In the 20th century, high school focused on job training and college eligibility. In many cases, high school graduation was an end in itself or possibly a gateway. For the most part, the K–12 education system did not concern itself much with what students would encounter after graduation. Unfortunately, today the clear message from college instructors and employers is that high school graduates often do not have the skills necessary for college or the workplace.
Everyone agrees that it is imperative for students to be prepared to succeed in their post-graduation endeavors, but what are the criteria for success and how are they assessed? These are the questions now facing policymakers, state and local school officials, principals and teachers, and ultimately parents and students themselves. What changes need to take place in K–12 education to make college and career readiness a reality?
College Eligible, But Not College-Ready
High school grade point averages have steadily risen over the past several decades, and students leave high school with largely positive beliefs about their ability to tackle college work. Unfortunately, many do not make the cut when they reach college.
Failure rates in some entry level courses are nearly 50 percent, and federal statistics show that about 40 percent of students accepted into college must take remedial coursework before proceeding to for-credit courses. A 2005 study from ACT estimated that college remediation costs students approximately $1 billion per year.
Remediation not only slows students' progress to graduation, but it also often demotivates students to the point of their dropping out. Susan Headden, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer at Education Sector, a Washington, D.C., think tank, wrote in a recent Washington Monthly blog post, "Most students who are assigned to remediation don't make it through. Some never even show up for class. Others flunk out. Still more get discouraged and quit."
According to Headden, the problem often begins with placement tests like the Accuplacer. "If you bomb the Accuplacer, you effectively can't go to college at all. The remedial placement process is ground zero for college noncompletion in America."
Many students may begin college feeling confident and prepared but receive a wake-up call when faced with the reality of college work. For the report One Year Out by the College Board, students from the class of 2010 were asked how high school prepared them for work and college. A year into their post–high school lives, half of these students said that high school did not prepare them well.
Similarly, half of community college students surveyed by the nonprofit Pearson Foundation reported feeling unprepared for the rigors of college-level work. They wished their high school preparation had put greater emphasis on basic skills and offered more challenging courses.
The Obama Administration's Response
Clearly, something must change, and President Obama has called for action: "The administration will call on states, districts, and schools to aim for the ambitious goal—by 2020—of all students graduating or on track to graduate from high school ready for college and a career." In answer to this mandate, the U.S. Department of Education has developed A Blueprint for Reform (the proposal to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act legislation).
- Raising high school curriculum standards in language arts and math.
- Developing better assessments aligned with the college- and career-readiness standards.
- Implementing a well-rounded education with improved teacher professional development.
- Evidence-based instructional models and supports.
Most states have already adopted the Common Core State Standards or are developing their own standards and assessments aligned to college and career readiness.
What Is College Readiness?
Whether A Blueprint for Reform can meet its goals depends partly on how "college- and career-ready" is defined. Simply getting students to the doors of higher learning does not always open the doors; it leaves many to stumble back down the steps.
According to the 2010 MetLife Survey of the American Teacher, the old definition of college and career readiness was simply creating graduates eligible for acceptance into college. The new definition is a continuum beginning with preparing students to take for-credit college courses without remediation. The next level is for students to achieve a C average or better in core courses, complete the first year of college successfully, and finally to finish the degree or certification.
If the ultimate goal of college and career readiness is to prepare students well enough in high school to give them a fighting chance of completing college, then A Blueprint for Reform may need reform. Although the blueprint focuses much attention on providing more challenging coursework, the MetLife survey, which included students, parents, teachers, and Fortune 1,000 executives, found that most respondents did not believe more challenging course content was the way to prepare students to be successful in college.
"Problem-solving skills, critical thinking, the ability to write clearly and persuasively, and the ability to work independently—9 in 10 of each of the key stakeholders in middle and high school education believe these four skills and abilities are absolutely essential or very important for a student to be ready for college and a career," according to the MetLife survey.
What Does It Take to Succeed in College?
University of Oregon professor David T. Conley, who directs the Center for Educational Policy Research and the Educational Policy Improvement Center, has published widely on the topic of college readiness. His research uncovers some weaknesses in defining college readiness in terms of high school courses taken, grades received, and scores on national tests.
Conley points out that the typical high school experience today differs significantly from college, making this one of the most difficult life transitions many people ever experience. In Redefining College Readiness, Conley says, "Almost all the rules of the game that students have so carefully mastered over the preceding 13 years of schooling are either discarded or modified radically."
- Key cognitive strategies. Skills in analysis, interpretation, precision and accuracy, and problem solving and reasoning.
- Key content knowledge. First and foremost the ability to write well. Also, the ability to conduct research and knowledge of the big ideas in each content area.
- Academic behaviors. Study skills, time management, persistence, and the ability to work in groups.
- Contextual skills and awareness. Knowledge of how to apply to college, manage financial aid issues, and adjust to college culture.
According to experts, because these skills are largely not measured by exit exams or national tests, new assessments are needed to determine whether students are prepared to succeed in college.
Lessons Learned from Successful Schools
- Create and maintain a college-going culture. All students are assumed to be capable of success in college and are provided with information, support, and encouragement.
- Align the academic program with college-readiness standards. Specifically, prepare students for advanced placement courses.
- Teach self-management skills. These include study, note-taking, time-management, and teamwork skills.
- Prepare students for the complexity of applying for college. Throughout the high school years, repeatedly provide information about college admissions requirements and provide college-readiness tests and information about financial aid.
Guidance Counselors Should Guide the Way
Several studies point to high school (and middle school) guidance counselors as uniquely positioned to take a lead role in preparing students for college. According to the Education Trust report Poised to Lead: How School Counselors Can Drive College and Career Readiness, counselors can guide not just individual students, but also their schools: "They know which courses or teachers produce the most failures and successes, which policies hold students back, and which instructional supports actually help."
Although counselors frequently do not fulfill this role today, the Education Trust report details how the profession can be strengthened to fill the college- and career-readiness niche more effectively: by shifting university training programs for school counselors, revising job descriptions, providing appropriate professional development, and aligning evaluations with student academic outcomes.
Effective counselors supply all students with pertinent information, helping them select appropriate courses and providing college application and financial aid information from the earliest days of high school, before students make a wrong turn or lose an opportunity. Most important, their one-on-one work can encourage students to succeed and motivate them to work hard toward goals.
Dual Enrollment and Early College Designs
High achievers have benefitted from opportunities for dual enrollment, earning college credits free of charge during their high school years. Research suggests that dual enrollment is positively related to outcomes such as high school graduation, college enrollment, and persistence in college. Success breeds success, and dual enrollment can be the catalyst that gives students the self-confidence, motivation, and experience they need to continue succeeding in college and work.
According to Jobs for the Future, these opportunities can be successfully extended to all high school students, including low-income and other students generally underserved by higher education. Its report A Policymaker's Guide to Early College Designs: Expanding a Strategy for Achieving College Readiness for All proposes that every student in the United States can realistically graduate from high school with at least 12 college credits (the equivalent of a semester), including college math and college composition. That would decrease the need for remediation and increase the odds of students staying in school and finishing their degrees.
Another Jobs for the Future policy brief, What Gets Measured Gets Done: Adding College-Course Completion to K–12 Accountability Systems, states that almost a quarter of early college students currently earn an associate's degree by high school graduation, paying no tuition. "Students graduated high school not merely believing they were prepared for college, but knowing they were prepared, having completed rigorous college courses," the brief says.
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Additional Resources
Canadian Researchers Ask, Do Dual-Credit Programs Help Students Succeed?: <LINK URL="http://www.ascd.org/eu-mar12-dual-credit">www.ascd.org/eu-mar12-dual-credit</LINK>
Educational Policy Improvement Center: <LINK URL="http://www.epiconline.org/publications/college_readiness">www.epiconline.org/publications/college_readiness</LINK>
CollegeCareerReady (including a sample of its diagnostic tool): <LINK URL="http://www.collegecareerready.org">www.collegecareerready.org</LINK>
Jobs for the Future: <LINK URL="http://www.jff.org">www.jff.org</LINK>
The Metlife Survey of the American Teacher: Preparing Students for College and Careers: <LINK URL="http://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/contributions/foundation/american-teacher/MetLife_Teacher_Survey_2010.pdf">www.metlife.com/assets/cao/contributions/foundation/american-teacher/MetLife_Teacher_Survey_2010.pdf</LINK>
National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships: <LINK URL="http://nacep.org">http://nacep.org</LINK>
U.S. Department of Education's ESEA Reauthorization: A Blueprint for Reform: <LINK URL="http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/blueprint/index.html">www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/blueprint/index.html</LINK>
U.S. Department of Education's College- and Career-Ready Standards and Assessments: <LINK URL="http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/blueprint/faq/college-career.pdf">www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/blueprint/faq/college-career.pdf</LINK>