Higher Education's Role in Defining College Readiness

Unfortunately, it is not unusual to find students who graduate from high school sitting in remedial courses at the postsecondary education level just months after receiving a diploma. Rhetorically, we ask ourselves, how did this happen and what can be done to fix this problem?

While the solution is straightforward, it can get mired in political battles, turf wars, and fear of change. The solution is this: students, families, and high schools need college readiness to be clearly defined as learning objectives at the course-level. In no two disciplines is this more important than the core subjects of English language arts and mathematics. However, it is necessary across all academic fields and subjects.

With an emerging global economy and a technologically-smart workplace, there is no longer a distinction between academic and career skills. Nearly every occupation, job and career transcends pure academia and career skill sets. Therefore, students need to understand better what is required of them if they choose postsecondary studies or a career immediately following high school graduation. And, most importantly, they need the knowledge and skills to succeed in either.

Up until recently, standards for K-12 were not developed with postsecondary education or career readiness in mind. Postsecondary education faculty and employers nationwide were not instrumental players in defining course and career standards. However, that tide has turned. More and more states have started to work collaboratively with leaders in K-12 and postsecondary education, businesses, communities, and policymakers to align high school graduation standards with expectations for success in entry-level college coursework and quality jobs.

Along with the shifting demographic of the college-bound population, higher education leaders know that almost 20 percent of students apply to seven or more colleges and one in five students attend college out-of-state. These two trends highlight the importance for institutions of higher education to come together and define at the state-level minimum course knowledge and skills for enrollment and successful completion of credit-bearing courses. A good starting place for developing this agreement is by reviewing the college and career-ready standards such as those developed by the American Diploma Project, ACT, and the College Board.

It is critical to remember that the effort to define learning objectives calls for consistency in the core and does not necessitate conformity. There is, and should be, room for different expectations according to the mission of the institution and the requirements of the degree program.

Postsecondary education leaders, admissions officers, and faculty can take these first, important steps to define college readiness:

•  Create a deliberate and ongoing communications effort to articulate what it means to be successful in higher education;

•  Align high school exit standards with college entrance standards;

•  Advocate for the college-preparatory curriculum to be the default curriculum for all high school students; and

•  Assist in aligning high school standards to courses and assessing student performance. 

As you get started, take a look at ways in which higher educators in several states have taken a lead in defining expectations:  how faculty defined threshold skills needed for general education in  Virginia, faculty (and employer) survey results on skills needed for success in Hawaii; and how faculty helped define placement standards in Kentucky.