Opinion
College & Workforce Readiness Letter to the Editor

Are Students Ready for Post-Pandemic Reality?

March 23, 2021 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

To the Editor:
The article “Top U.S. Companies: These Are the Skills Students Need in a Post-Pandemic World” (March 2, 2021) highlights the essential skills managers expect from today’s K-12 students and how schools can provide students with those skills. The Council for Aid to Education, the nonprofit assessment developer I lead, agrees that fact-based knowledge alone is no longer sufficient for college and career success.
Our data show that approximately 60 percent of students entering college are not proficient in the essential skills of critical thinking, problem-solving, and written communication—even though these skills are predictive of positive college and career outcomes. Since these skills are seldom explicitly taught in college curricula or in the workplace, most students have little opportunity to improve their proficiency and achieve their full potential.
The opportunity to improve students’ essential skills lies in identification and action, and secondary education must play a role. By assessing students’ essential skills early in their academic journeys, educators can use the results to provide targeted developmental support. Identifying and supporting students who may be at risk due to insufficient proficiency upon entry to higher education should also be a component to improving student success.
Measuring these essential skills can best be accomplished by using authentic, valid, and reliable assessments that allow educators to understand if their students are ready for their next step. Assessments with years of comparative data that educators can readily use to help students identify their strengths and areas for improvement are fundamental to developing the critical thinkers, problem-solvers, and communicators who can be successful in the future. Cultivating students’ essential skills now will go far in boosting future outcomes for students, parents, institutions, and the overall economy.
Bob Yayac
CEO & President
Council for Aid to Education
New York, N.Y.

A version of this article appeared in the March 24, 2021 edition of Education Week as Are Students Ready for Post-Pandemic Reality?

Events

Federal Webinar The Trump Budget and Schools: Subscriber Exclusive Quick Hit
EdWeek subscribers, join this 30-minute webinar to find out what the latest federal policy changes mean for K-12 education.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Curriculum Webinar
End Student Boredom: K-12 Publisher's Guide to 70% Engagement Boost
Calling all K-12 Publishers! Student engagement flatlining? Learn how to boost it by up to 70%.
Content provided by KITABOO
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School & District Management
Moving the Needle on Attendance: What’s Working NOW
See how family engagement is improving attendance, and how to put it to work in schools.
Content provided by TalkingPoints

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

College & Workforce Readiness Q&A How Schools and Businesses Can Work Better Together
Businesses and schools often don't understand each other's needs.
5 min read
Carter Crabtree, a Daviess County High School junior, learns to stack landscaping blocks with a mini excavator at a demonstration set up by Barnard Landscaping during the Homebuilder Association of Owensboro's annual Construction Career Day on April 24, 2025, in Owensboro, Ky.
Carter Crabtree, a Daviess County High School junior, learns to stack landscaping blocks with a mini excavator at a demonstration set up by Barnard Landscaping during the Homebuilder Association of Owensboro's annual Construction Career Day on Apr. 24, 2025, in Owensboro, Ky.
Greg Eans/The Messenger-Inquirer via AP
College & Workforce Readiness Colleges Will Give a Leg Up to Students Who Demonstrate Civility
A new program allows students to build a "civility transcript" for college through peer debates.
5 min read
Word bubbles of different sizes and abstract content arranged in a grid like pattern.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week + iStock
College & Workforce Readiness Opinion How One Organization Is Helping Grads Find Jobs
For students to succeed in school and careers, we need a new playbook.
6 min read
The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
Luca D'Urbino for Education Week
College & Workforce Readiness Q&A How This Schooling Model Puts Career Preparation First
The president of the National Career Academy Coalition talks about matching potential careers with local economic needs.
4 min read
Fourth graders Kysen Dull, left, and Kyree Davie try out some masonry work as they put a brick in place with help from Owensboro High School masonry students during Career Day at Cravens Elementary School in Owensboro, Ky., on Nov. 4, 2024.
Fourth graders Kysen Dull, left, and Kyree Davie try out some masonry work as they put a brick in place with help from Owensboro High School masonry students during Career Day at Cravens Elementary School in Owensboro, Ky., on Nov. 4, 2024. Putting on Career Day events is one way students can be exposed to career options at an early age.
Alan Warren/The Messenger-Inquirer via AP