As national and state leaders debate education policy, at least one local administrator says tougher requirements need to be put in place so that students are ready to hit the ground running after high school.
SIU President Glenn Poshard says while there is an awareness of it, the growing gap between high school level math, science and writing is causing big problems for incoming college students:
"When you look at the research on performance testing and so on, with our students in this country, compared to other students in the world, we're falling behind. Particularly on this issue of college readiness."
Poshard says SIU alone spends millions of dollars making sure students are up to scratch in science, math and other areas. He says that is time and money that could be spent on more advanced learning if the students were ready to go when they arrived on campus.
%22So%20that%20when%20students%20who%20qualify%20to%20be%20admitted%20to%20SIU%20Carbondale%2C%20for%20instance%2C%20come%20here%20as%20a%20student%2C%20we%20know%20they%20are%20ready%20with%20the%20requisite%20skills%20-%20particularly%20in%20math%20and%20science%2C%20and%20so%20on.%20I%20think%20this%20is%20getting%20better%2C%20but%20it%27s%20still%20a%20huge%20problem%20nationally.%22%20-%20SIU%20President%20Glenn%20Poshard
Poshard says a national policy aimed at streamlining and regulating the requirements would make it a lot easier for elementary and high schools to prepare their students for higher education.