenient scapegoat to distract from America’s embarrassing poverty. Experienced educators know that finding the “highest rated” schools in affluent areas is NOT A COINCIDENCE.

Alonso has done nothing but instill fear and distrust in Baltimore City schools. He has succeeded in bullying his obedient underlings into juking the stats (graduation AND testing). We don’t need Rahm Emanuel because we already have Rahm Emanuel. Baltimore City bribed its teachers to accept the bogus ideal of teacher merit pay long before Rahm thought to bribe teachers to accept the bogus ideal of a longer school day in Chicago.

Baltimore City does not lack for passion and action - if anything, it suffers from a surplus. What Baltimore City leaders need to do is sit down and read Diane Ravitch’s The Death and Life of the Great American School System. Then they need to collaborate with schools, teachers, and parents; they need to stop ORDERING us around.

If our leaders take the Finland model of training and collaboration, then we might see some modest improvement in our schools in the future. I say “might” and “modest” because we as a nation have no real plan to end or curtail poverty. Poverty is only going to get worse, and the achievement gap and school inequality are going to continue at the same rate.

P.S. Where has Robin Bingham gone? Do we need to make some kind of Bat Signal for her? Did she decide that dispelling the myths and misinformation was too much like bashing her head against a wall?

It seems silly to me that we’re (myself included) making such a big deal about this report. Here is a simplified version of what’s going on: Alonso is hired and needs to show he’s a tough guy. He fires BCPSS employees at will, essentially daring anybody to oppose HIS will. Baltimore City graduation numbers go up because the principals are scared to death - they frantically graduate kids who didn’t even bother to show up for most of the year (I’ve seen this firsthand). Guidance counselors are pressured to get as many students accepted into college as they possibly can - so they do. So now the number of college-bound students (and high school graduates) is way up, but suddenly we’re shocked at the percentage of students enrolling in 2-year colleges and (gasp!) FAILING!

@cookin - I disagree with your premise that city leaders aren't doing enough.

Baltimore City leaders such as Alonso are action stars. They bully and they manipulate. They sacrifice collaboration and community for ego. They ignore the research by those who know - such as Diane Ravitch, Anthony Cody, and a cadre of America’s most experienced teachers.

The most knowledgeable and experienced educators know that the schools are merely a convenient scapegoat to distract from America’s embarrassing poverty. Experienced educators know that finding the “highest rated” schools in affluent areas is NOT A COINCIDENCE.

Alonso has done nothing but instill fear and distrust in Baltimore City schools. He has succeeded in bullying his obedient underlings into juking the stats (graduation AND testing). We don’t need Rahm Emanuel because we already have Rahm Emanuel. Baltimore City bribed its teachers to accept the bogus ideal of teacher merit pay long before Rahm thought to bribe teachers to accept the bogus ideal of a longer school day in Chicago.

Baltimore City does not lack for passion and action - if anything, it suffers from a surplus. What Baltimore City leaders need to do is sit down and read Diane Ravitch’s The Death and Life of the Great American School System. Then they need to collaborate with schools, teachers, and parents; they need to stop ORDERING us around.

If our leaders take the Finland model of training and collaboration, then we might see some modest improvement in our schools in the future. I say “might” and “modest” because we as a nation have no real plan to end or curtail poverty. Poverty is only going to get worse, and the achievement gap and school inequality are going to continue at the same rate.

P.S. Where has Robin Bingham gone? Do we need to make some kind of Bat Signal for her? Did she decide that dispelling the myths and misinformation was too much like bashing her head against a wall?

So I was reading all the great comments in this thread, and I'd like to pose a question to all the thoughtful contributors.

We all see the causes, and understand them well, but where do we go from here? Besides a personal commitment to do the best by our kids every day, what comes next? Studies like this come out every so often, and I think we all need to move beyond the analysis of the causes of failure to actually doing something. The problem is - what?

Liz and Erica - look, another double post!

@City Teacher: I am not a City Schools insider so cannot, from experience, comment knowledgeably on your claims re: AAA's bully-like leadership approach . However, for the sake of argument I will accept your claim as fact. If true, then where are the voices more powerful than his - or at least AS powerful - calling him out on this madness and demanding better for our kids and our citizens (and that includes teachers)?

You are definitely right about the need to collaborate. Collaboration must begin at the top and infuse each level where partnership is possible.

Many talk about collaboration but are really just engaging in actions sending out benefits in just one direction. True two-way collaboration - giving and getting benefit in both directions - is difficult and rare. Now: if our Mayor and schools CEO practiced a little bit of that, mightn't many in the system benefit?

@City Teacher--You are so correct that the poverty issue is not ever directly addressed by anyone. Students who are dealing with the issues of poverty are not also dealing with preparing for college or really anything except the present. I am not saying that they don't think about the future--yes, they most certainly do--but the future means something different to them than it does to their teachers and others. I have had students tell me that they want to leave Baltimore to go to school or live and work. However, they have no idea of how they will support themselves and they know that their families (for the most part) can't help them. Others have told me things like "What's the point of going to college? No jobs here anyway." How does one refute that in a city where the growing job base is service sector? It is all very frustrating and disturbing at the same time.

ok "cooking", against my better judgement I'll step into the fray...

@vetern teacher -
Do you have any backup for your claim that "the growing job base is service sector"? Keep in mind that this was specifically for those with college degrees. Given the amount of jobs related to healthcare (with Johns Hopkins as the #1 single employer), federal government (proximity to Washington DC), defense related (BRAC gains to Maryland), and general biotech industries (all sorts of industrial parks seem to be going up) I am skeptical. We need to remember that those with college educations are not limited to taking jobs within the city limits. A degree, a car and a 30 minute commute can get you a wide array of job opportunities. I continually emphasize this to my children and I think students need to hear the same thing at school - especially when their social circles have no firsthand experience in looking for a job when you have obtained a college degree.

I am a Towson Student and I am taking a class that deals with urban education. As one of my assignments I have to pick an article that deals with urban education and respond to some questions.

Relation to Class:
In class we have discussed poverty in relation to urban schools, and poverty is one of the reasons many students are beginning to enroll in two-year colleges rather than four-year colleges. Most families in urban schools face very difficult financial situations as it is, but now with the economy so bad off, they are having an even harder time sending their child to college.

Relation to Urban Schools:
This report on student’s college enrollment was conducted on Baltimore City students. In the article they bring up an important point that is usually thought about students in urban schools, and that is if they attend a two-year college they are less likely to complete college. The article also discusses how many city students are having a hard time with affording college especially with this terrible economy, which proves that many students in urban schools struggle with poverty.

Reason for Selection:
I selected this article because in this society education is vital to obtain jobs. Employers want to hire people with degrees, training or skills and without them your resume is not as competitive as those who have acquired these. Although some students that enroll in two-year colleges don’t complete college there are those that do. I don’t think that city school officials should be worried that more students are enrolling in two-year colleges rather than four-year colleges because in this economy it is already hard to afford college and for that not to discourage students from attending college is impressive. You can receive a great education at a two-year college and it is nice to see that even though students may not be able to afford a four-year college they are still motivated to continue their education.