by Lauren Vangieri
As the Director of a private college-prep school, I’m often asked, “What gets a student ready for college?” or “How does my child find a good, fulfilling career?” There are really only seven criteria that should be used to determine if a school is doing a good job getting students ready for post-secondary experience.
The first is obvious. The school should offer a curriculum that is both challenging in its factual content and includes assignments that develop college-level or career oriented work. Students are more interested in classes when they can connect the work to college readiness and their future careers. Unfortunately, many high schools fail to adequately prepare students for the quality of work they will have in college. It is heart-breaking to talk to a student who thought their school had prepared them only to find themselves scoring poorly on SAT’s or college placement tests and then can’t go to college of their choice. Also, it is a common complaint among college professors today that students have inadequate oral and written communications skills as well as poor math and science skills. A student who has taken a college-prep track in high school shouldn’t find that they have to remediate before they can take college-level classes. If a high school is offering assignments that match up with college-level work, and students receive instruction in how to meet the demands of a college professor, there won’t be a need to do remedial work to get into college or a professional training school.
Secondly, career and college readiness depends on having the study skills to be successful. Classes in high school need to teach not only content, but how to think critically, take notes, how to study for tests, how to construct a good test essay, and how to attack objective questions. Students who have not had these instructions will not be ready for the college work and testing no matter how much content they’ve mastered.
The third element is an understanding of themselves as a learner. By this, I mean students need to have a clear understanding of their weaknesses and how to use their strengths to overcome them. They need to know when they are at their best in order to schedule their college classes and plan to include study and work. Further, students need to know if there are reasonable accommodations that should be met in order for them to be successful in college. These need to be documented by high schools for colleges to consider the same requests. If a student doesn’t know how they learn and what they need, they can’t get what they need in college from the beginning.
Fourthly, all students need to have a thorough vocational assessment that includes an examination of their belief system. Vocational assessments are not always given to college prep students because it is assumed that they have selected careers. A complete career assessment will help a student learn more about their options and have a more complete college experience with a more full understanding of all possible careers. Getting information about a career that aligns with your beliefs can broaden options very successfully.
Next, students should have a solid relationship with a counselor that truly knows them and their academic potential. All students need an adult outside of their family who can be honest and supportive about realistic post-secondary options. The counselor will also help document reasonable accommodations and write reference letters that show the relationship they have with the student. Such letters help colleges make a good decision about whether a student will do well at their institution.
The last two qualities a college-prep high school needs to foster in a student to ensure career and college success is a student’s own self discipline or self control as well as a true sense of college readiness. Recent surveys among seniors indicate that 40% who are college bound don’t feel ready. The shocking reality is that 60% aren’t ready and will be leaving college before the first semester ends. Ask your school counselor about the number of students that are still in the college of their choice one and two years after graduation. A school with a solid college-prep program wants to know how the graduates are doing and will be tracking this information.
Career readiness is more than just graduating from high school. True readiness has been developed through a career oriented curriculum and college-level work that includes the study and testing skills. It must also be coordinated by a counselor who guides students through career searches coordinated with the appropriate post secondary training and education, applications and reasonable accommodation requests. With this guidance a student learns to be self disciplined and has both the skills and the confidence to say, “I know I’m career and college ready. What has your school done for you?”
