On the heels of the ISI report, which examined civic and historical knowledge, comes a report on skill levels of high school, two-year colleges, and four-year colleges by the Conference Board. The survey asked emplyers about the skills and knowledges important in the coming economy, then asked them how there recent applicants hires measured up. Here are a few results just in areas of reading and writing:

  • Only 3.4 percent of respondents rated high school graduates “Excellent” in reading comprehension. 38.4 percent rated them as “Deficient.”
  • Only 4.2 percent rated two-year college graduates as reaching “Excellent” in reading, while 25.9 percent gave four-year college graduates “Excellent.”
  • For two-year college grads, 12.8 percent gave them “Deficient” in reading, while 5.1 percent judged four-year college grads deficient.
  • A mere 0.8 percent of respondents gave high school grads “Excellent” in writing, while a whopping 72 percent rated them “Deficient.”
  • For two-year college grads, 46.4 percent gave them “Deficient” in writing, while 26.2 percent of respondents gave four-year college grads “Deficient.”

The study also tabulated areas of “Humanities/Arts,” foreign languages, science, and government/economics.