What To Do When a High Schooler Is Not Ready For College
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Sometimes, I share photos of my students at prom, high school graduation, or college graduation with my friends.
"Look at my babies," I exclaim, celebrating their milestones.
"Jennifer," says my friend. "This is a grown person, not a baby."
Whatever. She's never tried to calm down a crying teenager afraid of a low test score or college rejection or letting others down.
One of the best aspects of my job is that I'm a part of a family's village, shepherding teenagers to life after high school. Taking the SAT or ACT is one of those rites of passage many students will experience before they leave the village. While many schools are test-optional, pay attention to what these exams signal: college readiness.
The Noise
Yes, there is much noise about the SAT and ACT. The exams are racist. (American education is systemically racist because it is predominantly based on housing policy and housing policy in America is...read "The Color of Law" by Richard Rothstein.) The exams are a reflection of parents' income and assets. The exams are a reflection of parents' educational attainment. The exams are unfair to students who struggle with test anxiety and learning differences. The exams are not indicators of a student's success in college; a student's grades are what really count. (I know a student with A's in 11th grade English who can't understand middle-school level texts.) In short, these exams don't measure anything about a student.
Yet, I wonder: how much of this noise comes from people like me who prepare students for exams?
It has been joyous to escort students to higher SAT and ACT scores. Students of color. White students. Students in grant programs who are from poor families. Students from affluent families. Students who will be the first in their family to attend college. Students whose grandparents graduated college. Students who are anxious. Students with dyslexia. Students with ADHD.
The Signal
The SAT and ACT College Readiness Benchmarks are the minimum scores that determine a student's likelihood of passing first-year college courses.
ACT College Readiness Benchmarks
- English: 18 (out of 36)
- Math: 22 (out of 36)
- Reading: 22 (out of 36)
- Science: 23 (out of 36)
SAT College Readiness Benchmarks
- Evidence-based Reading and Writing: 480 (out of 800)
- Math: 530 (out of 800)
It is a hurting thing to watch a high school junior or senior struggle to comprehend. Show me an 11th- or 12-grader who doesn't meet these benchmarks in ACT Reading and English and SAT Evidence-based Reading and Writing, and I will show you a student who is not prepared to tackle the demanding reading and writing of higher education.
While it is easy to blame the poor test scores on the noise, do not ignore the signal.
If your students do not meet the college readiness benchmarks, encourage them to attend colleges that will help them hold on until they catch up. A graduate's name -- and not the college's name -- will be the most important name on the degree. Parents get so caught up in the prestige of the institution and impressing folks on social media (the Land of Make-Believe) that they forget to ask, "Can my child be successful here?" If their test scores do not meet college readiness benchmarks, they will need significant academic support to succeed.
Consider how Xavier University, the University of Central Arkansas, and the University of Texas at Austin boost their struggling students.
Xavier University
"...The small number of black students entering medical school was not a reflection of their capabilities. It was a reflection of the shoddy schooling so many of them received before they ever arrived at the college gate. If Xavier was going [to] build a program to turn large numbers of its students into doctors, Francis knew the college was going to have to do more than just teach science. It was going to have to figure out how to overcome years of educational gaps."
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