Infographic: What Is College Readiness?

Higher Ed & Post Sec, Learning / by

The demands of colleges and careers have changed over the last several years. There’s an increase need of technological skills that may include coding, cyber security, IT, and design. In addition, fluency in ready, writing, and critical thinking is as important as ever. College admissions and employers are saying that the typical student today is coming into college and the workforce with deficits in their knowledge and skills. So, what does it mean to be ready for college today?

The infographic below says that at least 40 percent of college students today take at least one remedial course. What’s more, some of the skills that are required to enter college include things like self motivation, study skills, and time management — all difficult to teach out of a textbook. Our current efforts to ready students for their futures is falling short. How can we better prepare students for college?

Redefining College Readiness
Compiled by: TheBestColleges.org

2 Comments

Beth Fine /

So happy to find you. Having taught developmental English, I know the heartaches of trying to repair lost readiness in language arts skill and sadly remember the starting test grade average of 3.5 that we had to raise to 9th grade in the first semester and up to 12th grade in the second. Many students failed these pre-college courses the first time…not a happy boost to their self-esteem. My educational fiction series called The Picaresque of I’magine Purple is a college-prep offering for ages 10-20 that offers history/geography mysteries but reaches out to readers on different levels: middle school kids wanting adventure books; ESL students learning cliches/idioms; PSAT-takers needing to improve vocabs; and adults brushing up on skills before applying for or returning to college. The Picaresque has adventures with advantages found in an extensive Appendices that can be ignored or accessed by the readers. They have a choice: Have Fun… Get Smarter (TM) is our motto.

Imasode I “The Last Passenger Train Across Newfoundland” will be out in print before the end of 2012 and Imasode II “The Scary Ferry to Nova Scotia” will follow its heels in early 2013. Sixteen Imasodes are planned, 10 of which are ready..

I invite you to peruse my hodge-podge of sites. Needless to say, I’m in the process of changing web designers but please check out imaginepurple.com and/or imaginepurple.net. Both have information I think may be helpful in your thrust of Getting Smarter.
Regards,
Beth Fine

Nic Voge /

How about asking the other “college readiness” question: Are colleges ready for the students they admit?

Where do the institutional deficiencies lie? How can they get ready?