@sallen3 -
I just tried this out in my playground with my student accounts.
I created a regular assignment(not a quiz )- I put in instructions in the description area - I tried text entry and online submission formats.
In the cases I tested when I used my student account to access the assignment through the to-do list, yes it went to the submission page, but it showed all of the instructions that are present in the assignment - matter of fact I get to the exact same page when I click on the assignment from the assignment navigation link.
Are you personally seeing this issue? Or is it something the students are reporting to you?
In the screenshot below, the details tab is where the instructions are. and in writing this I noticed that there is an arrow next to details that allows the details to be hidden. When I accessed the assignment as mentioned above, I got the view with the details showing. I could then hide the details by clicking on the arrow.
I do not know if there is a setting somewhere to make that start hidden or not, but maybe the hidden details are what the students are seeing.
Ron