Dayna Jean DeFeo, PhD
Community & Technical College
djdefeo@uaa.alaska.edu
907.786.6464


Low HS graduation
 65.8% in AK12
High college drop out
rate
Low college attendance
 20.6% persist to

sophomore year12
 30.1% in AK enroll directly
out of high school12
 AK has lowest collegegoing rate in nation12

Lots of developmental
education
 2013 – Nationwide ACT
scores lowest in 5 years6


Low graduation rate
Poor time to completion
 6.6% graduate in 150%
timeframe12

Exorbitant debt upon
graduation
 Average debt $35,2005
Ambiguous representations…

ACT
Extrapolations…

 Standardized test performance

and knowledge they need to
succeed beyond high school”
 “provide all students—especially
low-income and minority
students—with the opportunity to
realize their full potential”

The College Board
 Standardized test performance
 Study habits & skills

 Deficit paradigm
 Focused on low-income or
Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation
 “graduate on-time with the skills
CBS News article
 ACT scores of high school seniors
Subtractive
minority students

Narrowly defined
 Test scores
 Academic skills
 Limited predictive validity
for college success


Quantitatively measured
Focused on 4-year, liberal
arts education

Dangerous to label students13






College-Ready/Underprepared*
Urban/Rural
Low-income
First-generation
Gifted
Move away from dichotomous classification systems that:




Abridge the richness of students’ experience
Highlight deficits over strengths
Tacitly blame students for systemic shortcomings
Create divisions along racial, geographic, or socioeconomic
lines1,2,11



Conley: College Knowledge4




Cognitive strategies
Content knowledge
Academic skills
Contextual skills & awareness




Academic habits
Balance multiple roles
Cultural know-how
Help-seeking
Karp & Bork: Balancing Roles8
McDonald & Farrell: Holistic Approach10
 Academic
 Social
 Personal preparedness




Holistic
Dynamic
Strengths-based
Steeped in
literature
Academics
College
Knowledge
Habits
Attitudes
Goal Setting

Quantitative measures
 Assessments (snapshots)
▪ ACCUPLACER, SAT, ACT, others
 GPA

Rigorous coursework
 Honors classes
 AP or IB classes
 4 years of math & English

Focus & intentionality
 Students contextualize their classes within their
intended career field

Study habits
 Study strategies2

Prioritizing
 Time management

Critical thinking
 Information literacy3,15

Metacognitive skills
 Learning style awareness
 Self-monitoring
 Help-seeking






Ethical conduct
Initiative
Resilience (grit)
Motivation
Leadership
Intellectual curiosity

Self-knowledge
 Aptitudes
 Interests


Career exploration
Planning
 Personal Learning and Career Plan (PLCP)



Salient goals
Major declaration
Contextualized learning7,14



Knowledge of institutional culture3,8
Navigate bureaucratic system
Understand processes and procedures





Registration
Withdrawal
Office hours
Email etiquette
Ethos of college
 Academic integrity
 Scholarship


Difference between high school and college expectations
Resource awareness & access
… Or more accurately representing a concept?

Complications
 Measurement & analysis
▪ Indicators are multiple, qualitative, subjective, and of variable
influence

Benefits
 More accurate
 Eliminate the label
▪ The concept applies to all students
 Strengths emerge
 Collaborative effort and responsibility




Everyone has a
responsibility
Everyone reinforces
messages
Shifts onus of
responsibility from
English and math
teachers
Change requires
ecological and
systemic buy-in1
Parents &
families
Industry
Coaches
Teachers
Student
Youth leaders
Counselors
Administrators
Academic
advisors
Postsecondary
outreach





Thoughts?
Feedback?
Strengths?
Weaknesses?
Barriers?
1. Arnold, K.D., Lu, E.C., & Armstrong, K.J. (2012) The ecology of college
readiness. ASHE Higher Education Report 38(5).
2. Conley, D.T. (2005). College knowledge: What is really takes for students to
succeed and what we can do to get them ready. San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass.
3. Cox, R. D. (2009). Fear factor: How students and professors misunderstand
one another. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
4. Educational Policy Improvement Center. (2009). Toward a more
comprehensive conception of college readiness. Portland, OR: Conley,
D.T.
5. Ellis, B. (2013, May 17). Class of 2013 grads average $35,200 in loans, credit
card debt. CNN Money.
6. Grasgreen, A. (2013, August 21). ACT scores fall to lowest level in 5 years.
Inside Higher Ed.
7. Hooley, T., Marriott, J., Sampson, J.P. (2011). Fostering college and career
readiness: How career development activities in schools impact on
graduation rtes and students’ life success. Derby UK: International
Centre for Guidance Studies, University of Derby.
8. Karp, M.M. & Bork, R.H. (2012). “They never told me what to expect, so I
didn’t know what to do”: Defining and clarifying the role of a
community college student. Community College Research Center.
Working Paper No. 47.
9. MAPWorks. (2013). Fall 2013 preliminary survey results. University of
Alaska Anchorage.
10. McDonald, D., & Farrell, T. (2012). Out of the mouths of babes: Early
college high school students’ transformational learning experiences.
Journal of Advanced Academics 23(3), 217-248. doi:
10.1177/1932202X12451440
11. Moore, G.W., State, J.R., Edmonson, S.L., Combs, J.P. Bustamente, R., &
Onwuegbuzie, A.J. (2011). High school students and their lack of
preparedness for college: A statewide study. Education and Urban
Society 42(7), 817-838. doi: 10.1177/0013124510379619
12. National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS),
Student Pipeline Data:
http://www.higheredinfo.org/dbrowser/index.php?submeasure=119&y
ear=2008&level=nation&mode=data&state=0#/-1/
13. Popkewitz, T. S. (1998). Struggling for the soul: The politics of schooling
and the construction of the teacher. New York: Teacher College Press.
14. Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy. (2011). Student Learning
Plans: Supporting Every Student’s Transition to College and Career.
Cambridge, MA: Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy.
15. Rose, M. (1989). Lives on the boundary: A moving account of the
struggles and achievements of America’s educationally underprepared.
New York, NY: Penguin Books.
16. Weis, L., & Fine, M. (2005). Working method: Research and social justice.
New York, NY: Routledge.