Niegowski 1

Sarah Niegowski
College Comp I Pd. 7
Mrs. Cramer
18 January 2017
College Readiness

If youre a high school student entering into college, then you are probably worried about

how academically unprepared you may feel. Most high school students are not a academically

prepared for college. Students have done increasingly worse on the entrance exams for college.

Teachers are frequently blamed for the unpreparedness of the oncoming students. Research and

understanding of the high school curriculum shows that, surprisingly, teachers are not at fault for

the unpreparedness. The blame should be directed to the state and the students. Students are

unprepared entering into college due to the state administered testing, lack of self motivation,

and deficiency in standing up for teachers.

The States distribute testing that is not accurately testing the preparedness of high school

students. According to an article by High School Reform, students that pass state tests say they're

good enough to graduate from high school but college consider them unprepared to do higher-

level work. This is a major problem with the tests. These students are lead to believe they are

well enough equipped for college but then get to school and have to take remedial college

courses to catch up. This causes students to spend an unnecessary amount of extra money that

doesn't even count towards the graduation credits. There is an all time high for students that are

passing the exit tests to graduate from high school, but a large proportion of the students are

unprepared for college. Mary Fulton shares, "there is a disconnect that existed for a long time in

terms of the measures used for high school graduation and if a student is ready to succeed in a

college-level class. We haven't aligned the curriculum and assessments so that we can be sure
 Niegowski 2

that if a student mastered high school material then they're ready for college." (Ostashevsky,

Luba). This just shows that it is a problem for college readiness. Almost half of students that

were unprepared and needed at least one college remedial course, scored proficient on state-

required graduation tests. If the state required testing were better aligned, it would force high

school students to be more prepared for college. This would increase the readiness of high school

students for college.

Self motivation is a major cause in the unpreparedness we are seeing in high school

students. It is obvious that teachers and the school board is in charge of administering the

curriculum to the students, however, the students also have a responsibility to obtain. At some

point, the learning has to become to responsibility of the learner's. The school board can require

all the learning standards they want, and the teachers can teach all they want, but the students can

only learn if they want to learn. The students have to take their own initiative to succeed in their

school careers. They have to be responsible for studying and motivating themselves to achieve

the correct preparedness to enter college. Lack of self motivation in today's generation is

decreasing the total amount of prepared students coming from high school.

Teachers automatically are assumed to be at fault for the lack of preparedness of high

school students. The fingers are always pointed at the teachers, and it is an understandable

assumption considering the teachers are the ones required to teach them. However, it is not the

teachers fault that they can not properly equip students for college. In 2001, No Child Left

Behind law was passed and went into effect in 2002 and 2003. This law makes it hard for

teachers to achieve their teaching goals. The state is currently only worried about students

passing the state required testing and not correctly preparing the teens for college. For over a

decade, teachers have been pressured to follow this and not teach the students to their full ability.
 Niegowski 3

The teachers' careers depend on the success of students during state tests. The exams are an

issue. They are not testing their readiness for college or even their academic ability; they are

testing in a manner that is giving all kids an equal and fair opportunity to graduate. Therefore,

teachers are forced to strategically teach their students bad writing in order for the students to

actually gain credit. Teacher continuously get blamed for teaching kids to do the bare minimum,

but that's what they're forced to do just so the kids will pass the test. It's forcing kids to lower

their academic level down to match the level of other lower individuals. This is the State's way of

making the tests equal enough to give all teens a fair opportunity to succeed. In a Washington

post article, Kenneth Bernstein states, "I tried to help them understand the deleterious impacts of

policies that were being imposed on our public schools. I blogged, I wrote letters and op-eds for

newspapers, and I spent a great deal of time speaking with lobbying those in a position to

influence policy, up to and including sitting members of US House of Representatives and

Senate and relevant members of their staff." (Bernstein, Kenneth). This shows that the teachers

see that something is wrong with the expectations and requirements that are given to high school

students. They see the issue and they are trying to make a difference and change what needs to be

changed but no one is listening to them. This shows that the teachers can't be blamed because

they are trying. If our society today would support our teachers instead of blaming them, then

maybe the state would understand that there are changes that need to be made. They would listen

to the teachers ideas and help students better prepare themselves for college. After all, teachers

are the ones that work in the class rooms, have taught students, so they know what works with

students and what doesn't. Therefore, we need to support our teachers.

There are various things that we could do to improve the preparedness level of high

school students for college. Throughout the years, students have become significantly
 Niegowski 4

unprepared to enter into college. We should be blaming the state and the students for this lack of

understanding and drive. The state misunderstands what need to be done, students are lacking the

self motivation, and we are not standing behind our teachers when important. We need to take

action to better prepare our students so they can advance to college without struggle.
 Niegowski 5

Work Cited

Bernstein, Kenneth "A Warning to College Profs from a High School Teacher" The Washington

Post (2013)

Ostashevsky, Luba "Many Who Pass State High School Graduation Tests Show up to College

Unprepared" High School Reform Web. (2016)