What does it mean to be college and career ready?

My oldest son is a senior in high school, so the idea of college and career ready has a duality to me as both a parent and as an educator. I am seeing my seventeen year old son, who has so much academic potential, lack so much in the way of the soft skills that will determine success or struggle in college or career. I am continually trying to find the balance between pushing my son and letting him fail forward. It is the same for us as educators - trying to find the balance between academic proficiency and the kind of self-management and independence that will ultimately make the difference for our kids.

In this article from Educational Leadership called "What Makes a Student College Ready?," the author identifies four key pillars that relate to college success - Key Cognitive Strategies, Key Content Knowledge, Key Self-Management Skills, and Key Knowledge About Post-Secondary Education (Educational Leadership, 2008, 66:2). As a parent,  I am concerned about my son and those self-management skills - things like being able to get up on time, manage his own time, manage his own deadlines, and manage the stress of everything happening at once. As an educator, I worry about the students in my school who lack key content knowledge because they have struggled with being below grade level or they lack experiences that would give them prior knowledge to connect to. I also worry that so many of our students lack knowledge about post-secondary education and that will impact their ability to successfully complete college and be ready for a career.

David T. Conley (2010)

Our children, both biological and school, must have support from their teachers in being ready for college or career. Ensuring that our students have the skills that they need starts in elementary school and continues throughout their schooling. If we are going to ensure the future of our communities, we must ensure that our students have the skills they need to be ready for college and career. That's what I want for my own children and for the children in my school.

Parents Are Our First Teachers

This past week, we had an amazing College and Career Day at my school. We had visitors come in and share their career stories and career paths with our students. So many people from our community came to share their stories with our students and (hopefully) inspire them to see their potential and their future. Students were chosen to have a career for the day - shadowing staff members to learn what skills they would need in those careers.

My father came to speak with the 4th graders at Dr. Weeks. I was extremely proud to introduce him to my staff and students. He talked with the students about his career path and shared his story of perseverance and determination with the students at my school.

My father is driven and purposeful. He always pushed us to be the best we could be and encouraged us that we could do anything as long as we did it well. Making him proud has always been important to me, so sharing my school with him last week was a very powerful experience.

In 1928, my grandfather opened a storefront for used auto parts and appliance repairs with his brother-in-law. The used parts business grew during the depression and my grandfather expanded into replacement parts and providing parts to automotive repair shops throughout the Finger Lakes area. My father returned from the Viet Nam War in 1969 and joined my grandfather in the business in 1970 - not because he was drawn to the automotive aftermarket, but because my grandfather was sick and needed help and my father felt like it was the least he could do.

The philosophy of "if you are going to do something, do it well" describes my father and his commitment to taking over my grandfather's business. Auto parts wasn't his dream, but he certainly found his voice in leading the business. He used that voice to develop a successful business, to raise a family of strong voices who also became strong leaders, and to influence the growth and development of a community. I have continued to live by and teach by the same motto - making sure that if I was doing anything that I would do it well.

Parents are our first teachers. I was fortunate to have parents who encouraged my leadership and supported me in what I was working toward. So many of our children need us to be the voice of encouragement and support. If something is worth doing, it is worth doing well. Parenting. Teaching. Leadership. They all take that same kind of commitment. They are all extremely hard work - but they are all worth it.