College Readiness Reserach

I recently attended the Colorado School Counselors Association’s annual conference and met a man from College Board who was leading a break-out session on “College Eligible vs. College Ready.” That topic sounded strongly relevant to the issues Toward College Success highlights, so I introduced myself and told him about my book. He asked me if I knew of David Conley and his research. I did not at the time, but I do now.

Dr. David Conley is Professor of Educational Policy and Leadership in the College of Education at the University of Oregon, founder and director of the Center for Educational Policy Research, and founder and chief executive officer of the Educational Policy Improvement Center, a non-profit educational research organization. Dr. Conley specializes in researching college readiness and has written a number of publications on that topic. I recently read one of those publications: “Redefining College Readiness,” published in 2007. I was amazed at how Dr. Conley’s research supports so many of the ideas and concepts presented in Toward College Success: Is Your Teenager, Ready, Willing, and Able?

Here are just a few:

“Because colleges judge students based on the sum total of their performance in high school, it is critical that students begin their journey toward college readiness before they arrive in high school.” In other words, students and parents should be considering it during middle school.

“…students need to be making careful decisions as they plan their very first high school course schedule as incoming ninth graders. A wrong decision at this point can have ramifications that reverberate throughout high school and beyond.”

“…the term college readiness continues to be defined primarily in terms of high school courses taken and grades received, combined with scores on national tests. Recent research has shed light on several other key components of college success.” Dr. Conley then goes on to list them, including analysis, interpretation, problem solving, reasoning, study skills, time management, persistence, how to manage financial aid issues, how to adjust to college, and many others.

“Several studies of college faculty members nationwide expressed near universal agreement that most students arrive unprepared for the intellectual demands and expectations of postsecondary education.”

There is much more in this publication and you can read it at https://epiconline.org/publications/college_readiness. Dr. Conley’s research expresses the critical importance of being college ready, and Toward College Success is the place to get started.