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Earlier this week the MetLife Foundation released the first of two reports from its 27^th annual Survey of the American Teacher. The survey, which in addition to middle and high school teachers included student, parent and business executive (aka potential employer) respondents, examines “the importance of being college- and career-ready, what the preparation includes and what it may take to get there.”

Postsecondary education is being seen as a necessity - both executives (77%) and students (84%) strongy agree that there will be few or no career opportunities for students who do have some education beyond high school. And not surprisingly, there is broad agreement among stakeholders that all students should graduate high school ready for college and a career. There were, though, differences in how high a priority this should be – less than half of executives think it must be done, compared to 73% of parents.

What I found particularly interesting - and what I think could have important policy implications for schools, districts, states and the federal government - were the areas of consensus, and divergence, in what being college- and career- ready means.

Teachers, parents, students and executives all overwhelmingly agree that problem solving skills, critical thinking skills, the ability to write clearly and persuasively, the ability to work independently, and the ability to work in teams are absolutely essential or very important components in being college and career ready. And these are key terms that we hear thrown about in education debates at all levels.

Interestingly (and perhaps instructively), teachers, parents and students all put a greater emphasis on the ability to work independently than did executives - 55%, 59% and 55% respectively rate it an absolutely essential skill, compared to just 40% of executives. Executives, on the other hand, considered the ability to work in teams more important - 59% rate it absolutely essential, though just 42%, 42% and 41% of teachers, parents and students, respectively, do the same.

There are also some interesting discrepancies in content knowledge between the respondents and policy trends. Recent national initiatives strongly emphasize challenging content for all students, especially high-level math and science content knowledge (including trigonometry and calculus by 12^th grade). Yet just 4% of executives - potential employers - believe high-level science is absolutely essential, and just 8% feel that way about high-level math (and just 31% and 40% found this science and math, respectively, either absolutely essential or very important).

In fact, of the three content areas featured in the survey – knowledge of other nations and cultures and international issues; knowledge and ability in higher-level science; and knowledge and ability in higher-level mathematics, none were considered absolutely essential by teachers, parents, students or executives. And the one deemed most essential by both teachers and executives (with 63% of teachers and 65% of executives deeming it absolutely essential or very important) was knowledge of other nations and cultures - something we aren't hearing about nearly as much in national and state debates on public schooling.

The third section of this report - what it will take to get more students graduate college- and career- ready - is where the real disagreement among stakeholders lies. For that, check out the entire report.

Learning First Alliance member Learning Forward also responded to this survey. Read their response here.