US Department of Education: Majority Of High School Seniors Not Ready For College Or Career

Top education officials in the U.S. are worried that the country's high school seniors might not be ready for the next step. The latest test results from a government-funded research project revealed that only 37 percent of American high school seniors are academically proficient in college reading, only 25 percent are prepared for college math.

National Proficiency Dips By Two Percent

According to recently-released data by The National Assessment of Educational Progress, reading scores have plummeted by 5 points since 1992 while math scores have remained consistently low in the past decade. In 2013, the percentage of high school seniors who were academically proficient in college reading and math were slightly higher at 38 and 26 percent, respectively.

The Washington Post said NAEP's new data casts doubt on the legitimacy of high school diplomas. High school graduation rates are on the rise in the US, but the latest test results show that majority of incoming college freshmen aren't properly equipped to climb the academic ladder.

"A strong foundation in math and reading is essential to a student being prepared for college academics and for most careers, so this trend of stagnating scores is worrisome," NAEP chairman Terry Mazany told Education World. "This is a crucial time in education, and there are many things each of us can do to help ensure every student succeeds."

NAEP Test Results Are More Realistic

It can be argued that NAEP's test results are far more realistic than other national standardized tests. One big reason for this is that NAEP is purely a research project by the Department of Education and not a state accountability test.

The lack of consequences for schools means that students are not heavily drilled by their teachers to take the test. This results in a more useful and realistic measurement of student proficiency. In 2015, roughly 18,700 high school seniors across states and cities took NAEP's reading test while 13,200 students took the math exam, as per NPR.