Defining College Ready

As a teacher it is my job to shape my students in a way that makes them, “college ready” when they leave my classroom.

There are a lot of muddy waters when you first start teaching, how do you discipline? How long should I make my assessments? When should I call a parent? How do I define my role in a student’s life? These are all things that require trial-and-error.  A lot of “rules” about teaching change depending on who the student is.

The one phrase that I have struggled with the most, since August of 2012 is “college ready.”

When I applied to Teach for America, I knew my job would be hard. I knew that my students would be behind, and I knew that I was going to have to work my tail off. I liked the challenge.

I really wanted to fight for education reform, and I thought the best way to learn what needs to be done was to get on your hands and knees in the classroom. I knew that education was not equal across the United States, I had experienced it to an extent first hand in elementary school. At first, college ready meant academically ready. It meant do you have the GPA? Do you have the ACT score?

After my time in the classroom I have realized that the definition of college ready has to be broadened. Right now, I have students who get the GPA, and with work they are going to get the ACT score necessary to gain admission and scholarships. What breaks my heart is that when they get to college, they may not be ready. This education is simply not preparing kids for the future beyond academics.

College ready needs to include note-taking skills. Most teachers that I know in this area, give their kids guided notes. The students follow along, fill in the blanks, and take abbreviated notes but the structure of the notes is pre-created by the teacher. In college not only are you solely responsible for taking notes, you do it outside of class—on your own. Class is used to process the information, not necessarily learn it.

College ready needs to include organization. No college professor is going to give you a list of supplies, and check your binder weekly. If you show up without a pencil and paper, your professor will not take the time to give you the supplies.  It is your job to be prepared.

College ready needs to include communication skills. How do I talk to an admission counselor? What is the proper attire to communicate my goals to those I am presenting myself to? How do I speak with a professor?

College ready needs to include conflict management skills. So many times, I see students acting out of rage, anger, or sadness. They have not seen proper conflict management modeled. In college, many of these acts will not be tolerated inside or outside the classroom. Students need to learn proper ways to talk about and resolve conflict.

Finally, the biggest gap I see is in the language about college. I have students who are college ready in the ways listed above. Yet, they are attempting to fill out their own FAFSA, and are completely lost. They don’t understand what the difference between a scholarship, grant, and loan are. The language that has been created around college in a way builds a wall between a low-income or first-generation student and their goals.

I do not believe schools are doing a very good job of creating students who are college ready in low-income areas. They push the test, as an Algebra II teacher our End-of-Course test is extremely important for my school. Funding and reputations depend on this test. But this focus on the test makes it difficult to focus on things that will truly change the life trajectory of students. I really fought giving my students guided notes for the first semester—and finally I gave in, it was just taking too much instructional time in the classroom. I remember telling an administrator at the school how upset I was about making the transition, and her response was “it’s about time.” We have counselors at the school and a graduation coach, but a lot of the complexities of college like navigating finances and FAFSA are left to the individual and their family—when these are the very things they need help with most.

I love my students, and I love watching them learn—but our education system needs to learn that this system is about more than test scores—its about character development and creating a bridge to students goals. When college is an option, and a student cannot navigate through the complex obstacles after admission, we are still failing America’s youth.

If you want to read more this article does an excellent job highlighting some of the same issues:  http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/02/the-arcane-rules-that-keep-low-income-kids-out-of-college/273440/