Evaluation Of A Student 's College Readiness Essay

With college admissions relying so highly on these tests many bright and capable students are getting left with little options (Sternberg 7). These students are facing this because the ACT and SAT primary focus on a narrow segment of skills that are needed to become a person that makes significant differences to the world (Sternberg 7). College’s argue that the admission test give them a quick glimpse of what the students potential is because they do not have to time to individually evaluate each potential student. This may be true but we need a better way to distinguish a person’s abilities than just a simple score on a test.

Student achievement is one of the driving factors in education and, quite possibly, the most important. Educators strive to help students improve achievement through quality instructional practices and safe and effective learning environments, but this does not always correlate to adequate performance on standardized testing used to evaluate college or career readiness. One of the measures utilized to evaluate student achievement is the ACT test. Historically, the ACT has provided a measure of college readiness and one that became very serious for Kentucky schools as it is now part of the state accountability

One of the main reasons colleges use a student’s standardized test scores is to determine how ready they are for college and how they will perform in their freshman year (“Do Standardized Test” par 10). However, in reality these standardized tests do not properly predict a student’s first year college performance. Throughout the years, multiple studies have shown that a student’s GPA is a much more accurate representation of their future performance in college than their standardized test results. One of these studies for example, states that “The ACT regularly underestimates the abilities of females, who earn higher grades than males in college, despite lower ACT scores.” (“The ACT: Biased” par 10)

Although college readiness can be measured sing ACT and SAT scores, which developed a college readiness benchmarks to see whether a prospective college student has a high prospect of success in college courses of English, social sciences, Algebra and biology. However, if your test scores are not meeting the typical benchmarked standard does that truly determine I you are ready for college. No. One thing we have to take under deep consideration is that each student is different and some don’t test very well. What happens to a child who has a really good GPA, high determination and a low test score? College recruits deem that these children are not college ready. College readiness should be measured with a more natural eye, because some students may not be good in particular subject areas, however, what would be the likeness of high school students completing and earning a degree in a field that they enjoy. The nature of humans is to do things that they enjoy, to read stories that they can relate too, to complete a task that means a lot to them. This is the natural eye that we should look at college readiness with. How determined and passionate are the students on furthering their education. How

For students to get accepted into most institutes, they must pass the admissions requirements that school has placed. Most likely having a decent SAT/ACT score and a good standing GPA is required, along with recommendations and sometimes an essay. However, should colleges really rely on standardized test scores to determine a student’s success in college? One single test should not determine how well a student would do in college or determine whether they should get accepted into that college. Instead, they should remove the requirement for SAT/ACT scores and rely on the student’s high school grade point average. Students build their GPA within four years, and that can determine their effort, focuses, and diligence, as stated by Jada Bah, “SAT/ACT Scores Alone Should Not Predict College Success.” A four-hour test should override a four-year grade.

One thing strikes fear into the hearts of most high school students across the United States: the ACT and SAT. Before a high school student can be accepted into most colleges or universities they must first take a test. Whether it is the ACT or SAT, students are forced to sit in a silent room for hours on end while answering hundreds of question about information they are supposed to know. The truth is that our students are suffering from such gruesome tests knowing that it could potential hurt their plans for the future. One teacher compares testing to “checking to make sure a plant is growing properly by repeatedly ripping it out of the ground and examining the roots. When the plant is placed back into the soil, it does not remain the

High School juniors and seniors are frequently asked what they plan to do for their college education. While discussing their future in college, many relevant topics come into the conversation. One may talk about their grades and classes, paying for school, and their test scores. All of these have a very important impact on what a student will do for the next few years of their life. Unfortunately, in our society, test scores are an extremely important factor in the college admissions process. Students are highly encouraged to put forth a serious effort in order to achieve the best possible score. “To this day, most four-year colleges require applicants to take one or more of a number of standardized tests for admission, and

In “Assessing College Readiness: Should We Be Satisfied with ACT or other Threshold Scores?”, educational researcher and psychology teacher Geoffrey Maruyama argues that the ACT and other threshold scores do not sufficiently determine college readiness, then suggests different approaches that can be used to assess college readiness.

The College Board and ACT nonprofit organizations, known for developing and administering the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and American College Testing (ACT) assessment respectively, represents higher education’s widely accepted college readiness determinant for prospective students. These examinations empirically measure a student’s grasp of reading, writing, and mathematics – subjects taught every day in high school classrooms. As a result, they typically constitute a significant proportion of the total entrance requirements for prospective students to relevant institutions of higher learning and denote a serious endeavor unto itself. Students commonly take one or both of these examinations during their junior or senior year of high school as dictated by an institution’s administrative guidelines, although most colleges now allow either test as part of their proprietary admission formulas. And since it turns out there exists subtle differences in the tests themselves, students should review research concluding certain individuals may be better candidates for maximizing performance on one examination versus another.

Since the time when I was little, my parents always encourage me to do the best, work hard, become educated and have a positive life style at a very young age. My earliest memories are that of reading interesting books because I love to read and do my science whiz experiments. However, I also had great interests in playing with Lego pieces and conducting fun chemistry games in my own tiny lab. It was a fun time for me; at least that’s how I recall it now. The only things I had to worry about were: what will I have for lunch today, which chemistry game or Lego pieces do I want to play with and my team winning the sports games I use to compete in.

A critical moment during my undergraduate career is when I came to the realization that it is alright for me not to know what to do with my future. I realized that I was doing the right thing by furthering my education so that once I finally did know what career I wanted to pursue I would then have a degree to help me stand out. Once more, Dr. Reed convincing me to pursue a degree in Communication is one of the best pieces of advice I acquired during my undergraduate career, if not ever. I most likely would not have the confidence I currently have in obtaining a degree that I have no idea what I am going to with once I graduate.

     It seems in the society we live in today, having a college degree is a necessity. Years ago it was the norm for people to just go right into a full time job after high school, if they even finished high school; they did this to support their families. In today’s society a person has a difficult time getting a decent job without a college degree. During an adults working life, bachelor degree graduates will earn about $2.1 million and a high school graduate can expect to earn an average of $1.2 million (Day and Newburger, 2002). This is quite a difference and it puts a college education in

If someone asked me where I am going to be in ten years, this would be my answer. I will have a great, high-paying job, and beautiful wife and family, and a nice sports car parked in front of my lovely house. When I look into the future, I see myself being successful and happy. Even though I always pictured myself this way, I never worried too much about how I would get there. I feel the Suffolk University can lay the groundwork for making these dreams into reality.

Many aspects of students’ lives dwell on how they do on tests, such as the ACT, SAT, or even their basic grades to be accepted in to college. The tests need to be designed to accurately gather information on the knowledge of the student, the ACT only asks you a hand full of questions on basic subject yet take math for instance there are thousands of areas in math to understand and master. Not only are there more than very specific questions asked the tests do not take in to account the different ways people solve problems such as having to write out question. Some students such as myself cannot do mental math and it takes us longer to understand the question we are being asked to evaluate, yet the ACT is a timed test. This creates a bias in the system that students don’t know math were the real problem could either be test anxiety or a lack of time given to properly complete the test. Testing is deeply rooted in students’ lives, making it an ever more pressing matter to fix the issues that concern us

What’s your ACT score? Students are branded with their ACT and SAT scores in society. Today’s education is heavily leaning on standardized tests. An average students takes over one hundred standardized tests in his or her school years. Standardized tests are used to measure and test the knowledge of students in a particular subject in a quick and easy way. These tests are also used to see the extend and skill of students for qualifications of certain colleges and scholarships. Some of these standardized tests include the ACT and the SAT. But do these test fully measure the strength of knowledge these students have practiced for their whole lives? Standardized testing does not allow students to fully and completely show their strength in education and instead results in breaking down students mentally and physically.