Are High School Graduates Ready For College?
Graduates believe they are college ready. Evidence suggests many are not.
High school graduation season confronts us with a grim reality. Graduates generally have a collective illusion about their college readiness. Almost nine out of 10 2023 seniors (86%)—the class that started high school in the first year of the pandemic—report ?being “very” or “mostly” ready for college, according to American College Testing (ACT) research.
In reality, college readiness has declined for years, according to testing information from the two major standardized tests used for college admissions, the?ACT ?and?SAT . For example, the?ACT ?reports that only one in five 2023 ACT test-taking graduates (21%) is ready to succeed in core college introductory classes. Their college readiness scores dropped for all four core subjects—reading, English, math, and science—with the composite score at a 32-year?low .
Tragically, young people are told too often that the college pathway is the best way to prepare for a profitable career and adult success—regardless of whether they are ready for college. Thus, many borrow money to attend college but never complete a degree.
In fact , four out of 10 undergraduates leave college without a degree. That ratio in the 2021-2022 academic year amounts to 40.4 million who attended college—and gone into debt—but earned no degree or other credential, according to the?National Student Clearinghouse Research Center .
The some college, no credential student number is rising, up from 39 million the previous year. It?represents ?17.5% of U.S. residents 18 years of age or older, with racial and ethnic minorities predominating. And given the continuing declines in college readiness as measured by standardized test scores, it will only continue to worsen.
These two inconvenient facts—the ill-preparedness of many high school students and the increasing number of college dropouts—signal bad news for young people seeking opportunity. It is time to recognize that there are alternative and better ways to prepare young people for adult success, including apprenticeships and apprenticeship degrees.
Declining College Readiness
Public school educators agree that high schools are doing a mixed job, at best, of preparing students for college. For example, about half (47%) of high schools rate themselves as doing a very good or excellent job of preparing students for college,?according ?to the National Center for Education Statistics. (NCES). That number drops to 30% for schools in high poverty neighborhoods and schools with fewer than 300 students.
There is evidence to support their point of view. Increasingly, when young people get to college, they confront an unexpected reality. They are required to take remedial courses. Enrollment in these?developmental education programs , directed to students unprepared for college-level coursework, is skyrocketing.
In?2019-2020 , over six out of 10 (65.4%) first-year college undergraduates took a remedial course in math, while half (52.1%) took remedial courses in reading or writing, according to the most recent NCES data. Compare that to?2015-2016 , when 14% took a remedial course in math and 9% took courses in reading or writing.
High school grade inflation is one factor concealing—and probably contributing to—declining student readiness for college. An ACT?analysis ?of grades given by teachers to high school students who took the ACT between 2010 and 2022 found that GPA increased every year in core subjects—even as standardized test scores for students were either stagnant or fell.
Grade inflation was especially acute for Black students and students from low and moderate family incomes. “While the findings are neither surprising nor controversial, they do indicate a persistent, systemic problem,” concludes the ACT report. Students enter college unprepared, partly because they have not received frank assessments of where they stand academically.
An NCES?study ?of the?high school transcripts ?of 2019 seniors compared to those of 2009 seniors produced similar findings in math. The typical 2019 graduate had higher average grades in math, though math test scores fell four to five points over that 10 year period on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, the Nation’s Report Card, depending upon the math curriculum the student took.
“We [continue] to see a rise in the number of seniors leaving high school without meeting any of the college readiness benchmarks, even as student GPAs continue to rise and students report that they feel prepared to be successful in college. The hard truth is that we are not doing enough to ensure that graduates are truly ready for postsecondary success in college and career,” says Janet Godwin, CEO of the ACT, in an ACT?press release .
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What To Do
There is no substitute for self-knowledge. If a student is not adequately prepared for college, educators must help them understand that fact and act to correct it. Good policy recommendations and practical advice abound on ways to better prepare high school students academically for college. For example,?states ?can reform remedial education policy,?including ?testing practices, instructional approaches, and student support services.
They can also continue to expand K-12 programs that create connections for high school students with colleges.?Dual enrollment ?programs , for instance, allow high school students to take college level courses for both high school and college credit. Dual enrollment has a positive impact on several key outcomes, including high school graduation rates, college success, and college completion rates, according to?research ?by the What Works Clearinghouse of the federal Institute for Education Sciences.
Additionally, states and school districts can build on their?current efforts ?to overcome pandemic student learning loss—such as expanding programs for teachers to use high-quality?instructional material ?and providing more academic support for students through high-dosage?student tutoring . Finally, there are a host of sensible,?hands-on ?actions ?that parents and schools can start doing with high school students today.
College preparedness is not “just going to happen.” It has to be intentionally pursued by parents and educators.
Thinking Outside The College Degree Box
There are also new ways to pursue pathways to employment and adult success other than the traditional high-school-to-college-degree direct pathway. For example, many?Americans —including?young people —support ?apprenticeships that combine paid, on-the-job learning with classroom instruction and award industry-recognized credentials.
These apprenticeships need not conflict with the traditional pursuit of a post-secondary degree. For example, a growing effort is underway to create apprenticeship degrees. The nonprofit?National Center for the Apprenticeship Degree ?provides assistance to employers, educational institutions, and other organizations interested in creating an apprenticeship degree based on?four tenets :
·??????? The job comes first and is entry-level, frontline work.
·??????? The workplace is the learning place, with half of the academic credit for a degree coming from on-the-job training and the other half from classroom instruction linked to the job.
·??????? The job leads to a degree granted by an accredited two-year or four-year college.
·??????? The learner is paid while they learn, gain experience, build a resume, and pursue a debt-free degree.
Another model is the Chicago Apprenticeship Network, which helps businesses establish apprenticeship programs. This public-private partnership?began ?in 2017 with three founding companies. It now has more than 110 companies representing multiple industries.
Examples ?of programs include the Zurich Apprenticeship Program with Harper College, which is focused on claims and underwriting, and Walgreen’s Apprenticeship Program with City Colleges of Chicago, which is focused on retail management careers. Other education?partners ?include ?College Lake County, General Assembly, and Arupe College of Loyola University.
Today, high school graduates are typically mistaken about their readiness to do college-level work. This collective illusion must be dispelled, and new systems of college preparation and support must be encouraged.
These new ways of thinking about the transition from high school to work also involve pathways other than the direct high school to college model. Earn-and-learn pathways like apprenticeships offer a promising approach for high school graduates and many others searching for ways to achieve adult success.
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