Education policy makers from across the country are in Denver this week as part of the National Forum on Education Policy, hosted by the Denver-based Education Commission of the States. This year’s program focuses on three core areas: 1) boosting college completion, 2) aligning education and workforce needs, and 3) increasing the number of proficient readers after grade 3. I am, of course, most interested in the first two areas.
Glancing over the week’s agenda (http://www.ecs.org/html/meetingsEvents/NF2011/ECS-NF2011-program.pdf), there are some interesting topics, such as committing to college completion, ensuring a return on the college investment, bridging the gap between high school preparation and college readiness, and investigating why kids are not well prepared for college and the workforce despite high school reforms.
Bingo! Those last two are exactly why I wrote Toward College Success: Is Your Teenager Ready, Willing, and Able? And while it is great that these education policy makers will have the opportunity to discuss the importance of preparing high school students for success in college and the workforce, we all know that we cannot wait on policy changes. First of all, it takes too long to work out a policy and put it into place, and second, there is no guarantee that it will make a difference. That is why it is so important for parents to be involved in preparing their students for future success from the beginning of high school or earlier.
Parents need to be proactive in teaching their teenagers responsibility, time and priority management, conflict resolution, budgeting, and a host of other skills. The skills I discuss in Toward College Success are the skills that will give our young people the best chance to succeed in college and the workplace. Don’t wait on these policy makers in Denver to make changes—we parents have the most influence on the success of our children.
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