Ramp-Up to Readiness

Governor’s Workforce Development CouncilFebruary 12, 2009

Kent Pekel, College Readiness Consortium

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College Readiness Rates in MN

Source: Minnesota Office of Higher Education, Measuring Up 2008

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The Problem Isn’t Aspirations

Source: Education Week

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The Problem Is…

“The postsecondary completion problem is less a result of insufficient ambitions to go on to college and more one of a lack of articulated standards and clear signals concerning adequate academic preparation, and limited knowledge of what it takes to enroll and finish.”

-- Michael Kirst and Kathy Reeves BraccoFrom High School to College: Improving Opportunities for Success in Postsecondary Education

Michael W. Kirst, Kathy Reeves Bracco, “Bridging the Great Divide: The K-12 and Postsecondary Split Hurts Students, and What Can Be Done About It,” in Kirst, Michael W. and Venezia, Andrea. 2004. From High School to College: Improving Opportunities for Success in Postsecondary Education. Jossey Bass Education, p. 5.

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VisionVision SkillsSkills IncentiveIncentive ResourcesResources Action PlanAction Plan+ =+ + + Change

SkillsSkills IncentiveIncentive ResourcesResources Action PlanAction Plan =+ + + Confusion

VisionVision IncentiveIncentive ResourcesResources Action PlanAction Plan+ =+ + Anxiety

VisionVision SkillsSkills ResourcesResources

Action PlanAction Plan

+ =+

+ Resistance

VisionVision SkillsSkills IncentiveIncentive+ =+ + Frustration

VisionVision SkillsSkills IncentiveIncentive ResourcesResources+ =+ + + Treadmill

Action PlanAction Plan

Putting All the Pieces Together

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So a plan would be a good thing…

Research conducted by Daphna Oyserman at the University of Michigan engaged inner-city junior high children in Detroit in several exercises in life planning •What kind of future would you like to have? •What difficulties do you anticipate? •How will you deal with them? •Which friends would help you cope?

Results: higher test scores, number required to repeat a grade dropped by half

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But the plan must be truly focused on postsecondary readiness

Source: National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, Measuring Up 2008

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And the plan needs to address motivational issues like mindset

Illustration: http://lyles.csufresno.edu/eimages/2008/0709-growth.jpg

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For the Student: Ramp-Up to ReadinessAction PlanAction Plan

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Critical Question: How do we take the project to

scale, sustain and continuously improve it?

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An Early Sign of Progress

“Before having guest speakers come to tell us about college, I thought that school was just a place to hang out in. Now I take that back. School is more than you expect when you are trying to reach for your goals.”

-- Junior High Student, Saint Paul

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College Material

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The challenge is huge, but we’ve been here before

Source: Claudia Goldin, “The Human Capital Century: Has U.S. leadership come to an end?”, Education Next, Winter, 2003 (vol. 3, no. 1).