Beyond Business as Usual—
Key State Actions to Boost
College and Career Readiness
David T. Conley, Ph.D.
Professor, University of Oregon
Director, Center for Educational Policy Research
CEO, Educational Policy Improvement Center
Today’s Talk Is Based on Research
and Ideas Summarized in:
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Nature of the Challenge:
More Students Going to College
• The proportion of students going on to postsecondary
education has steadily increased over the past 100 years
and is likely to continue to increase.
 Surveys of 9th graders indicate 80%-90% aspire to college
• However, more students struggle in college even as more
are admitted.
 Remediation rates remain constant
 College completion rates remain constant
• Surveys also indicate most high school students do not
know what they need to do to be college ready
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Nature of the Challenge:
Getting More Students Ready
• It should be no surprise that so many students struggle
when they get to college.
 The information used to determine college eligibility is quite limited
and problematic in a number of ways.
• Increasing the proportion of students going on to college
means educating a more challenging student population.
 The good news is that the capacity of students to achieve is
malleable and not fixed.
- Achievement is a function of the interaction of effort and ability.
- Some students may need to work harder than others to become college
ready.
• Getting more students ready for college requires more
information about what it means to be truly ready.
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Need for a More Complete
Definition of “Ready”
• The new goal of high school should be to equip as many
students as possible for college and career success, in other
words, to be able to continue to learn beyond high school.
• Today’s high school diploma certifies college eligibility via
specified courses taken and grades received.
• College eligibility is not the same as college readiness.
 College and career readiness is more complex and multi-dimensional
than meeting eligibility standards.
• The definition of “ready” is a student who can succeed—
without remediation—in credit-bearing general education
courses or a two-year associates or certificate program that
leads to a career in the O-NET job zone 3 classification.
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The Four Dimensions of College Readiness
Key Cognitive Strategies
• Problem formulation, research,
• interpretation, communication,
precision and accuracy.
Key Content Knowledge
• Key foundational content and
“big ideas” from core subjects.
Academic Behaviors
• Self-management skills:
time management, study skills,
goal setting, self-awareness,
and persistence.
Contextual Skills
and Awareness
Academic
Behaviors
Key Content
Knowledge
Key
Cognitive
Strategies
Contextual Skills
and Awareness (College Knowledge)
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• Admissions requirements, college types and missions, affording college,
college culture, and relations with professors.
What Is Key Content Knowledge?
Components:




Key terms and terminology
Factual information
Linking ideas
Organizing concepts
The human brain retains this information to the degree to
which it can:
 create connections or links among the pieces to create a “schema”
or “scaffold” structure
 associate emotions, positive or negative, with the knowledge
 find the knowledge meaningful, relevant, or useful
 apply or use the knowledge in a variety of authentic situations
 receive timely feedback on how effectively it uses the knowledge.
Acquiring Key Content Knowledge:
If Only It Were This Simple
In this brief clip from “The Matrix,” Our hero, Neo, has just
escaped another predicament and is on a rooftop with his
rescuer, Trinity, with no other means of escape than a
helicopter that has been abandoned on the roof. What to
do? Who can fly it?
Definition of Key Cognitive Strategies
What is a strategy?
 A systematic approach or plan to achieving an objective
 An elaborate plan of action that chooses among alternative
approaches and anticipates potential problems that must be
addressed for the objective to be achieved successfully
What are cognitive strategies?
 Systematic approaches to achieve key learning goals that take into
account the rules and methods of the academic disciplines that are
necessary to achieving the goal
 Elaborate plan of action that chooses among alternative
approaches and anticipates potential problems that must be
addressed to solve a problem or complete a complex task
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C-PAS Conceptual Design
The Key Cognitive Strategies
Consider the Cognitive Strategies Students
Would Need to Use to Complete This Task
Projecting Incarceration Rates in the United States
Recent news has given much coverage to the growing
prison population in the United States. Criminal justice
organizations need to know the number of people who
will be under correctional supervision in the future in
order to plan ahead. The numbers will affect their
budgets and the need for prison beds and support
services.
You have been hired to study the situation and make
projections about future incarceration rates. You are to
include the numbers of people in prisons, jails, and on
probation.
You will provide a report that presents your projections and explains how you developed
them. Two specifics you have been asked to address in your report are:
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•
Projections of the incarcerated population for the years 2020, 2025, 2030, and 2050.
•
A prediction whether, and if so, when the rate of incarceration can be expected to
exceed 10% of the overall US population
How Novices and Experts
Solve Problems
Novices:
are slower and more deliberate
know individual facts about
topics
learn about pieces of systems
memorize bits of information and
encode the bits superficially
tend to focus on discrete
knowledge in isolation of the
structure of a discipline
reason in specific contexts by
using recently-acquired
information
recall information by rote
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Experts:
are faster and more accurate
organize facts into “chunks” for
better recall and application
integrate pieces of knowledge
into systems frameworks
connect new knowledge to
existing knowledge
learn through example and
analogy
use analytical skills to apply
knowledge and select procedures
generalize knowledge to new
settings and circumstances
create mental cues to facilitate
recall
C-PAS Novice-to-Expert Scoring Scale at
Four Benchmark Levels Grades 6-12
Green indicates the student is on the pathway to college readiness.
Gray indicates performance levels not scored at that benchmark level.
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Benchmark
Level I
Benchmark
Level II
Benchmark
Level III
Benchmark
Level IV
Emerging
Expert
Emerging
Expert
Emerging
Expert
Emerging
Expert
Accomplished
Strategic Thinker
Accomplished
Strategic Thinker
Accomplished
Strategic Thinker
Accomplished
Strategic Thinker
Strategic Thinker
Strategic Thinker
Strategic Thinker
Strategic Thinker
Emerging
Strategic Thinker
Emerging
Strategic Thinker
Emerging
Strategic Thinker
Emerging
Strategic Thinker
Accomplished Novice
Accomplished Novice
Accomplished Novice
Accomplished Novice
Novice
Novice
Novice
Novice
Emerging
Novice
Emerging
Novice
Emerging
Novice
Emerging
Novice
Tracking Readiness in Multiple Skill Areas
For An Individual Student
This line shows the
This Line shows an
College Ready Level
student’s content
knowledge, which is
stronger than the
optimal
optimal trajectory
This line shows
academic
behaviors, which
dip precipitously in
10th grade, but
show a comeback
by 12th grade
“Approaching College Ready” Zone
Benchmark 4
This line shows the
student’s growth on
key cognitive
strategies, which
levels off in high
school
Benchmark 3
This line shows
student college
knowledge
strengthens late in
high school but
remains below
optimal
Benchmark 2
Benchmark 1
1st Grade
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6th Grade
8th Grade
10th Grade
12th Grade
This profile describes a student whose content knowledge is strong, but for whom some concerns remain:
cognitive strategies are not developing, college knowledge is below optimal and academic behaviors are
somewhat erratic. This profile could be used to diagnose and prescribe in high school or to link the student
with support services in college
College Readiness and Career
Readiness: Same or Different?
• EPIC’s research on the content of courses in two-year
certificate programs is identifying the overlap between
college readiness and career readiness knowledge and
skills.
• Necessary academic content knowledge varies among in
two-year certificate programs and between certificate
programs and general education courses at four-year
institutions.
• However, almost all certificates require a strong academic
foundation, and students in certificate programs need
strong skills in the area of Academic Behaviors
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Welding Technology Certificate
(A.S.): Student Learning Outcomes
(from Los Rios Community College)
• Select the correct electrode
classification and parameters for
various thickness of material
and welding positions on ferrous
and nonferrous metals.
• Define principles of gas metal
arc welding.
• Interpret GMA electrode and
classification and specification.
• Select correct electrode
amperage settings for the job
application.
• Interpret graphic welding
symbols.
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• Describe shielded metal arc
welding operations of various
positions using selected
electrodes on different joint
designs.
• Explain the reason for the
formation of each discontinuity
type and distinguish different
discontinuities.
• Interpret fabrication blueprints
using a systematic process.
• Relate the requirements for
welding ferrous and
nonferrous metals.
Seven Key Principles of
College Readiness
 Principle 1: Create and maintain a college-going culture in the
school.
 Principle 2: Create a core academic program that is aligned with
and leads to college readiness by the end of 12th grade.
 Principle 3: Teach key self-management skills and expect students
to use them.
 Principle 4: Make college real by preparing students for the
complexity of applying to college and making the transition
successfully.
 Principle 5: Create assignments and grading policies in high school
that more closely approximate college expectations.
 Principle 6: Make the senior year meaningful and challenging.
 Principle 7: Build partnerships with and connections to
postsecondary programs and institutions.
Exemplar State Policy Frameworks
• Texas College and Career Readiness Initiative
(HB 1, HB 3)
 Link to Texas College and Career Readiness Initiative
• Ohio’s Promise (HB 1)
 Link to Ohio's Promise
The CollegeCareerReady System
™
The system improves college readiness by diagnosing schools
and students, aligning the instructional program, and
strengthening connections between high schools and colleges.
DIAGNOSE
ALIGN
PARTNER
School Diagnostic
QualityCourse
Design
System
(formerly
SyllabusMaker)
Reference
Documents
Performance
Assessment
(C-PAS)
QualityCourse
Alignment
System
Aligned Courses
Secondary–
Postsecondary
Connections
Student Profile
QualityCourse
Pathways
CollegeCareerReady™ System
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Some Example Recommendations
• Key Content Knowledge:
• Standardize placement tests statewide and familiarize high school students with
the test and allow students to take the test while in high school
• Increase dual enrollment, AP, IB
• Key Cognitive Strategies:
• Require senior assignment or project that requires a research paper as one
required element
• Consider “senior seminars” where students are exposed to college-level
assignments that require cognitive strategies
• Academic Behaviors:
• Require schools to adopt common policies regarding the content of syllabi,
including dates for all assignments and tests
• Provide resources for students to learn time management, study skills, goal
setting
• College Knowledge:
• Expect students to access online college prep systems
• Encourage college campus visits
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An Unconventional Recommendation
for State Policy Makers
• Diagnose the capacity of schools to build college and
career readiness on all four dimensions, not just content
knowledge.
• Institute opportunity-to-learn requirements for the
Academic Behaviors and College Knowledge
• Review high school course syllabi to ensure they address
development of Key Cognitive Strategies
• Provide extensive resources online in all of these areas
To Continue the Conversation…
…see you at 10:15 in Salons B & C
For a copy of this presentation, visit:
www.epiconline.org
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