College ‘readiness’ starts in the early years

STLtoday.com

Missouri’s Department of Higher Education tracks how many public high school graduates need remedial classes in English, math and reading when they attend one of Missouri’s public colleges and universities. The data are seen as a measure of how well Missouri graduates are being prepared for the basics of higher education.

In 2009, more than 40 percent of students from the St. Louis area who graduated from a public high school in 2009 needed one or more remedial courses. Statewide, the remediation rate was about 38 percent.

Those numbers suggest that Missouri high schools should better align their curricula to the realities and expectations of colleges and universities. No doubt they should. But the remediation data are just one part of a complex picture.

Among area high schools, St. Louis’ Vashon High School had the highest percentage of graduates enrolled in a remedial course. More than 90 percent needed catch-up course work in college.

But of the 137 students in Vashon’s class of 2009, only 25 went on to one of Missouri’s two-year or four-year colleges or universities. Of these students, just eight were young men. The class had a drop-out rate of more than 25 percent. Nearly three of four graduates were eligible for free or reduced-cost lunches.

Missouri can better prepare more students for college. But the job can’t begin in high school.

St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams told us that city students work with non-profit college-readiness service agencies — including College Bound and College Summit — and that he charts the progress of all high school students heading for higher education to ensure that they meet deadlines and seize opportunities.

But, the superintendent said, one of the biggest challenges is that “children who live in poverty see high school graduation as an end, not a beginning.” Changing that mind-set requires “moving kids from early childhood through middle school better prepared for school,” he said.

For thousands of students in the St. Louis area who have overcome obstacles to gain access to higher education — many of them the first in their families to do so — remedial courses should not be seen as a stigma. They should be embraced as evidence of success.

“A student who has the tenacity to graduate from a struggling high school, navigate the admission and financial aid process and then enroll in college deserves every ounce of support we can provide her,” Faith Sandler, executive director of the Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis, said.

“We have students for whom one or two developmental courses can change everything,” she said. “Thank goodness colleges and universities are realizing the importance and the promise of academic intervention.”

The best strategies for increasing college readiness start in early childhood and extend through high school. These strategies depend on recruiting, developing and retaining good teachers who are backed by extra resources and support for needier families.

Colleges and universities in the state — private, public, and for-profit — must be held accountable for the timely graduation of their students. When students arrive there better prepared and believing that graduation is a real possibility, all of Missouri benefits.
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Editor’s note: This editorial was updated to correctly state the total number of Vashon High School graduates in 2009.