The recent news item indicating that students attending San Antonio schools will be conducting a study to find out why students who have graduated from San Antonio schools are not prepared for college is a disturbing one. Parents send their children to San Antonio schools (and schools in other parts of the country) and assume that they are being taught in such as way as to prepare them for further education or work opportunities. Apparently, this situation has been going on for years, and a number of students who have graduated from San Antonio schools need to spend a considerable amount of their time at college taking remedial courses to bring their knowledge up to the levels required to tackle a college-level course.

San Antonio Schools Have Failed to Deliver a Quality Education

If the curriculum being taught at San Antonio schools has not been the right one to adequately prepare these young people for what lies ahead, why is it still being used? School officials are well aware that there is a problem with San Antonio schools, so why hasn't it been dealt with before?

The reason this problem continues with San Antonio schools is that a lot of data has been collected but no one has figured out exactly how the curriculum needs to be changed to make it easier for students who graduate from San Antonio schools to be successful in post-secondary education. We know what the problem is; more studies won't change that. Instead of focusing on the problem, let's encourage the government and school board officials to work together to find a solution.

San Antonio Schools Need to Take Action, Not Study the Problem to Death

Why doesn't someone find another jurisdiction where students are better prepared for the challenges of going to college and take steps to find out what is being taught or the techniques being used that are contributing to other students' success? Make changes to the curriculum being followed in San Antonio schools to make it more in line with what works in other parts of the country.

To my mind, the time for studying is when you need to find out more about a particular problem. In this case, we know what the problem is and more studies won't change that. Now is the time to make changes so that students attending San Antonio schools are well prepared for the next phase in their lives, no matter what that may be. It must be quite a letdown for someone who worked hard in high school to prepare for college to find that they need to spend time in remedial classes (that don't count as credits toward a degree). These students deserve better and the time to make changes is now.

Patricia Hawke is a staff writer for Schools K-12, providing free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and private K-12 schools. For more information please visit San Antonio Schools

Source: www.articlealley.com