College Knowledge: How to Get Students Ready to Succeed

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College Knowledge How to Get Students Ready to
Succeed

• David T. Conley, Ph.D.
• CEO, Educational Policy Improvement Center
• Professor, University of Oregon
• Director, Center for Educational Policy Research
• Presented at
• The Importance of College Readiness in Todays
  Economic Environment
• What Policymakers Need to Know
• Sacramento, CA, January 28, 2009

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Key Characteristics of US College Prep System

• Dependent on access to
• designated courses (college prep curriculum)
• privileged knowledge (how the system actually
  works)
• specialized supports (help with application and
  financial aid process)
• Also dependent on
• significant student self-reliance, motivation,
  perseverance
• family and community support
• ability to make a successful transition to a new
  culture the environment of postsecondary
  education with new roles, rules, and expectations
• In short, we do not make it easy for students to
  get ready for college

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High School Diploma or College Readiness?

• State K-12 education policy has tended to focus
  on increasing the high school graduation rate as
  one significant measure of closing the
  achievement gap
• Unfortunately, a high school diploma does not
  prepare its recipients for any specific future
• Jobs requiring a high school diploma do not
  require the skills we would like to believe a
  high school graduate should have
• In the current economic environment, a high
  school diploma as a terminal degree presents a
  false sense of hope and accomplishment to its
  recipients
• State education policy should focus on preparing
  all students for readiness to learn beyond high
  school
• This is a higher bar than todays high school
  diploma

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Will Things Ever Again Be the Way They Were?

• Up until the '70s, you could come to the city
  without education, without speaking English, and
  get a job in the auto industry and instantly be
  in the middle class, economically speaking, said
  Mike Stewart, director of Wayne State's Walter P.
  Reuther Library and an expert on the auto
  industry. A lot of folks in the city depended on
  these jobs for generations they don't exist
  anymore, he said. A lot of Detroiters are
  unprepared, educationally and technologically, to
  cope.

DAVID CRARY and COREY WILLIAMS, Associated Press
Writers, December 2008
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Why Is It Important for More Students to Be
College and Career Ready?

• Two-thirds of high school grads go directly to
  college, three-quarters within five years of
  graduation
• The numbers are forecast to continue to increase
• Large numbers end up in remedial courses or fail
  to persist beyond the first year
• From 20 to 80, depending on the institution
  type, end up in remediation
• First-generation college attendees comprise a
  disproportionate number of remedial placements
  and non-persisters
• The proportion of first-generation college
  attendees will continue to increase as far into
  the future as we can project
• These students need a different kind of college
  preparation
• They need access to privileged knowledge
• They need more confidence that they are ready

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A New Definition of College-Ready

• The level of preparation a student needs in order
  to enroll and succeedwithout remediationin
  credit-bearing general education courses that
  meet requirements for a baccalaureate degree
• Succeed is defined as completing entry-level
  courses at a level of understanding and
  proficiency sufficient to
• pass a subsequent course in the subject area
• apply course knowledge to another subject area
• This definition presents high schools with a
  clear target for preparation expectations
  students will encounter in first-year college
  courses, including students pursuing technical
  certificates

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Four Key Dimensions of College Readiness

• Key Cognitive Strategies
• Analytic reasoning, problem solving,
  inquisitiveness, precision, interpretation,
  evaluating claims
• Key Content Knowledge
• Writing skills, algebraic concepts, key
  foundational content and big ideas from core
  subjects
• Academic Behaviors (self-management)
• Persistence, time management, study group use,
  awareness of performance
• Contextual Skills and Awareness (college
  knowledge)
• Admissions requirements, cost of college, purpose
  of college, types of colleges, college culture,
  relations with professors

Download at www.epiconline.org
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The Four Key Dimensions of College Readiness
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Highlights of EPIC Research on College Readiness

• Major recent studies on college readiness
  conducted by the Educational Policy Improvement
  Center (EPIC)
• College Board College Curriculum Studies
• Best practices entry-level college courses in 7
  subject areas per year
• AP Course Audit
• Analysis of course syllabi from all AP courses
  (150,000 courses)
• Gates-funded study of 38 high schools
• These schools outperformed expectations for
  preparing students for college
• Texas Course Validation Study
• 930 entry-level courses from 98 institutions

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Gates Study Schools
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Example Performances of College-ready Students

• Write a 3-5 page research paper that is
  structured around a cogent, coherent line of
  reasoning
• Read with understanding a range of non-fiction
  publications, textbooks, and technical materials
• Produce written products that are consistently
  free of grammatical and spelling errors and that
  reflect proper writing conventions
• Employ fundamentals of algebra fluently to solve
  multi-step and non-routine problems
• Collect and analyze data precisely and accurately
• Interpret conflicting explanations of an event or
  phenomenon
• Evaluate the credibility of sources

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Example Performances of College-ready Students

• Punctually attend a study group outside of class
• Create and maintain a personal schedule that
  includes a to-do list with prioritized tasks and
  appointments
• Complete successfully a problem or assignment
  that requires about two weeks of independent work
  and extensive research
• Utilize key technological tools including
  appropriate online and desktop applications
• Locate websites containing information on
  colleges, the admissions process, and financial
  aid
• Present an accurate self-assessment of readiness
  for college

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Lessons Learned from This Research

• Few high school students are fully ready in all
  four dimensions of college readiness
• Readiness requires the development of strategies
  that must be practiced and honed throughout high
  school
• Students should be challenged cognitively even if
  they are still developing their literacy and
  language skills
• Student support programs are necessary but are
  not sufficient because they deal with students
  after the fact
• High schools and colleges need to communicate
  directly to develop more local programs that
  align and aid student transitions
• States need to provide a policy framework that
  ensures greater alignment takes place
• High schools and colleges can take many small
  steps while states are working on larger policy
  frameworks

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Key Principles of College Readiness

• Principle 1 Create and maintain a college-going
  culture in the school
• Principle 2 Create a core academic program that
  is aligned with and leads to college readiness by
  the end of 12th grade
• Principle 3 Teach key self-management skills,
  require students to use them, and provide
  students with feedback on how well they are
  developing these skills
• Principle 4 Make college real by preparing
  students for the complexity of applying to
  college and enrolling in an entry-level course
• Principle 5 Create assignments and grading
  policies in high school that more closely
  approximate college expectations as students
  progress
• Principle 6 Make the senior year meaningful and
  challenging
• Principle 7 Build partnerships with and
  connections to postsecondary programs and
  institutions

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Ongoing EPIC Efforts to Improve Readiness

• Texas
• College readiness standards
• Validation of college readiness standards against
  content of entry-level courses
• Reference courses that specify content and
  expectations of entry-level college courses
• Analysis of Career/Technical Education courses in
  relation to college readiness standards
• Demonstration high schools that show how to make
  more students ready for college
• Regional meetings to connect high school and
  college faculty and administrators to plan for
  better alignment
• Teacher education redesign so that the next
  generation of teachers prepares more students to
  be fully college-ready

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Ongoing EPIC Efforts to Improve Readiness

• College Board
• AP Course Audit to ensure that all AP courses
  align with Curricular Requirements for the
  subject
• College Curriculum Study to identify best
  practices entry-level college courses to inform
  redesign of AP courses
• College Readiness Schools that undertake
  wholesale changes to align their program of study
  with college readiness
• Gates/Carnegie Foundations
• College Ready Performance Assessment System
• College Ready School Diagnostic
• Other States
• South Carolina Paired courses between high
  school and college
• Massachusetts Regional meetings with high
  schools and colleges
• Maine Analysis of all high school courses
  against state standards

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Unique Needs of First-Generation College Attendees

• These students need more scaffolding and support
  for their transition to college
• They are not as prepared to make choices in high
  school and upon entry to college that help them
  succeed
• They may not have been fully challenged in high
  school and are therefore less aware of their full
  capabilities and their current strengths and
  areas in need of improvement
• They are less confident and therefore more
  vulnerable to self-perception that they do not
  belong in college
• They need clear, structured pathways and supports
  that help them to succeed
• Progress monitoring, tutoring tied to courses,
  skill labs in key academic areas, carefully
  designed induction courses, help developing study
  skills and strategies, mentors and peer supports

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Unique Needs of English Language Learners

• This is a complex category that includes a wide
  range of proficiency levels and types of language
  mastery
• No one set of strategies works for all such
  students
• In general, students whose reading fluency is
  emerging need very focused instruction on
  academic English how to read and study
  textbooks, key vocabulary how to access
  resources and supports
• ELL instruction often focuses on general language
  development rather than these types of skills
• Many native English speakers need help in these
  areas as well
• There are ways to reduce the language load in a
  lesson and still convey cognitively complex
  material
• Transition courses can emphasize key cognitive
  strategy development in tandem with English
  language skill acquisition

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The Bottom Line

• College readiness is complex and
  multi-dimensional
• This makes it more difficult for groups without
  access to privileged knowledge to compete equally
  and equitably
• High schools with large proportions of students
  who will be first in their family to attend
  college have a particularly strong obligation to
  provide access to privileged knowledge through a
  systematic, structured program of preparation
• States can provide a better policy framework that
  makes the transition from high school to college
  more transparent and simpler
• High schools can align their programs better with
  colleges, beginning with local postsecondary
  institutions
• More high school students can benefit from being
  offered access to college-like experiences (dual
  enrollment, AP, campus visitations, college
  mentors) to make college more real to them