Running head: PERSPECTIVE PAPER ON COLLEGE READINESS

A Perspective Paper on a Critical Issue: College Readiness Briana McNeil EDLD 7431 Georgia Southern University Dr. Calhoun

PERSPECTIVE PAPER ON COLLEGE READINESS

A Perspective Paper on a Critical Issue: College Readiness Every parents dream is to have their child attend college one day. A typical person spends four years of their life in high school in anticipation of the day when they can walk across the stage and be called a high school graduate. Immediately after high school most students are expected to go directly to college and be successful because high school has prepared them to be thrive. High school graduates are supposed to enroll in college and be ready for everything it has to offer. After all, students that graduate from high school are expected to be ready for every aspect of college. So why is it that students graduate from high school and need to enroll in remedial classes directly out of high school? Did high school not prepare students for the rigorous task of the college curriculum? Were these students college ready? What does it mean to be college ready? This paper will address the impact and importance of this critical matter of college readiness and also plans for resolving or addressing the issue. What does it mean to be college ready? College readiness means that students are equipped with the necessary skills during their high school career that they may to enter into and do well in college level courses. According to Conley, college readiness can be defined operationally as the level of preparation a student needs in order to enroll and succeed without remediationin a credit-bearing general education course at a postsecondary institution that offers a baccalaureate degree or transfer to a baccalaureate program (Conley, 2007). Therefore a student who graduates from high school and has to enroll in remedial classes once at college is not considered to be college ready. This perhaps shows that high schools are not fully preparing students for college because of a lack of K-12 standard alignment with college and workplace expectations (AASCU State Relations and Policy Analysis Research Team, 2012). Students entering college and having to enroll in remedial classes also shows that there is a disconnection

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between high school standards and what is required for college. Is it the job of the high schools or college administrators to make certain that students are college ready? I say the answer is both. High school principals should be in constant communication with at least the surrounding colleges and universities to work on a plan to have students prepared for college after high school graduation. Not all the time do college administrators and high school principals agree on each of their roles in this process but they should be able to work collectively to benefit the student. Nevertheless they must find common ground and strive to the decrease the negative impact of not being college ready could create in the future. The impact of whether or not a student is college ready has educators and administrators on separate sides of the fence. There are differing opinions about who is responsible for preparing students for college. College administrators believe it is the job of the high schools to make sure that their students are prepared for college and high schools are not willing to be held accountable for getting their students to ready for all the many different definitions of college readiness across the United States. However, the sole responsibility should not just be placed on high schools if students are not ready some of the accountability should also lie with the school counselors. Up until recently only required three years of math, science and history in order to graduate from high school. Imagine what an extra year of these subjects could do to prepare the student for college courses. Many students may feel as though they do not need the extra year but school counselors should encourage students to take the extra year so they at the very least will be a step ahead of those who did not. Future implications of students not being college ready many times cannot be seen until after the first year of college and by that point it is too late. Students may drop out of college and decide not to return or students will end up spending a year or more taking remedial classes when they could have been taking classes that would count

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towards college graduation. The impact of not taking four years of subjects, not being college ready, playing the blame game between college administrators and high schools, and lack of a structured system that will and can prepare students for college are issues that have been discussed numerous times over the years and has lead to modifications in the educational system. College readiness is an issue that has gained importance over the past few years and has led to some recent changes in education. As the Vice-President of Candidate Affairs, I look for students who can succeed at the institution. When I look at high school transcripts I am evaluating if the student based on their courses taken and test scores will be successful at the university. I also determine who will be a good fit for the school. It is my belief that high schools across the country have not been properly preparing students for the college work that they will be faced with their first semester of school. In the past, postsecondary institutions did not play a role in helping high schools to develop and prepare students to be college ready until recently. Today, more and more states have started to work collaboratively with leaders in K-12 and postsecondary education, businesses, communities, and policymakers to align high school graduation standards with expectations for success in entry-level college coursework and quality jobs (AASCU State Relations and Policy Analysis Research Team, 2012). This is a huge transformation as states are realizing that everyone needs to pull together to make students be successful in college as well as in the job market. Higher education role in defining college readiness may seem like a huge task but when one considers the long-term benefits. Higher education institutions need to work more frequently with high schools to ensure that high schools standards and graduation requirements not only line up with the state but also with college entrance requirements. Institutions need to be open and flexible to changing some of their old ways and work towards Most importantly, there

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are four strategies that can help high schools increase the numbers of college-ready students and they are 1) align high school curriculum and instruction with college expectations, 2) develop high quality syllabi in all courses, 3) implement senior seminars and 4) add missing content to high school courses (Conley, 2007). Aligning high school curriculum and instruction with college expectations improves the amount of high school students who will be college ready because students will be learning in class various skills that they will apply in college. There will be no question if they are ready since the curriculum will meet college expectations. High school teachers today are developing syllabi that carry more value than in previous years. Teachers are creating their syllabi to resemble a syllabus that you will find when taking a college course. This change in the syllabus helps to mentally prepare students for what the expectation will be of them once they begin college courses. Another strategy is to have students participate in senior seminars during their last year of high school. Implementing senior seminars can create a college-like experience in high school without teaching college-level material and seminars focus on key issues within the discipline and investigate them in depth (Conley, 2007). Seminars can assist students in preparing for college by having them think like a college student and help them prepare for how fast a college course moves when covering material. The last strategy to help increase the number of high school students who are college ready is to add missing content to high school courses. Since there is a lot of reading that will take place in college, Conley (2007) suggests that students spend more time in high school with reading and learning new vocabulary. Students should be taught strategies so that they can advance their literary skills for college courses just as they would be taught strategies for doing well on a standardized test. These are just a few strategies that can be put into action to increase the number of college ready

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students. With strategies in place it makes it easier to develop a plan for resolving or addressing the issue. Plans for resolving for addressing college readiness has come within the past few years with the enactment of the Common Core Standards Initiative and the American Diploma Project Benchmarks. The Common Core Standards Initiative (2011) define the knowledge and skills students should have within their K-12 education careers so that they will graduate high school able to succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing academic college courses and in workforce training programs. Forty-five of the fifty states have adopted the Common Core Standards since its inception. These standards were developed within the last few years and its aim is for all students across the United States and that these standards will allow schools across the country to have equally measurable information. This initiative will aid both high schools and colleges in their endeavor of preparing students for their future opportunities whether it is college or the work force. The American Diploma Project Benchmarks is also another plan for addressing the issue of college readiness. The American Diploma Project (ADP) Benchmarks are the result of two years of national research and reflect an unprecedented convergence in what employers and postsecondary faculty believe students need to enter successfully both quality jobs that may require further education and training and credit-bearing college coursework (Postsecondary Connection, 2012). High schools need to make an effort to aggressively prepare students so that they are ready to attend any college. High schools also need to work with various college administrators so they are on the same page and are aligning students classes and programs with college programs. Teachers need to take it upon themselves for teaching and giving assistance to students knowledge regarding college requirements and the college process. Although high

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schools are not solely responsible for preparing students to be college ready they play a major role in the process. From my perspective as a college administrator there is much to be done within the school system to have students fully prepared for college. Now that I am aware of the issue I will make an effort and work to gain a better understanding of how I can contribute to the preparation of high school students for college. There have been some great strides and programs put in place so far that will positively impact postsecondary education in the future. What I have learned from this perspective paper, as the Vice-President of Candidate Affairs is that education for all is education. There should not be high school administrators against college administrators pointing the finger about whose job it is to prepare students for college. Everyone from the primary grades up to and including high school should collectively be working together to guarantee that each child receives the best education they can and are prepared for the next level of schooling. Once in the field, I will work closely with surrounding high schools and with other college administrators to make sure we have a curriculum that will benefit the student. The impact of students not being college ready is too great not to act. Having the background knowledge of the issue of college readiness and the impact it has made on the educational system has opened my eyes to its importance and value in todays society. Action is needed now from all educators and administrators no matter the capacity of work to see to it that our youth are equipped and capable of succeeding inside and outside the classroom. We have been on the sidelines of education and now the time has come to get in the game and make a difference.

PERSPECTIVE PAPER ON COLLEGE READINESS

References AASCU State Relations and Policy Analysis Research Team. (2012). Top 10 Higher Education State Policy Issues 2010. Washington, DC: American Association of State Colleges and Universities. Common Core Standards Initiative. (2011). About the Standards. Retrieved April 5, 2012, from Common Core State Standards Initiative : http://www.corestandards.org/about-thestandards Conley, D. T. (2007). Redefining College Readiness. Eugene, OR: Educational Policy Improvement Center. Conley, D. T. (2007). The Challenge of College Readiness. Educational Leadership , 65 (7), 2329. Postsecondary Connection. (2012). College Ready Benchmarks and Standards. Retrieved April 5, 2012, from Postsecondary Connection: http://www.postsecconnect.org/college-readybenchmarks-and-standards