Summary: The Case For A Comprehensive Model Of College Readiness

Did you know that the education performance is so bad in the U.S.A that it can take over a decade to recover if we start now? (“The Higher Education Academic Readiness of Students in the United States”) The problem is that the U.S.A society isn’t improving nearly as fast as countries like Japan, China, or even Taiwan. If the United States’ education status doesn’t improve eventually nobody will know how to do anything. Higher education is extremely critical for our society. College education is essential to better inventions and becoming a world leader in education. College is important because our society will become more advanced, students will have a better future, and people will be smarter and have the upperhand on others.

Geoffrey Maruyama begins his article by discussing the importance of a college education and the importance of helping students prepare for college by assessing their college readiness. While acknowledging that the ACT does predict some college readiness the author discusses the problems that arise with just using threshold scores to determine college readiness. The author uses reputable research to support his claim that socioeconomic status, demographics (such as gender), family social class, racial background, and especially grades are important predictors of college readiness. Maruyama argues that a new college-readiness definition is needed and then suggests seven

Before applying to college, there is this understanding for all applicants that regardless of where you go and what you major in, the next four years of your life will remarkably change you. Constantly, reminded that the four years spent in high school won’t compare to the experiences found in college, you prepare yourself for that transition. From the classes to the teachers, college in general has a different feel and rhythm. The beauty of college is that it allows for choice. Each student has the power to decide how much they want to invest in their education. College does not contain the constraints of mandatory attendance or study hours required to excel. This is what makes college unique and transformative. It gives you the power to decide

College is a new and exciting experience for incoming freshmen; it is a place that many have never even stayed the night. The only time many have been at campus is when visiting the grounds. When I come to college I am not there to simply relax or goof off. College is a tool that I can use to feather my education, to make connections and attain a job in my

Some High School graduates may be unprepared for a college curriculum. This could be due to the fact that a high school education only focuses on the basics of academia. One can assume that this is why high school graduates are underprepared for the rigorous academic assignments they will have as a freshmen in college. This social issue may impact the high school graduates college experiences in a negative way. Being underprepared for college classes may lead to students dropping out of college, failing their classes, and emotional or psychological distress.

As I attempt to answer this question about local, state, and federal agencies and their effect on my college readiness I believe I need to describe the era and history that this occurred in. The United States was just emerging from the 1960s. The federal government was dealing with the controversy over the Vietnam War, the U.S. draft lottery, the Women’s Liberation Movement, the Civil Right Movement, and the Informal Education Movement which all had an effect on society and education. Elementary school changed their reading program from phonic to sight reading. New schools without wall were being built for a brief time due to the Informal Education Movement. Schools were renamed from junior high school to middle school. High schools were more focused on two different paths for students.

Often, college students view college as a means rather than an end. Thoreau writes that people “should not play life, or study it merely… but earnestly love it from beginning to end.” College is an enabling part of life but should also

Many students are curises about how can they doing well in. Students are getting exciting and nervous when they first attending in a new learning environment and extremely different than the high school. Based on my own experiences, college students have to be independent and become a hard worker in order to success in the college.

There are increasing numbers of students leaving high school that are under-prepared for the next step in their life, college. Several have no idea what to expect when they leave home and enter college. A student should be equipped for college, for several it will rest on their parents, school counselor, teachers, friends, and research. It appears at this time it is not happening to a large number of students. There are various problems that contribute to the students being under-prepared for college.

Another research undertaken by Mattern et al (2013) dealt with the relationship between Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) College Readiness Benchmark (CRB) with the result of college completion in either four or six years. The main objective of the research study was to identify whether students who were initially assessed to be college-ready, as supported by the SAT College Readiness Benchmark, had a long-term academic success as attested by their graduation from college. Further reviews were conducted to examine how the students performed in their initial college year; nevertheless, data were not obtainable to scrutinize whether they had long term success represented by graduating from college with a bachelor’s degree. With the consecutive

The LAUSD is the second largest in the nation with more than 640,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, covering over 900 schools, and 187 public charter schools. The LAUSD is committed to equity and access to excellent education and schools for all of its 919,930 students. To realize its mission, the LAUSD identified five strategies including the following: (1) Transform teaching and learning so that it can prepare all youth to graduate college and become workforce ready (2) Ensure there is an effective employee at every level of the organization focused on improving student outcomes (3) Provide a portfolio of high quality schools for youth, families, and communities (4) Ensure a safe, caring, and nurturing environment for all youth (5) Operate on an effective, efficient, and transparent organization in order to assure the public trust (‘District Strategies’, 2015). The LAUSD operates based on the following core beliefs: start with students; families are our partners; success is in the classroom; diversity is our strength; and effective teaching, leadership, and accountability are the keys to our success (‘LAUSD Core Beliefs’, 2015).

When a High school student’s leave College headed away from his or her small town homes they often assume college is a vastly scary place with thousands of people, terrifyingly complex finals and days where you just wanted to give up and roll over. When comparing and contrasting often he or she thinks they will be overwhelmed with large lecture rooms having over 150 people they will never meet and get to know, they believe they will be stuck with cafeteria food, and have to deal with some of the same rule as they had in high school. Yet a student is sadly mistaken more than half the time, a small community college like Jones County College is just like a normal High school.

Conley (2007, 2008) defined college-readiness as students successfully making the transition from high school to the college environment equipped to manage the demands of college without remediation. To meet the needs of the global economy a vast range of skills are needed (Brand et al., 2013). Conley (2007, 2008) described four key components upon which college-readiness is built: (a) key cognitive knowledge, (b) key content knowledge, (c) academic behaviors, and (d) contextual skills and knowledge. Cognitive knowledge consists of students having the capability to analyze, interpret, and problem solve. With respect to content knowledge, students must have key content knowledge to be considered college-ready (Conley, 2007, 2008). Academic behaviors are noncognitive behaviors such as time management skills and study skills that require students to have self-control in a college environment (Conley, 2007, 2008). For students with disabilities, focusing on the noncognitive aspects of college-readiness is critical (Brand et al., 2013). Lastly, for students to be college-ready and successful, they need contextual skills and knowledge to apply and acculturate in the unknown world of college (Conley, 2007, 2008). However, as noted in Barnes and Slate (2011), in the State of Texas, college-readiness indicators were specific to the following standardized assessments: (a) Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, (b) SAT, and (c)

At some point, someone has said that high school will be the best four years of their lives and college gets even better. So with that idea in people’s heads, they come up with their ideal image of the college. They start planning the perfect scenario of what college they will go to and what their roommate will be like. They often try to compare an unrealistic image and turn it into a realistic image, but they are unlike in many ways. Once students step onto the college campus, they will soon face what it is actually like to be in college.When people understand that college is not the perfect movie scene, then they will take advantage of expanding and furthering their education seriously. Going to college is a whole different experience and there is a lot more to it such as the rigorous classes and overwhelming school work, being more independent, and forming new bonds with others.

Throughout my lifetime I have listened to people reflect back on their college experiences and explain how college is supposed to be “the best experience of your life.” The summer after my senior year I use to try and imagine what my first semester was going to be like based on what I had heard people talk about in the past. After my first semester at NC State I realized that I couldn’t fully understand what college was like until I experienced it for myself. My first couple of weeks at Ohio State was rough and really tested my strength (mental and physical). I faced challenges and obstacles that I had never heard about in those past college experience conversations. All of a sudden there was no one to get me out of